GUINEA -- 2009 TIP REPORT: PRESS GUIDANCE AND

UNCLAS STATE 060558

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG GV
SUBJECT: GUINEA -- 2009 TIP REPORT: PRESS GUIDANCE AND
DEMARCHE

REF: A. (A) STATE 59732

B. (B) STATE 005577


1. This is an action cable; see paras 5 through 7 and 10.


2. On June 16, 2009, at 10:00 a.m. EDT, the Secretary will
release the 2009 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report at a
press conference in the Department's press briefing room.
This release will receive substantial coverage in domestic
and foreign news outlets. Until the time of the Secretary's
June 16 press conference, any public release of the Report or
country narratives contained therein is prohibited.


3. The Department is hereby providing Post with advance press
guidance to be used on June 16 or thereafter. Also provided
is demarche language to be used in informing the Government
of Guinea of its tier ranking and the TIP Report's imminent
release. The text of the TIP Report country narrative is
provided, both for use in informing the Government of Guinea,
and in any local media release by Post's public affairs
section on June 16 or thereafter. Drawing on information
provided below in paras 8 and 9, Post may provide the host
government with the text of the TIP Report narrative no
earlier than 1200 noon local time Monday June 15 for WHA, AF,
EUR, and NEA countries and OOB local time Tuesday June 16 for
SCA and EAP posts. Please note, however, that any public
release of the Report's information should not/not precede
the Secretary's release at 10:00 am EDT on June 16.


4. The entire TIP Report will be available on-line at
www.state.gov/g/tip shortly after the Secretary's June 16
release. Hard copies of the Report will be pouched to posts
in all countries appearing on the Report. The Secretary's
statement at the June 16 press event, and the statement of
and fielding of media questions by G/TIP,s Director and
Senior Advisor to the Secretary, Ambassador-at-Large Luis
CdeBaca, will be available on the Department's website
shortly after the June 16 event. Ambassador de Baca will
also hold a general briefing for officials of foreign
embassies in Washington DC on June 17 at 3:30 pm EDT.


5. Action Request: No earlier than 12 noon local time on
Monday June 15 for WHA, AF, EUR, and NEA posts and OOB local
time on Tuesday June 16 for SCA and EAP posts, please inform
the appropriate official in the Government of Guinea of the
June 16 release of the 2009 TIP Report, drawing on the points
in para 9 (at Post's discretion) and including the text of
the country narrative provided in para 8. For countries
where the State Department has lowered the tier ranking, it
is particularly important to advise governments prior to the
Report being released in Washington on June 16.


6. Action Request continued: Please note that, for those
countries which will not receive an "action plan" with
specific recommendations for improvement, posts should draw
host governments' attention to the areas for improvement
identified in the 2009 Report, especially highlighted in the
"Recommendations" section of the second paragraph of the
narrative text. This engagement is important to establishing
the framework in which the government's performance will be
judged for the 2010 Report. If posts have questions about
which governments will receive an action plan, or how they
may follow up on the recommendations in the 2009 Report,
please contact G/TIP and the appropriate regional bureau.


7. Action Request continued: On June 16, please be prepared
to answer media inquiries on the Report's release using the
press guidance provided in para 11. If Post wishes, a local
press statement may be released on or after 10:30 am EDT June
16, drawing on the press guidance and the text of the TIP
Report's country narrative provided in para 8.


8. Begin Final Text of Guinea,s country narrative in the
2009 TIP Report:

--------------

Guinea (TIER 2 Watch List)
--------------

Guinea is a source, transit and, to a lesser extent, a
destination country for men, women, and children trafficked
for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual
exploitation. The majority of victims are children, and
internal trafficking is more prevalent than transnational
trafficking. Within the country, girls are trafficked
primarily for domestic servitude and sexual exploitation,
while boys are trafficked as forced beggars, street vendors,
shoe shiners, and laborers in gold and diamond mines as well
as for forced agricultural labor. Some Guinean men are also
trafficked for agricultural labor within Guinea. Smaller
numbers of girls from Mali, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Ghana,
Liberia, Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Guinea-Bissau are
trafficked transnationally to Guinea for domestic servitude
and likely also for sexual exploitation. Guinean boys and
girls are trafficked to Senegal, Mali, and possibly other
African countries, for labor in gold mines. Guinean women
and girls are trafficked to Nigeria, Cote d,Ivoire, Benin,
Senegal, Greece, and Spain for domestic servitude and sexual
exploitation. Chinese women are trafficked to Guinea for
commercial sexual exploitation by Chinese traffickers.
Networks also traffic women from Nigeria, India, and Greece
through Guinea to the Maghreb countries to Europe, notably
Italy, Ukraine, Switzerland, and France for commercial sexual
exploitation and domestic servitude.

The Government of Guinea does not fully comply with the
minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking;
however, it is making significant efforts to do so, despite
limited resources. Despite these overall efforts, the
government did not show evidence of progress in prosecuting
trafficking offenders or protecting victims; therefore,
Guinea is placed on Tier 2 Watch List. Ensnared by internal
instability that culminated in a December 2008 coup,
Guinea,s efforts to combat trafficking remained weak. While
Guinea has an adequate anti-trafficking legal framework,
which it strengthened by enacting the Child Code, the
government did not report any trafficking convictions for the
fifth year in a row, and protection and prevention efforts
remained weak.

Recommendations for Guinea: Increase efforts to investigate,
prosecute, and convict traffickers; finalize and adopt the
implementing text for the new Child Code; increase prescribed
penalties for the sex trafficking of adults and children;
develop stronger partnerships with NGOs and international
organizations to care for victims; and increase efforts to
raise awareness about trafficking.

Prosecution
--------------
The Government of Guinea demonstrated minimal law enforcement
efforts to combat trafficking during the last year. Guinea
prohibits all forms of trafficking in persons through
separate statutes. In August 2008, Guinea enacted the Child
Code, which includes provisions prohibiting all forms of
child trafficking, specifically criminalizes child domestic
servitude, and allows NGOs to bring cases to court on behalf
of victims. The government, in collaboration with NGOs and
international organizations, is still drafting the
implementing text for this law, which will prescribe
penalties that allow the law to be enforced. Article 337 of
the 1998 Penal Code prohibits individuals from entering into
agreements that deprive third parties of their liberty,
prescribing penalties of five to 10 years, imprisonment and
confiscation of any resulting profits. Forced prostitution
and child prostitution are criminalized by Article 329 of
Guinea,s Penal Code, which prescribes six months, to two
years, imprisonment if the trafficked victim is an adult,
and two to five years, imprisonment if the victim is a
child. These penalties for sex trafficking of adults are
neither sufficiently stringent nor commensurate with
penalties prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape.
The government reported that 17 trafficking cases are
awaiting prosecution, though it obtained no convictions of
trafficking offenders during the year. Guinea,s government
created a new Ministry of High Crimes and Anti-Drug
Enforcement that will be responsible for anti-trafficking law
enforcement efforts. While the Police Mondaine, which is
responsible for addressing trafficking cases, did not
investigate the problem of the involuntary domestic servitude
of children in the past, it has added this form of
trafficking to its mandate. On February 3, the head of the
military government issued a declaration giving security
personnel blanket authority to shoot anyone caught committing
child trafficking, raising significant human rights concerns.
During the year, Guinean officials participated in joint
trainings with Malian authorities at posts on the two
countries, borders to review a proposed agreement on
protection of trafficking victims, which was later signed by
both countries.
Protection
--------------
The Government of Guinea demonstrated weak efforts to protect
trafficking victims over the last year. The government lacks
shelters for trafficking victims due to limited resources.
While Guinea lacks a formal procedure through which officials
refer victims to NGOs and international organizations for
care, authorities reported referring victims on an ad hoc
basis. The government also reported providing limited
assistance to victims in collaboration with NGOs and
international organizations, but due to the lack of a
database, the government could not provide the number of
victims assisted. Through foster care services, the Ministry
of Social Affairs provides care to destitute children, some
of whom may be trafficking victims. The government did not
follow procedures to identify trafficking victims among
vulnerable populations, such as abandoned children, child
victims of violence, and children in prostitution.
Government officials from key ministries responsible for
anti-trafficking initiatives held monthly meetings during the
year to discuss multilateral and bilateral cooperation to
reintegrate and rehabilitate victims. In collaboration with
NGOs, the Guinean government continued to operate its free
hotline for public reporting of trafficking cases or victims,
but was unable to provide information regarding the number of
calls received. The government does not encourage victims to
assist in trafficking investigations or prosecutions. Guinea
does not provide legal alternatives to the removal of foreign
victims to countries where they face hardship or retribution.


Prevention
--------------
The Government of Guinea demonstrated diminished efforts to
raise awareness about trafficking during the reporting
period. Guinea did not conduct any anti-trafficking
awareness efforts during the year. The National Committee to
Combat Trafficking met quarterly throughout the year. The
Committee failed to submit required quarterly reports on the
implementation of the National Action Plan. At a meeting in
February 2009, however, the Committee evaluated the existing
action plan and began developing a version for 2009-2010.
The government did not take measures to reduce demand for
forced labor and child labor in violation of international
standards, as well as demand for commercial sex acts.



9. Post may wish to deliver the following points, which offer
technical and legal l background on the TIP Report process,
to the host government as a non-paper with the above TIP
Report country narrative:

(begin non-paper)

-- The U.S. Congress, through its passage of the 2000
Trafficking Victims Protection Act, as amended (TVPA),
requires the Secretary of State to submit an annual Report to
Congress. The goal of this Report is to stimulate action and
create partnerships around the world in the fight against
modern-day slavery. The USG approach to combating human
trafficking follows the TVPA and the standards set forth in
the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in
Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the
United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized
Crime (commonly known as the "Palermo Protocol"). The TVPA
and the Palermo Protocol recognize that this is a crime in
which the victims, labor or services (including in the "sex
industry") are obtained or maintained through force, fraud,
or coercion, whether overt or through psychological
manipulation. While much attention has focused on
international flows, both the TVPA and the Palermo Protocol
focus on the exploitation of the victim, and do not require a
showing that the victim was moved.

-- Recent amendments to the TVPA removed the requirement that

only countries with a "significant number" of trafficking
victims be included in the Report. Beginning with the 2009
TIP Report, countries determined to be a country of origin,
transit, or destination for victims of severe forms of
trafficking are included in the Report and assigned to one of
three tiers. Countries assessed as meeting the "minimum
standards for the elimination of severe forms of trafficking"
set forth in the TVPA are classified as Tier 1. Countries
assessed as not fully complying with the minimum standards,
but making significant efforts to meet those minimum
standards are classified as Tier 2. Countries assessed as
neither complying with the minimum standards nor making
significant efforts to do so are classified as Tier 3.

-- The TVPA also requires the Secretary of State to provide a
"Special Watch List" to Congress later in the year.
Anti-trafficking efforts of the countries on this list are to
be evaluated again in an Interim Assessment that the
Secretary of State must provide to Congress by February 1 of
each year. Countries are included on the "Special Watch
List" if they move up in "tier" rankings in the annual TIP
Report -- from 3 to 2 or from 2 to 1 ) or if they have been
placed on the Tier 2 Watch List.

-- Tier 2 Watch List consists of Tier 2 countries determined:
(1) not to have made "increasing efforts" to combat human
trafficking over the past year; (2) to be making significant
efforts based on commitments of anti-trafficking reforms over
the next year, or (3) to have a very significant number of
trafficking victims or a significantly increasing victim
population. As indicated in reftel B, the TVPRA of 2008
contains a provision requiring that a country that has been
included on Tier 2 Watch List for two consecutive years after
the date of enactment of the TVPRA of 2008 be ranked as Tier

3. Thus, any automatic downgrade to Tier 3 pursuant to this
provision would take place, at the earliest, in the 2011 TIP
Report (i.e., a country would have to be ranked Tier 2 Watch
List in the 2009 and 2010 Reports before being subject to
Tier 3 in the 2011 Report). The new law allows for a waiver
of this provision for up to two additional years upon a
determination by the President that the country has developed
and devoted sufficient resources to a written plan to make
significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with the
minimum standards.

-- Countries classified as Tier 3 may be subject to statutory
restrictions for the subsequent fiscal year on
non-humanitarian and non-trade-related foreign assistance
and, in some circumstances, withholding of funding for
participation by government officials or employees in
educational and cultural exchange programs. In addition,
the President could instruct the U.S. executive directors to
international financial institutions to oppose loans or other
utilization of funds (other than for humanitarian,
trade-related or certain types of development assistance)
with respect to countries on Tier 3. Countries classified as
Tier 3 that take strong action within 90 days of the Report's
release to show significant efforts against trafficking in
persons, and thereby warrant a reassessment of their Tier
classification, would avoid such sanctions. Guidelines for
such actions are in the DOS-crafted action plans to be shared
by Posts with host governments.

-- The 2009 TIP Report, issuing as it does in the midst of
the global financial crisis, highlights high levels of
trafficking for forced labor in many parts of the world and
systemic contributing factors to this phenomenon: fraudulent
recruitment practices and excessive recruiting fees in
workers, home countries; the lack of adequate labor
protections in both sending and receiving countries; and the
flawed design of some destination countries, "sponsorship
systems" that do not give foreign workers adequate legal
recourse when faced with conditions of forced labor. As the
May 2009 ILO Global Report on Forced Labor concluded, forced
labor victims suffer approximately $20 billion in losses, and
traffickers, profits are estimated at $31 billion. The
current global financial crisis threatens to increase the
number of victims of forced labor and increase the associated
"cost of coercion."

-- The text of the TVPA and amendments can be found on
website www.state.gov/g/tip.

-- On June 16, 2009, the Secretary of State will release the
ninth annual TIP Report in a public event at the State
Department. We are providing you an advance copy of your
country's narrative in that report. Please keep this
information embargoed until 10:00 am Washington DC time June

16. The State Department will also hold a general briefing
for officials of foreign embassies in Washington DC on June
17 at 3:30 pm EDT.

(end non-paper)


10. Posts should make sure that the relevant country
narrative is readily available on or though the Mission's web
page in English and appropriate local language(s) as soon as
possible after the TIP Report is released. Funding for
translation costs will be handled as it was for the Human
Rights Report. Posts needing financial assistance for
translation costs should contact their regional bureau,s EX
office.


11. The following is press guidance provided for Post to use
with local media.

Q1: Why is Guinea on Tier 2 Watch List?

A: The Government of Guinea does not fully comply with the
minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking;
however, it is making significant efforts to do so, despite
limited resources. Despite these overall efforts, the
government did not show evidence of progress in prosecuting
trafficking offenders or protecting victims; therefore,
Guinea is placed on Tier 2 Watch List.

Q2: What progress has Guinea made in the last year?

A: In August 2008, Guinea enacted the Child Code, which
includes provisions prohibiting all forms of child
trafficking, specifically criminalizes child domestic
servitude, and allows NGOs to bring cases to court on behalf
of victims.

Q3: What can Guinea do to further the fight against
trafficking in persons?

A: Increase efforts to investigate, prosecute, and convict
traffickers; finalize and adopt the implementing text for the
new Child Code; increase prescribed penalties for the sex
trafficking of adults and children; develop stronger
partnerships with NGOs and international organizations to
care for victims; and increase efforts to raise awareness
about trafficking. The government reported that 17
trafficking cases are awaiting prosecution. Guinea,s
government created a new Ministry of High Crimes and
Anti-Drug Enforcement that will be responsible for law
enforcement anti-trafficking efforts. During the year,
Guinean officials participated in joint trainings with Malian
authorities at posts on the two countries, borders to review
a proposed agreement on protection of trafficking victims,
which was later signed by both countries. At a meeting in
February 2009, National Committee to Combat Trafficking
evaluated the existing National Action Plan and began
developing a version for 2009-2010.


12. The Department appreciates posts, assistance with the
preceding action requests.
CLINTON