SENEGAL -- 2009 TIP REPORT: PRESS GUIDANCE AND

UNCLAS STATE 060568

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG SG
SUBJECT: SENEGAL -- 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 Senegal 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 Senegal
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 Senegal 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 Senegal,s country narrative in the
2009 TIP Report:

--------------
Senegal (TIER 2 Watch List)
--------------
Senegal is a source, transit, and destination country for
children and women trafficked for the purposes of forced
labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Trafficking within
the country is more prevalent than trans-border trafficking
and the majority of victims are children. Within Senegal,
religious teachers traffic boys, called talibe, by promising
to educate them, but subjecting them instead to forced
begging and physical abuse. A 2007 study done by UNICEF, the
ILO and the World Bank found that 6,480 talibe were forced to
beg in Dakar alone. Women and girls are trafficked for
domestic servitude and commercial sexual exploitation --
including exploitation by foreign sex tourists -- within
Senegal. Children are also trafficked for forced labor in
gold mines within Senegal. Transnationally, boys are
trafficked to Senegal from The Gambia, Mali, Guinea-Bissau,
and Guinea for forced begging by religious teachers.
Senegalese children are trafficked to Mali, Guinea, and
possibly other West African countries for forced labor in
gold mines. Senegalese women and girls are trafficked to
neighboring countries, the Middle East, and Europe for
domestic servitude and possibly for sexual exploitation.
Women and girls from other West African countries,
particularly Liberia, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria may be
trafficked to Senegal for sexual exploitation, including for
sex tourism.

The Government of Senegal 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. The government continued to demonstrate a strong
commitment to protecting child trafficking victims during the
year by providing them with shelter, rehabilitation and
reintegration services. Despite these overall significant
efforts, the government did not show progress in prosecuting,
convicting, and punishing trafficking offenders over the last
year; therefore, Senegal is placed on Tier 2 Watch List.

Recommendations for Senegal: Intensify efforts to prosecute
and convict trafficking offenders; ensure that the Ministry
of Interior,s Special Commissariat Against Sex Tourism and
the Tourism Ministry,s sex tourism police unit arrest
suspected sex tourists and rescue their victims; and increase
efforts to raise awareness about trafficking.

Prosecution
--------------
The Government of Senegal demonstrated insufficient
anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts during the year.
Senegal prohibits all forms of trafficking through its 2005
Law to Combat Trafficking in Persons and Related Practices
and to Protect Victims. The law,s prescribed penalties of
five to 10 years, imprisonment for all forms of trafficking
are sufficiently stringent and commensurate with penalties
prescribed for rape. The government reported that it
arrested two religious teachers for abusing boys they had
trafficked for forced begging. The government did not report
any additional arrests, prosecutions, or convictions of
trafficking offenses. During the year, the Ministry of
Justice,s Center for Judicial Training conducted a
UNICEF-funded training for police, gendarmerie, and
immigration officials to educate them about trafficking.
Although the government in 2007 activated two special police
units to combat child sex tourism, one within the Interior
Ministry and the other within the Tourism Ministry, these
units did not report any law enforcement actions against
foreign pedophiles. The Ministry of the Interior, through
its Bureau of Investigations, continued to work with Interpol
to monitor immigration and emigration patterns for evidence
of trafficking.
Protection
--------------
The Government of Senegal sustained solid efforts to protect
trafficking victims over the last year. The government
continued to operate the Ginndi Center, its shelter for
destitute children, including trafficking victims. While the
Family Ministry, which funds and operates the Center with
support from international donors, began using a donor-funded
computerized database to track trafficking victims in 2006,
the center recently stopped using the database due to lack of
funds. The center, which has the capacity to house 60
children at a time, assisted 949 foreign and Senegalese
destitute children, including trafficking victims, over the
last year. With international organization and NGO
assistance, 807 children were reunited with their families
and 69 were trained in vocational centers located in the
Ginndi center. The government also continued to operate its
free child protection hotline out of the Ginndi Center. In
the last year, the hotline received 17,501 calls, though it
is not known how many of these calls related to human
trafficking. The government also sometimes referred
trafficking victims to NGOs for care on an ad hoc basis. The
government espoused a policy of encouraging victims to assist
in trafficking investigations or prosecutions in part by
permitting closed door victim testimonies during trafficking
prosecutions. The government did not report, however, that
it encouraged any victims to assist in prosecutions during
the last year. The government provided legal alternatives to
the removal of foreign victims to countries where they faced
hardship or retribution. Trafficking victims had the option
of remaining temporarily or permanently in Senegal under the
status of resident or refugee. Victims were not
inappropriately incarcerated or fined for unlawful acts
committed as a direct result of being trafficked.

Prevention
--------------
The Government of Senegal made modest efforts to raise
awareness about trafficking during the reporting period. As
part of its program against the worst forms of child labor,
the Family Ministry continued to conduct donor-funded
workshops and roundtables in Mbour, Dakar and other areas of
the country to raise awareness about forced child begging,
child domestic servitude, and child prostitution. In 2008,
the Family Ministry collaborated with the ILO and the
Governments of Mali, Cote d,Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea,
and Burkina Faso to implement a 12-month regional
anti-trafficking project. The project collected information
on the parameters of regional trafficking and organized
donor-funded anti-trafficking workshops for 60 police,
gendarmerie, and customs officials from the participating
countries. In December 2008, project participants released a
document listing 68 best practices to combat trafficking in
the region. The government did not take steps to reduce
demand for commercial sex acts in Senegal. The government
did not take measures to ensure that its nationals who are
deployed abroad as part of peacekeeping missions do not
engage in or facilitate trafficking.



9. Post may wish to deliver the following points, which offer
technical and legal 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 has Senegal been downgraded to Tier 2 Watch List?

A: The Government of Senegal 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. The government continued to demonstrate a
strong commitment to protecting child trafficking victims
during the year by providing them with shelter,
rehabilitation and reintegration services. Despite these
overall significant efforts, the government did not show
progress in prosecuting, convicting, and punishing
trafficking offenders over the last year; therefore, Senegal
is placed on Tier 2 Watch List.


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

A: The government reported that it arrested two religious
teachers for abusing boys they had trafficked for forced
begging. During the year, the Ministry of Justice,s Center
for Judicial Training conducted a UNICEF-funded training for
police, gendarmerie, and immigration officials to educate
them about trafficking. The government continued to operate
the Ginndi Center, its shelter for destitute children,
including trafficking victims. The center, which has the
capacity to house 60 children at a time, assisted 949 foreign
and Senegalese destitute children, including trafficking
victims, over the last year. With international organization
and NGO assistance, 807 children were reunited with their
families and 69 were trained in vocational centers located in
the Ginndi center. The government also continued to operate
its free child protection hotline out of the Ginndi Center.
In the last year, the hotline received 17,501 calls.

Q2: How can Senegal further the fight against trafficking in
persons?

A: Intensify efforts to prosecute and convict trafficking
offenders; ensure that the Ministry of Interior,s Special
Commissariat Against Sex Tourism and the Tourism Ministry,s
sex tourism police unit arrest suspected sex tourists and
rescue their victims; and increase efforts to raise awareness
about trafficking.



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