SITE VISIT TO LEGAL RESOURCES CENTER, GHANA

UNCLAS ACCRA 000029

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM KTIP KCRM KWMN GH
SUBJECT: SITE VISIT TO LEGAL RESOURCES CENTER, GHANA

REF: STATE 57798

UNCLASSIFIED
NONE 01/11/2010
CHARGE:JFURUTA-TOY
POL:RWSTEPHENS,MBUNNELL
POL: BSHUKAN
AID AMB DCM ECON POL RAO RSO

AMEMBASSY ACCRA
SECSTATE WASHDC

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM KTIP KCRM KWMN GH
SUBJECT: SITE VISIT TO LEGAL RESOURCES CENTER, GHANA

REF: STATE 57798


1. (U) SUMMARY: Per reftel, Poloff and Democracy and Human
Rights Program Coordinator (DHRC) conducted a site visit
December 17 at the Legal Resources Center (LRC) to assess
the Center's progress in
implementing its $400,000 two year G/TIP funded project.
Six months after signing its grant agreement, LRC has made
limited progress in meeting project requirements, holding
just one training session for 28
people. LRC has made little progress in providing the
advisory and technical assistance to the GOG that is
required by the grant, and has not begun the public
awareness campaign to highlight the dangers of
trafficking. Of substantial concern to post, appeared
unaware that the government,s Trafficking Management Board
had been reconstituted in the Autumn. If LRC is to achieve
the ambitious objectives of this project, it will need to
significantly step up the pace of its work. Post plans to
conduct more frequent oversight visits to assess and
encourage progress toward grant benchmarks. END
SUMMARY


2. (U) On December 17, Emboffs visited the Legal Resources
Center (LRC) to assess progress in meeting the requirements
of the USG grant. Emboffs met with Executive Director
Tuinese Edward Amuzu, Director of Programs Daphne Lariba
Nabila, Legal Practitioner Dzifa Ami Gakpleazi, and
Director of Finance
and Administration Joseph Awekoli Asobayire.


3. (U) (Note: The meeting was secured after some
difficulty. DHRC called the LRC on
December 14 to schedule a meeting to discuss the FY 2009
G/TIP grant. LRC staff appeared surprised to hear from the
Embassy and put DHRC on hold for approximately five
minutes before being disconnected. DHRC re-established
contact after several attempts and
spoke with
Dzifa Ami Gakpleazi who again asked for clarification of
the purpose of the meeting. Dzifa said she needed to
receive approval from her boss before scheduling a meeting.
End Note.)


4. (U) LRC signed an agreement with G/TIP on June 4, 2009
for the $400,000 two-year project. The Statement of Work
requires LRC to implement seven specific objectives,
including conducting specialized training for law
enforcement officials, prosecutors, immigration and customs
officials, defense lawyers, and the judiciary. The
agreement also requires LRC to serve as a standing legal
resource for Ghana,s Trafficking Management Board, assist
the Ministry of Women and Children,s Affairs (MOWAC) with a
shelter project and to develop guidelines to handle
victims, publicize the prosecution of trafficking cases,
and provide technical assistance to the Attorney General's
office to reform current TIP laws.

Training:
--------------


5. (U) The only area in which LRC has taken concrete steps
to implement the G/TIP grant concerns training, and it does
not appear to be on track at this point to meet the
agreement,s ambitious training requirements. The agreement
requires the Center to conduct six two-to-five-day training
sessions per year for a total of 12 training sessions
through which 600 individuals (immigration officials, law
enforcement, prosecutors, and judges) will be trained.
After six months, the LRC has conducted one two-day
training session and has one training session scheduled for
January 2010. The Center invited 50
people to the training session conducted in September, and
28 people participated. Not all participants were present
on both days.

6. (U) The agreement also requires LRC to develop and
implement a training curriculum for Ghanaian peacekeepers.
In addition, LRC is required to train (4 sessions per year, 8
total)
400 additional police and military personnel. The LRC has
not yet conducted this training, nor has it scheduled
seminars. The Center is also required to develop and
implement a sustainable training system within the
Military Academy and Police Training School but has not yet
developed the curriculum.

Legal Resource & Advisory Obligations:
--------------


7. (U) At this stage LRC has demonstrated no progress in
implementing its obligations to serve as a resource and
advisor to the Ghanaian government to strengthen
anti-trafficking activities. The agreement requires LRC to
serve as advisors to the GOG Trafficking Management Board,
to advise MOWAC on the protection of victims, and to
provide technical assistance to the Attorney General to
update anti-trafficking legislation. When Poloff asked the
LRC Executive Director what actions the
Center has taken to assist the Board, the Executive
Director responded vaguely about being in touch with
the board. After further discussion, it became clear that
LRC has had no communication with the Board
and was in fact unaware that the Board had been
reconstituted in early Autumn by the current government.
(Note: The prior Trafficking Management Board was dissolved
when the new administration
took office in January 2009. End Note).


8. (U) Emboffs asked about the Center's efforts to develop
comprehensive guidelines for victims' assistance and
referrals as part of the Shelter Project of the Ministry of
Women and Children (MOWAC). LRC did not provide any
evidence that it has begun working with MOWAC on shelter or
victim assistance issues, nor did it provide evidence that
it has begun working with the Attorney General on
legislative reform.

Public Awareness:
--------------


9. (U) The agreement requires LRC to conduct a public
awareness campaign to publicize prosecutions and sensitize
the general public on the dangers of human trafficking and
laws that deal with trafficking. However, at the December
17 meeting, LRC staff provided no indication of
preparations for the media campaign.

The Way Forward:
--------------


10. (U) Following this initial site visit, our impression
is that LRC is not on track to meet the ambitious
requirements of the G/TIP grant. If LRC continues at this
pace it will be difficult to meet grant requirements within
the two year time frame. The quality of LRC,s written
material appears to be quite high (we were impressed, for
example, by the PowerPoint slides LRC used in its first
training session),but this level of quality does not
appear representative of how LRC is implementing the
project. LRC needs to be more pro-active in engaging
government agencies with which they are required to
collaborate, and needs a greater sense of urgency in its
approach to implementing the numerous requirements of this
project. In the only area that it has made progress,
training, it does not appear remotely close to meeting the
project targets. Going forward, post plans to conduct
more regular oversight visits with LRC, using a structured
checklist to measure implementation of the project. To
provide incentives and ensure compliance, we also recommend
that payment disbursements be tied to progress reported in
these Embassy assessments.

FURUTA-TOY
FURUTA-TOY