MOZAMBIQUE SUBMISSION: TENTH ANNUAL TRAFFICKING IN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MAPUTO 000163 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KFRD KWMN PGOV PHUM PREF SMIG PREL, MZ SUBJECT: MOZAMBIQUE SUBMISSION: TENTH ANNUAL TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS (TIP) REPORT REF: STATE 2094 -------------- OVERVIEW OF TIP SITUATION -------------- ¶1. (SBU) Mozambique is a source and possibly a destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation. The use of forced child laborers is a common practice in Mozambique's urban and rural areas, often with the complicity of family members. Women and girls are trafficked from rural to urban areas of Mozambique, as well as to South Africa, often with the promise of employment and/or education, for domestic servitude and commercial sexual exploitation in brothels; young men and boys are trafficked to South Africa mainly for farm work and mining. The IOM and the Mozambican Police (PRM) estimate that annually 1,000 Mozambicans are trafficked to South Africa. While this is an estimate, for the first time in 2009, the PRM kept statistics on victims of trafficking. ¶2. (SBU) Trafficking of human organs to support the traditional healing industry in South Africa and Mozambique is relatively widespread and continues despite awareness raised in a 2009 report issued by the League of Human Rights (LDH). Domestic and cross-border trafficking routes are also used to smuggle illicit drugs, with facilitators involved simultaneously or alternately in trafficking and drug smuggling. Traffickers are typically part of networks of Mozambican and/or South African citizens; however, involvement of larger Chinese and Nigerian syndicates of human traffickers have been reported. Pakistani, Somali, as well as Central and East African nationals were involved in the smuggling of primarily Pakistani and Somali nationals from several countries including Zambia, Malawi, Kenya, and Tanzania, through Mozambique, to South Africa. These smuggling cases included some trafficking. Zimbabwean and Malawian women and girls continued to be trafficked to Mozambique for sexual exploitation and domestic servitude. ¶3. (SBU) The Ministries of Interior, Women and Social Action, and Justice are most prominently involved in anti-trafficking efforts, although a general lack of financial and human resources, as well as the absence of implementing regulation for the 2008 Trafficking in Persons Law, greatly limited their ability to address the problem. The responsibility for drafting the implementing regulations for the 2008 TIP law resides with the Ministry of Justice, which may need some technical assistance if the implementing regulations are to be completed in a timely fashion. Without implementing regulations, the PRM is not comfortable arresting suspected traffickers under the TIP law, making the law of little value. ¶4. (SBU) The Government of Mozambique (GRM) complies with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, having made some efforts to do so over the past year. While the GRM did not prosecute and/or convict arrested traffickers, it increased the PRM's ability to track and assist victims of trafficking and continued to develop public awareness. -------------- SETTING THE SCENE FOR GRM ANTI-TIP EFFORTS -------------- ¶5. (SBU) In 2008, Mozambique successfully passed the first-ever anti-TIP law in southern Africa, showing clear awareness of TIP as a problem in the country; however, implementing regulations have not yet been drafted. Media coverage of TIP over the past year was less significant than in the previous year. The Ministries of Interior, Justice, and Women and Social Action are the lead ministries in the GRM charged with combating sex and labor trafficking. However, without implementing regulations for the 2008 TIP law, it remains unclear which ministry has the lead on this issue. Funding for victims assistance is rudimentary. For example, UNICEF provided assistance to the police in order to establish the first-ever police station specifically designed to assist women and children, including victims of trafficking, in Maputo. The police also trained officers on how to take action on TIP cases; however, there were insufficient resources to place a TIP-trained officer in every police squadron in the country. ¶6. (SBU) Transparency International's 2009 Corruption Perceptions Index ranks Mozambique in 130th position out of 180 countries, describing corruption as "rampant." Bribery, though considered a criminal offense, is commonplace. MAPUTO 00000163 002 OF 003 Traffickers commonly use bribery to traffic victims domestically and across international borders into South Africa and Swaziland, sometimes without passports. Mozambican border officials frequently stamp passports without the physical presence of the holder, and border officials have been known to back-date entry and departure stamps. The GRM took steps to modernize the national identification and passport systems in Mozambique; however media reports question the transparency of the contract awarded by the Ministry of Interior. There were no arrests or convictions to date under the 2008 TIP law; however the GRM, in concert with local and international NGOs, took steps to increase victim protection and TIP prevention. The GRM did not provide a public assessment of its own anti-TIP efforts. -------------- INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION -------------- ¶7. (SBU) The 2008 TIP law provides for significant prison sentences for those found guilty of recruiting, transporting, sheltering, or otherwise assisting in trafficking in persons. The law also outlines protection and prevention measures, government support of trafficked persons, and whistleblower protection. The GRM agreed to budget $360,000 in support of enforcing the new law. Unfortunately, implementing regulations for this law have yet to be published by the Ministry of Justice. The lag time between the adoption of legislation and implementing regulations can be quite lengthy. ¶8. (SBU) Mozambican law prohibits rape but was not effectively enforced. Penalties ranged from two to eight years imprisonment if the victim is 12 years of age or older, and eight to 12 years imprisonment if the victim is under the age of 12. In June 2009, the Mozambican Parliament passed a law prohibiting domestic violence, which increased penalties related to domestic violence against women. Previously spousal abuse was considered assault, carrying lesser penalties. Prostitution is not illegal, but is governed by several laws against indecency and immoral behavior and restricted to certain areas. ¶9. (SBU) The PRM reported breaking up several trafficking schemes, arresting several drivers and facilitators, including in at least one case, the trafficker sponsoring the entire operation. For example, in January 2010, the police arrested a Mozambican woman named Laureciana Clemente Fernando aka "Mauncha" in Beira for allegedly running a criminal ring involved in both the sale of hard drugs and human trafficking for the purposes of domestic prostitution. Fernando had at least one police officer on her payroll, according to news reports. In the past year, media coverage of trafficking cases decreased significantly compared to the prior year. ¶10. (SBU) In April 2008, 29 year-old Mozambican and South African dual-national Aldina "Diana" dos Santos was arrested in South Africa and charged with trafficking over 30 Mozambican girls between the ages of 14 and 20 to South Africa to staff her brothel in upscale Moreleta Park, Pretoria, operational since 2005. In the course of the trial, which continued at the writing of this report, the court heard testimony about how Diana sexually exploited and tortured Mozambican young women after having trafficked them from Mozambique, many times without passports. The question of sentencing in the Diana case is particularly cumbersome given the absence of a TIP law in South Africa. The Ministry of Interior cooperated closely with South African authorities to develop evidence in this case. ¶11. (SBU) The Human Rights League (LDH) published a comprehensive report in January 2009 substantiating claims of regular mutilations occurring in Mozambique of body parts, primarily genitalia, forcibly removed primarily from children but also adults, either while the victims were still alive or immediately following violent death. Media covered the otherwise-taboo issue following the report, and the GRM stated that it was aware of the problem. These forcible removals cause either death or serious disability, and the organs are trafficked primarily to South Africa, but also in Mozambique to support the traditional healing industry. GRM officials and members of civil society were generally unwilling to discuss this issue due to the stigmas associated with trafficking in human parts as well as fear of the organized crime rings associated with these acts, and media coverage of the report was minimal. ¶12. (SBU) Anti-trafficking seminars for new police officers begun in 2006 continued country-wide. The training was MAPUTO 00000163 003 OF 003 supported by several NGOs. There is no evidence of widespread government involvement in or tolerance of trafficking; however there are known cases of GRM officials facilitating both TIP and human organ trafficking. No GRM officials have been prosecuted for complicity in TIP. There were no cases of government involvement in extradition of persons charged with trafficking in other countries. International child sex tourism has not been identified by the government as an area of concern. -------------- PROTECTION AND ASSISTANCE -------------- ¶13. (SBU) Mozambican civil society has, over the past year, continued to expand awareness of trafficking issues, publicizing the issue of trafficking and partnering with the GRM to develop a viable anti-trafficking strategy in the run-up to the 2010 World Cup, however the GRM itself has taken few steps to limit TIP in advance of the 2010 World Cup. While no GRM statistics on trafficking existed until recently, victims of trafficking were reportedly taken to "training centers" in Swaziland and South Africa in preparation for the increased demand for prostitution during the 2010 World Cup, according to civil society members. The GRM's efforts to protect victims of trafficking continued to suffer from a lack of resources; government officials regularly relied on NGOs to provide shelter, food, counseling, and rehabilitation for victims of trafficking. A dedicated toll-free number, 116, became fully operational in November 2009 allowing persons to report crimes against children, including trafficking. Line 116 received 5,239 calls from November through December 2009. An international NGO manages the country's only permanent shelter for child trafficking victims, which operates on land donated by the Moamba District government. -------------- PREVENTION -------------- ¶14. (SBU) The GRM's prevention efforts remained limited. Most anti-trafficking educational workshops were run by NGOs with government participation. Some of these conferences and workshops proved very successful, particularly in raising public awareness of the issue. Media coverage of TIP cases significantly diminished over the past year. NGOs continued prominent campaigns against TIP, to include billboards, posters, and pamphlets displayed at international borders, in police stations, and along major transit routes. Law enforcement officials at major border crossings communicated and cooperated with NGOs monitoring immigration patterns to screen for potential trafficking victims, but these officials remained prone to bribery by traffickers. -------------- TIP COMMENDABLE INITIATIVES -------------- ¶15. (SBU) The Mozambican League of Human Rights (LDH) should be commended for its ongoing attempt to raise awareness about trafficking of human body parts for non-medical or traditional medicinal purposes, a TIP issue that has yet to be defined by international convention. Following the January 2009 report which raised awareness of the problem, the organization continued to engage both the GRM and the public on this issue. In the GRM, Director of the Interior Ministry's Department of Women and Children Lurdes Mabunda has been especially helpful in protecting vicitms of TIP. -------------- POST CONTACT -------------- ¶16. (U) Embassy point of contact on TIP is Etienne LeBailly, Political officer. Tel: 258 21 492 797 ext. 3423; fax: 258 21 490 448; cellular phone 258 84 310 7270. Principal FSO drafter (FS-3) and LES political assistant spent 80 hours researching and drafting this cable. The DCM (FE-OC) spent one hour, other P/E officers spent two hours, including the editing/clearing process. Total hours: 83. ROWE