US embassy cable - 05ACCRA432

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 ACCRA 000432 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR G/TIP/RACHEL YOUSEY, G, INL, DRL, PRM, IWI, AND 
AF/RSA 
PLEASE PASS USAID 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KCRM, PHUM, KWMN, SMIG, KFRD, ASEC, PREF, ELAB, GH, Trafficking 
SUBJECT: GHANA 2005 TRAFFICKING-IN-PERSONS REPORT (PART ONE 
OF TWO) 
 
REF: 04 STATE 273089 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1. (SBU) This is the first of post's two-cable response to 
reftel which requests information for the fifth annual 
Trafficking in Persons Report. Ghana has problems with both 
domestic and international human trafficking. The GOG, 
international and local NGOs have combined efforts to focus 
on combating domestic trafficking in children, the cultural 
complacency that allows such trafficking, and related 
hazardous child labor. Efforts to combat international 
trafficking have been hampered by a number of factors: slow 
action on enacting appropriate legislation criminalizing 
trafficking, changes in the leadership of agencies that lead 
GOG efforts on the issue, and the lack of human and material 
resources common to most developing nations. End Summary. 
 
2. (SBU) The following responses are keyed to reftel. 
 
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Para 18: Overview 
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A. (U) Ghana is a source, transit, and destination country 
for women and children trafficked for the purpose of forced 
domestic and commercial labor and sexual exploitation. 
Internal trafficking is more common than cross-border 
trafficking. The Government does not have official figures on 
the number of trafficked persons, either domestic or 
cross-border, and estimates are difficult to come by and of 
limited reliability. The International Organization for 
Migration (IOM) estimates that the number of trafficked 
children working in fishing villages along the Volta Lake is 
well into the thousands. (Note: Even IOM, which manages one 
of the most successful and organized anti-trafficking 
programs in the country, has difficult collecting this kind 
of data. End note.) Women and girls are more vulnerable to 
cross-border trafficking, particularly for the purposes of 
sexual exploitation and domestic servitude. Boys and girls 
are equally vulnerable to trafficking for the purposes of 
labor in the fishing villags and as 'kayaye' (porters) and 
street hawking. 
 
B. (U) Domestically, most trafficking is in children. The GoG 
has identified a number of key 'child trafficking zones' that 
are considered source areas, which are primarily in the 
Central, Western, and southern Volta Regions. Key destination 
areas are found along the fishing villages in the Brong 
Ahafo, Eastern, and Volta Regions, as well as some cocoa 
producing areas in Central and Western Regions. Children are 
often trafficked from the north to the more populated and 
commercial centers in the south to work as domestic servants, 
street sellers, and porters. 
 
Internationally, the majority of trafficking involves 
children being shipped to and from the neighboring countries 
of Cote d'Ivoire, Togo, and Nigeria to work as laborers or 
household help, or young women who are shipped to Western 
Europe, mainly to work as prostitutes. Some Nigerian women 
transit through Ghana on their way to Western Europe to work 
in the sex industry, and there is reportedly some trafficking 
in persons from Burkina Faso, going through Ghana on their 
way to Cote d'Ivoire. GoG officials confirm reports of child 
trafficking to 'Ghana Town', a community of Ghanaian 
fishermen in the Gambia, to work for Ghanaian masters there. 
Children have also been trafficked to Nigeria after their 
Ghanaian guardians were told they were going to work in Togo 
(Note: There is a common ethnic group in the border areas 
between Togo and Ghana, and there is greater cultural 
acceptance in sending one's child to work for 'relatives' in 
Togo than in sending them to work in Nigeria). 
 
C. (U) Due to a lack of current reliable data, we have not 
been able to detect any appreciable changes in the direction 
or extent of trafficking over the past year. 
 
D. (U) Most surveys on child trafficking are conducted in 
connection with specific, localized projects that are jointly 
carried out by NGOs and international organizations and the 
GoG. Such surveys tend to be qualitative, not quantitative, 
in nature and involve interviews with parents, children, 
traditional rulers, and local government officials. There has 
been no survey, and no capacity for such a survey, that would 
account for accurate nationwide statistics on trafficking in 
Ghana. In 2004, the Department of Social Welfare and ILO/IPEC 
conducted a qualitative survey in the Northern Region and the 
Upper East to assess the scope of trafficking in those 
regions. This was the first trafficking field survey in these 
regions to date. Although the final report had not yet been 
released as of March 2005, the Department of Social Welfare 
reports that trafficking is indeed a problem in the north. 
The majority of trafficking in that region is internal - 
traffickers exploit the impoverished conditions of the north 
(a result of prolonged dry seasons and lack of employment 
opportunities there), and children are trafficked to the 
southern regions. 
 
E. (U) Children from Cote d'Ivoire, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria 
are trafficked to Ghana for forced work as laborers, domestic 
servants, and prostitutes. Those trafficked domestically are 
used primarily for labor, such as farming, fishing, 
housekeeping, street vending, and other menial work. They are 
either not paid at all, or are given very low wages. Because 
trafficked children are often sent away by families unable to 
support them, and sometimes in exchange for cash payments, 
they cannot easily return home despite their maltreatment. 
 
F. (U) Children from impoverished rural backgrounds are the 
primary victims of trafficking from Ghana to other countries. 
Much of the recruitment of children between the ages of eight 
and fifteen is done with the consent of the parents, who are 
sometimes given an advance payment or promised regular 
stipends from the recruiter. The parents are told the 
children will receive food, shelter, and often some sort of 
training or education.  Some children are sent to work for 
extended family members in urban areas, who may treat the 
children relatively well. Many, however, are given to 
professional recruiters who, upon reaching the cities, hand 
the children off to those who will be their actual employers. 
At that point, the children begin their work as housemaids, 
hawkers, shop assistants, etc. In many cases, the children 
never receive the education or vocational training the 
recruiters promised. Young Ghanaian women are also reportedly 
targeted by international traffickers promising jobs in 
Western Europe.  They are sent directly from Ghana to Europe, 
mostly Germany, Italy or the Netherlands, or they may be 
transshipped through neighboring countries. Once at their 
final destination, they are commonly forced into 
prostitution. Some young women also end up in the Middle 
East, where they work in menial jobs or as domestic help. 
 
G. (U) There is political will at the highest levels of the 
GoG to combat trafficking-in-persons. In 2004, the Ministers 
for Women and Chidren Affairs (MOWAC) and Manpower, 
Development, and Employment (MMDE, which changed its name in 
January 2005 to Manpower, Youth, and Employment, or MMYE), as 
well as key officials from the Attorney General's office, 
continued to work with the National Task Force to finalize 
draft legislation for an anti-trafficking bill to be put 
before Parliament. The MMDE, MOWAC, the Attorney General's 
office, and the International Labor Organization (ILO) 
collaborated throughout the year to hammer out final details 
of the legislation before submitting it to the ministries for 
final comments. Both of the key ministers involved made 
public statements throughout the year signifying that the 
legislation would unquestionably go before parliament 
(although the timing of such action was always imprecise). 
Additionally, at a September 2004 meeting with Togolese 
officials who work along the border areas, the Minister of 
Interior stated that the strong relationship between Ghana 
and Togo must continue so that it can fight, among other 
border-related crimes, human trafficking. This indicates that 
senior GoG officials are becoming increasingly educated on 
and sensitized to the issue of human trafficking. 
 
The GoG is making a good faith effort to seriously address 
trafficking. Various agencies within the GoG - including the 
police service, Interpol, the Department of Social Welfare, 
the immigration service, and district-level law enforcement 
offices - have worked to combat trafficking despite a lack of 
resources and legislative constraints. As a result of the 
heightened commitment in terms of resources, in 2004, for the 
first time ever, the Department of Social Welfare (which 
falls under the MMYE) included a line item in its annual 
budget for anti-trafficking programs. It increased this 
request in 2005 to accommodate new programs; the 2005 budget 
was still under review in March 2005. In 2005, the Ghana 
Poverty Reduction Scheme is being reviewed (an exercise that 
takes place only every five years), and the MMYE plans to 
include trafficking programs as an updated component in this 
scheme. The significance of this financial commitment to 
combating trafficking by the GoG cannot be underestimated. 
Government agencies in Ghana are all extremely underresourced 
and the competition for material resources, including 
staffing and equipment, is stiff. 
 
In terms of prevention methods, Ghana has a National Plan to 
Combat Trafficking. The National Task Force Against Human 
Trafficking completed its task of drafting anti-trafficking 
legislation in 2004. At the end of 2004, the draft 
legislation was being reviewed by the MOWAC and MMDE for 
formal comment so that it could be put before Parliament in 
2005. This process was delayed by national elections, which 
took place in December 2004. Very little parliamentary action 
on any front took place in the months immediately preceding 
the elections. After the inauguration of the new parliament 
in early January, a Cabinet reshuffling required new 
minister-designates to be vetted by Parliament. The 
reshuffling resulted in new ministers for both MOWAC and 
MMYE, as well as a new Attorney General. Meetings in February 
2005 between the USG, the new ministers for MOWAC and MMYE, 
and the new AG suggested that, despite a change in 
leadership, the political will to combat trafficking is just 
as strong - if not more so - under the new leadership of 
these key ministries. This appears to be reinforced by a 
proposed reshuffling taking place at the Deputy Minister and 
Chief Director levels. Also during the year, the Women and 
Juvenile Unit (WAJU) of the Ghana Police Service and the 
Department of Social Welfare continued to reach out to 
communities with their sensitization campaign. This involved 
holding community meetings in areas affected by trafficking, 
distributing handbills in local languages to educate people 
about the issue, and organizing personal meetings with 
parents in sending areas. In July 2004, the Department of 
Social Welfare conducted a puppet show in a village in the 
Central Region to sensitize a largely illiterate public about 
the dangers of child trafficking. The Department of Social 
Welfare plans to bring its successful traveling puppet show 
to the northern sector when it begins programs there in 2005. 
 
On the protection front, the GoG has continued its "Operation 
Bring Your Children Home" campaign to encourage parents who 
had sold their children to bring them home in exchange for 
business assistance, vocational training, credit facilities, 
and assistance with schools fees and uniforms. The GoG has 
also supported a major anti-trafficking campaign with IOM to 
rescue, rehabilitate, and reintegrate children trafficked to 
the fishing villages in the Volta Region. MOWAC distributed 
school uniforms and supplies to some of the children rescued 
by the IOM project team in the Central Region and has pledged 
to continue assisting IOM in future rescue missions. In 2004, 
the GoG permitted IOM to use a facility (formerly a 
government guest house) in the Brong Ahafo region as a 
rehabilitation facility to carry out counseling and medical 
checkups for children rescued from fishing villages and to 
prepare the children to be reintegrated to their home 
villages. The GoG has also committed the use of two 
facilities in the Central Region and one in the Western 
Region to be used as rehabilitation centers for trafficked 
children for similar purposes in projects that IOM plans to 
carry out in 2005. 
 
There have been few prosecutions related to trafficking. Many 
government/law enforcement officials and NGOs complain that 
the lack of specific laws against trafficking impedes 
prosecution of traffickers. However, the GoG continues to 
prosecute traffickers under existing laws, including 
abduction, child stealing, and child abuse. According to 
WAJU, in 2004, there were 190 cases of reported abduction, 15 
cases of child stealing, and 63 cases of exposing a child to 
harm. Although data is not available on what percentage of 
these cases constitutes trafficking cases, WAJU reports that 
some of these cases would otherwise be prosecuted as 
trafficking under the pending legislation. Data on 
convictions is only available for the Accra region (which 
handles most WAJU cases). In Accra in 2004, there were four 
cases of abduction, one case of kidnapping, 1 case of 
exposing a child to harm prosecuted under the law. Sentences 
ranged from stiff fines and jail time to five years in jail. 
(Note: Even when Ghana enacts anti-trafficking legislation, 
actual prosecution of traffickers will likely be slow in 
coming. The judicial system in Ghana is hugely overtaxed and 
under-resourced. End Note.) 
 
H. (U) One GoG official was implicated in a child trafficking 
case in early 2004. The daughter of a Minister of Parliament 
(MP) was sentenced in the U.S. for bringing a Ghanaian woman 
into the U.S. and forcing her to work as a domestic servant. 
The MP allegedly helped facilitate the woman's entry to the 
U.S. under false pretenses. The U.S. has requested the 
extradition of the MP, who was re-elected in December 2004 
(and therefore continues to enjoy extradition immunity 
privileges under Ghanaian law). The extradition case was 
ongoing at year's end. (Note: Stripping the MP's immunity 
privileges would require a vote by parliament. Although many 
in the GoG do not condone her actions, they are reluctant to 
set a precedent that would involve a removal of immunity 
privileges. End note.) 
 
I. (U) The Government is limited in addressing the problem of 
trafficking by both culture and resources. Child trafficking 
in Ghana is still an unknown concept for many. Children from 
rural communities are commonly sent by their parents to work 
as housemaids for distant relatives in cities. Given the 
severe poverty that many rural families face, sending a child 
to work for well-off relations in the city, with the hope 
that the child will receive some vocational training or 
education, is regarded as a genuine attempt to improve that 
child's opportunities. The idea that sending children to live 
with extended family under these circumstances is 
"trafficking" and morally wrong is is not comprehensible to 
many Ghanaians. Other, more exploitative forms of 
trafficking, such as cross-border trafficking or children 
recruited and trafficked by professionals, are recognized as 
problems by the GoG, but law enforcement authorities are not 
equipped with adequate training or financial resources to 
deal with the problem. As one example, Interpol has a 
one-woman unit in the Ghana Police Service that works with 
trafficking issues without even a functional desktop computer 
(Note: This is not for lack of GoG resources to 
anti-trafficking, but is a common occurrence in many 
government and law enforcement offices in Ghana. End note). 
Access to very basic resources that would improve 
anti-trafficking efforts - such as computer equipment to 
facilitate case management and data collection, adequate 
lines of telecommunication both within the country and across 
borders, adequate physical office space and manpower, and 
ease of transport for investigations throughout the region - 
are challenges that face every law enforcement agency in 
Ghana. 
 
J. (U) The Government does not systematically monitor its 
anti-trafficking efforts. However, for some agencies, data 
collection and case management is improving with the 
assistance of foreign donor contributions. The data and 
assessment measures that do exist, as well as annual reports 
that capture budget expenditures on trafficking and related 
programs, are readily available when requested by Emboffs and 
are often released to the press. The National Task Force 
Against Human Trafficking meets regularly to assess its 
progress and to discuss future action in its efforts. 
 
K. (U) Prostitution is illegal in Ghana, but the commercial 
sex industry is active nonetheless, and contributes to the 
problem of HIV/AIDS in Ghana. The prevalence of commercial 
sex workers is highest in the urban and transportation 
centers around the country. Law enforcement efforts to 
prosecute commercial sex workers are woefully inadequate for 
the scope of the problem. A low-profile debate persists in 
civil society about whether prostitution should be legalized 
so that public resources can be devoted to helping control 
the spread of HIV/AIDS in this population, or whether the 
very underresourced law enforcement agencies should be more 
vigilant in prosecuting prostitutes. 
 
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Para 19: Prevention 
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A. (U) The GoG adopted the ECOWAS Plan of Action in October 
2001, and openly acknowledges that trafficking is a problem. 
With the development of its National Plan, the GoG has begun 
to address the problem on a coordinated and systematic basis. 
The ECOWAS Plan mandated that states establish an operational 
National Task Force on Trafficking by June 2002 and begin 
national awareness campaigns. In early 2002, the Vice 
President formally launched Ghana's National Task Force on 
Trafficking in Persons, three months ahead of the ECOWAS 
deadline at an ILO-sponsored conference on child trafficking 
in Ghana. The Ministers of MOWAC and MMDE frequently made 
public statements about the problem of child trafficking 
throughout the year. In September 2004, the ILO sponsored a 
workshop to promote the media's sensitization to the issue 
and to call for media practitioners to responsibly highlight 
the problem of child trafficking and child labor in Ghana. 
Additionally, other senior officials have made public 
statements concerning child trafficking (see para 18 G). In 
June 2004, MOWAC and the District Chief Executive (DCE) of a 
community in the Eastern Region announced it had identified a 
child trafficking zone in that area. The DCE said that it 
would work with MOWAC to collect data on children who had 
been trafficked from that area and help reintegrate them into 
the community. 
 
Some traditional rulers in Ghana have played a key part in to 
anti-trafficking efforts. In many remote and rural areas, 
traditional leadership carries far greater weight in 
communities than central government leadership. For example, 
an IOM project has rescued children trafficked from a remote 
island village in the Brong Ahafo region identified as a 
destination village for internal trafficking. Local leaders 
have demonstrated cooperation with the IOM initiative to 
rescue the children and help train fisherman in other trades 
that will reduce their reliance on cheap labor. Traditional 
leaders in both source and destination villages within Ghana 
have been cooperative with NGOs, IOs, and the GoG in their 
efforts to sensitize communities about the issue. For 
thousands of illiterates in the numerous remote and isolated 
regions, the buy-in of traditional leaders is essential. GoG 
sensitization campaigns have also involved critical outreach 
to these traditional rulers. 
 
B. (U) The key ministries engaged with trafficking issues are 
the Ministry for Manpower, Youth, and Employment (formerly 
Manpower, Development, and Employment; the Department of 
Social Welfare is part of this ministry), the Ministry for 
Women and Children Affairs, and the Ministry of Justice. 
Other ministries that are involved on program implementation 
at the community level include the Ministry of Education, the 
Ministry of Health, and the Ministry for Local Government and 
Rural Development. 
 
C. (U) There have been many government-run anti-trafficking 
public campaigns (see para 18 G). In addition to these 
programs, the MOWAC released a public statement in November 
2004 to mark the International Day of Prevention of 
Abuse/Violence Against Children, which noted an increase in 
the problem of child trafficking and the need for greater 
awareness of children's rights and welfare. The Department of 
Social Welfare actively conducts sensitizations campaigns 
that target the sending villages, especially in the Central 
Region. This involves reaching out to parents, schools, and 
community leaders to educate them about the issue of 
trafficking. At a workshop in April 2004, the head of the 
Ghana Child Labor Unit noted that part of its "Operation 
Bring Your Children Home" campaign included direct outreach 
in selected schools. 
 
D. (U) In 2004-05, the Department of Social Welfare and 
ILO/IPEC began a new program to train parents who had 
trafficked their children to acquire marketable skills to 
help meet their economic needs and prevent them from 
trafficking their children again (their children had been 
rescued and reintegrated). The sensitization phase of this 
campaign was conducted in late 2004, and the training phase 
was ongoing in March 2005. The Department of Social Welfare 
plans to monitor and assess the output of this program later 
in 2005. Meanwhile, the Ghana Education Service stepped up 
its efforts to protect the rights and welfare of children. 
The GoG strongly supported the U.N.'s Education for All 
goals. The Ghana Education Service (GES) actively campaigned 
in 2004 for expanded education of girls by providing 
scholarships at the Junior Secondary School (JSS) and Senior 
Secondary School (SSS) levels and by providing incentives for 
female teachers to teach in rural areas. The GES also placed 
Girls Education Officers at the regional and district levels. 
These efforts have been accompanied by increased government 
support of 'informal' schools, which target children who go 
to school but also work to help support their families. 
 
E. (U) Due to the scarcity of resources, the GoG is able to 
support prevention programs in a very limited capacity. For 
example, the host government contribution (usually in the 
form of human resources) to many ongoing ILO/IPEC programs is 
approximately 10%, depending on the specific project (e.g., 
some projects have a slightly higher GoG contribution, some 
have a slightly lower contribution). For the first time in 
2004, the MMYE included a line item in its annual budget 
request for anti-trafficking programs (see para 18 G). 
 
F. (U) The Government's relationship with NGOs, international 
organizations, and civil society is constructive. The 
Embassy's NGO, IO, and civil society contacts have been 
unanimous in their view that the new ministers at MOWAC and 
MMYE, who were appointed in February 2005, will be 
cooperative on TIP issues. 
 
G. (U) The Director of Ghana Immigration is committed to 
combating human trafficking and has begun training officers 
to detect human trafficking.  However, the GOG does not have 
the required resources to adequately monitor and control 
Ghana's lengthy land borders. The lack of sufficient data to 
monitor immigration patterns, for example, stems from the 
lack of communication infrastructure between border posts and 
their regional offices. In 2004, the Department of Social 
Welfare increased its communication with airport officials to 
be watchful for potential trafficking through the airport. 
The Department is concerned about fraudulent adoption cases 
and potential criminal motives behind these cases. 
 
H. (U) See para 18 G and 19 A. 
 
I. (U) See para 18 D and G, and 19 A, D, and F. Additionally 
Interpol, a part of the Ghana Police Service, is very active 
in anti-trafficking efforts in cross-border cases. However, 
law enforcement and NGO leaders complain that there is a 
serious lack of cross-border coordination and that more must 
be done to improve communication between relevant agencies in 
the sub-region. One success story: In 2002, the GoG and ILO 
sponsored a bilateral conference for Ghana and Nigeria on the 
issue of human trafficking in Accra. As a result of 
partnerships formed at this conference, the head of the 
trafficking unit at Interpol-Ghana and a contact in Nigeria 
(who also attended the bilateral conference) were able to 
work together in November 2004 to identify six Ghanaian girls 
who had been trafficked from Ghana to Lagos, Nigeria. The 
girls were later successfully returned to Ghana. 
 
J. (U) The GOG has a National Plan to Combat Trafficking as 
well as a National Task Force made up of the Ministries of 
Justice, Manpower Youth and Employment, and Women and 
Children's Affairs, the National Police, Ghana Immigration, 
and members of Civil Society.  The Task Force has had a slow 
start after the initial inauguration in 2002, in large part 
because of changes in leadership in important Ministries such 
as Manpower Development and Employment. However, most of the 
same actors are involved in a joint GOG-ILO/IPEC Steering 
Committee to Combat Trafficking at a lower, more operational 
level, which helps coordinate trafficking programs 
nationwide. A key first step outlined in the National Action 
Plan was the drafting of anti-trafficking legislation to put 
before parliament. This process was completed in 2004, and 
the legislation has moved to the point of Cabinet 
consideration as of March 2005. 
 
K. (U)  The Ministry of Justice has the lead on developing 
the new law against trafficking.  The MMYE takes the lead on 
the program level to combating child labor as well as child 
trafficking. When the legislation goes to Cabinet for final 
consideration before the parliamentary vote, Cabinet will 
recommend whether the MOWAC or MMYE should chair the 
Executive Secretariat. 
 
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END OF PART ONE 
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YATES