US embassy cable - 03ACCRA437

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 ACCRA 000437 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR G/TIP, G, INL, DRL, PRM, IWI, AF/W 
DEPT PLEASE PASS TO USAID 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KCRM, PHUM, KWMN, SMIG, KFRD, ASEC, PREF, ELAB, GH, Trafficking 
SUBJECT: TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT - GHANA 
 
REF: STATE 22225 
 
 1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The following is AmEmb Accra's response to 
the tasker requesting information for the second annual 
Trafficking in Persons Report. In summary, Ghana has problems 
with both domestic and international human trafficking.  The 
GOG and local NGOs have so far combined efforts to focus on 
combating domestic trafficking in children and the cultural 
complacency that allows such trafficking and the resulting 
child labor to occur.  Efforts to combat international 
trafficking have been hampered by a number of factors: slow 
action on enacting appropriate legislation criminalizing 
trafficking, changes in the directorship of the agencies that 
lead GOG efforts on the issue, and the simple lack of 
resources common to most developing nations. END SUMMARY 
 
2. (SBU) The following responses are keyed to Ref A. 
 
----------------- 
Para 16: Overview 
----------------- 
 
A. (U) Ghana is both a country of origin and a destination 
for internationally trafficked persons.  However, 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. 
 
B. (U) Domestically, most trafficking is in children, with 
northerners more likely to be trafficked than southerners. 
Boys are sent from the Northern Region to work in the fishing 
communities in the Volta Region, and girls from the Northern 
and Eastern Regions to the cities of Accra and Kumasi to work 
as domestic helpers, porters, and assistants to local 
traders. 
 
Internationally, the majority of trafficking involves 
children between the ages of seven and seventeen 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, 
mostly to work as prostitutes.  Ghana is also a transit 
country.  There is a growing trade in Nigerian women 
transiting 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. 
 
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) The most detailed studies on child trafficking have 
been done by the African Center for Human Development (April 
2000), and the Ministry of Manpower and Employment in 
conjunction with the ILO (February 2001).  Other local and 
international organizations, both governmental and 
non-governmental, have looked at the issue of trafficking in 
persons, but mostly in the broader context of child labor. 
 
E. (U) Ghana is not a major destination for international 
trafficked victims.  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) The Ghanaian Government continues to show an increased 
awareness of the problem of trafficking and the political 
will to address it. The GOG hosted a Meeting of Experts 
Against Trafficking In Persons on October 23-24, 2001, which 
was sponsored by the Economic Community of West African 
States (ECOWAS) and the United Nations Office for Drug 
Control and Crime Prevention (UNODCCP). GOG attorneys served 
as principal drafters and organizers of the conference. 
 
The resulting "ECOWAS Initial Plan of Action to Combat 
Trafficking in Persons" for 2002-2003, called on member 
states to ratify international and regional anti-crime 
conventions, adopt uniform laws against trafficking in 
persons, implement measures to protect and assist the 
trafficking victims, sensitize and educate government and law 
enforcement officials to view trafficking as a crime, and 
discourage the demand for trafficked persons in their 
countries.  The ECOWAS Plan mandated that states establish an 
operational National Task Force on Trafficking by June 2002 
and begin national awareness campaigns. 
 
Since the ECOWAS conference, the largest area of action has 
been in prevention through public outreach campaigns. 
Several high-level GOG officials have responded publicly to 
implement Ghana,s National Plan to Combat Trafficking and 
raise public awareness on the issue.  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.  This 
conference was attended by a high-level delegation, including 
five ministers.  The Ministry of Justice leads the Task 
Force, which is made up of representatives from the 
Ministries of Manpower Development and Employment, Ministry 
of Women and Children,s Affairs, the National Police, Ghana 
Immigration, and members of Civil Society. 
 
In other examples of public outreach, the Minister of Women 
and Children's Affairs and some Members of Parliament seized 
the opportunity presented by commemorative events such as the 
OAU Day of the African Child (June 16, 2002) and National 
Children,s Day (Aug 21, 2002) to heighten national awareness 
of trafficking in children.  A Supreme Court Justice has been 
quoted in the press warning of the dangers and penalties for 
exploiting children.  The Justice, who chairs a National 
Multi-Sectoral Child Protection Committee, was inaugurating a 
branch of the committee in the Brong-Ahafo Region. 
 
Government and law enforcement officials have participated 
extensively in public awareness outreach campaigns as well as 
training programs sponsored by the USG and 
local/international NGOs.  Last Spring, INS Accra and Post 
RSO recommended a rising Ghana Immigration official to attend 
an International Visitor Program on Human Trafficking. 
Several months after the program, that official rose to the 
top to become the Director of Ghana Immigration.  Impressed 
by the program, she helped organize seminars for immigration 
officers to sensitize them on the issue of trafficking. 
Officials from the Ministry of Manpower Development and 
Employment, Social Welfare Division have been engaged in 
ILO/IPEC training and awareness projects on combating child 
labor - the most common form of human trafficking within 
Ghana. GOG officials have worked side-by-side with NGOs in 
distributing posters and bumper stickers, presenting 
theatrical messages in local communities, and encouraging 
school art and essay competitions.  Officials from the 
Department of Social Welfare attended an ILO/IPEC 
"train-the-trainers" workshop on child labor monitoring in 
December 2002. 
 
Second, the GOG has worked closely with NGOs to provide 
protection - focusing on rescue and rehabilitation of 
internally trafficked children.  ILO/IPEC and the Ministry of 
Manpower Development and Employment are currently embarking 
on an initiative to return street children (many of whom are 
runaway trafficking victims) back to their homes in the 
north. This Street Children initiative is part of the 
government,s Poverty Reduction Program funded by a loan from 
the World Bank. Out of the 30 children selected for the 
project, only 18 appeared for the return trip.  Both ILO/IPEC 
and the Ministry are looking for ways to provide more 
counseling and education to the children before attempting to 
repatriate them to their communities.  As the Ministry,s 
Social Welfare Department has limited resources such as 
children,s homes, vehicles, and counselors, the government 
is tapping into the (also limited) resources of local NGOs. 
 
The International Organization for Migration, funded through 
PRM, has begun an initiative to rescue, rehabilitate, and 
return child trafficking victims who are working in fishing 
villages in the Brong-Ahafo Region.  The programs seeks to 
encourage fishermen to release the children in exchange for 
training or equipment that would enable them to fish without 
the use of children.  It is interesting to note that many 
organizations are seeking to address domestic trafficking 
outside the formal legal system.  The problems listed in the 
following paragraph may explain this. 
Prosecution efforts have been the slowest to materialize. 
Many government/law enforcement officials and NGOs complain 
that the lack of specific laws against trafficking impedes 
prosecution of traffickers (who are prosecuted under other 
laws, see para 18, A). Last year,s TIP report noted that 
Ghana,s National Plan involved amending the Ghanaian 
criminal code to define trafficking in persons as a crime. 
The Ministry of Justice has explained that the delay in 
enacting the legislation is due to a decision to draft 
in-depth stand-alone legislation criminalizing trafficking 
rather than amending existing laws. The first draft, which 
among other things would establish specific penalties for 
trafficking is nearly completed.  It is scheduled to soon go 
to stakeholders for comments, and be submitted to Parliament 
for action by Fall 2003.  (COMMENT: Even if Ghana enacts 
anti-trafficking legislation soon, actual prosecution of 
traffickers will likely be slow in coming. The judicial 
system in Ghana is completely under-resourced, (most courts 
lack information technology capability, for example), 
creating an incredible backlog of cases waiting to go to 
trial. END COMMENT) 
 
H. (U) There is no evidence that Government authorities, or 
individual members of government forces, act to facilitate, 
condone, are complicit, take bribes, or assist in trafficking 
operations. 
 
I. (U) The Government is limited in addressing the problem of 
trafficking by both culture and resources.  Child trafficking 
in Ghana is difficult to define.  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" 
would make no sense to many Ghanaians.  Other, more 
exploitative forms of trafficking, such as cross-border 
trafficking or situations where the children are recruited by 
professionals who traffic them for profit, are recognized as 
problems by the Government, but law enforcement authorities 
are not equipped with adequate training or financial 
resources to deal with the problem. 
 
------------------- 
Para 17: Prevention 
------------------- 
 
A. (U) With the adoption of the ECOWAS Plan in October 2001, 
the GOG has openly acknowledged that trafficking is a 
problem, and with the development of its National Plan, has 
begun to address the problem on a coordinated and systematic 
basis (see para 16, G). 
 
B. (U) See para 16, G. 
 
C. (U) A local NGO, The African Center for Human Development 
(AFCHD), has taken several full-page newspaper advertisements 
on their efforts to combat child trafficking within Ghana, 
and on their new rescue and rehabilitation centers for 
rescued children. They have held numerous workshops for local 
leaders, traditional rulers, social workers and law 
enforcement, as well as radio shows in local languages 
discussing the consequences of trafficking and child labor. 
They report an overwhelming response to their efforts. 
Families and trafficked children are seeking out the 
assistance of the ACFHD.  There are even some local fishermen 
who have volunteered to return trafficked children who work 
for them to their families. 
 
The ILO International Program the Elimination of Child Labor 
(ILO/IPEC) has specific programs to combat trafficking.  They 
also use radio and television programs in local languages to 
sensitize communities in what they call "recruitment areas." 
ILO/IPEC is currently working on flyers of information - 
designed to address the cultural underpinnings of child 
trafficking - to pass out to communities, local 
transportation owners and officials, which should be 
completed by Spring 2003. In addition, they are working with 
the Ghana National Drama Company to portray a television 
drama on trafficking using nationally recognized stars.  This 
film will also be used in sensitization and training 
programs. 
 
U.S. Embassy in Accra funds several gender-based NGOs through 
its Democracy and Human Rights Fund.  These organizations run 
empowerment and education workshops on violence against women 
and children.  INL program funds, administered by the local 
UNDP office in coordination with the Embassy, have funded 
several NGOs as well as the Women and Juvenile Police Unit 
(WAJU), focusing on crisis center establishment, counseling, 
police training and community outreach on abuse of women and 
children.  Although these projects are not specifically 
targeted at trafficking in persons, they are crucial to 
tackling the underlying culture that supports crimes against 
vulnerable populations, such as trafficking in women and 
children.  All of the above efforts have been successful in 
the sense that real needs are being addressed, so much so 
that NGOs and local authorities are starting to feel pressure 
on their resources to adequately deal with rescue, 
rehabilitation and reintegration of trafficked children to 
their homes. 
 
D. (U) The Government of Ghana has agreed to pay ten percent 
of the cost of an ILO/IPEC program called "Combatting 
Trafficking in Children for Labor Exploitation in West and 
Central Africa," which includes both training of government 
and NGO officials in the rehabilitation of trafficked 
children and a public relations campaign.  In addition, the 
GOG supports programs designed to empower women and children 
that indirectly help prevent trafficking.  Certain components 
of the Government's National Poverty Reduction Program are 
designed to alleviate child poverty and improve children's 
access to education, and the Ministry of Women's Affairs runs 
programs which serve to educate women on the importance of 
children's education. 
 
E. (U)  The Government does support programs (see above), 
though scarcity of resources is always a problem. 
 
F. (U) The Government's relationship with NGOs, international 
organizations, and civil society is constructive. 
 
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. 
 
H. (U) See para 16, G. 
 
I. (U) See para 16, G.  In addition, the Ministry of Manpower 
Development and Employment has conducted studies on child 
labor with the ILO which touch on the problem of trafficking 
in children. 
 
J. (U) The GOG does have a National Plan to Combat 
Trafficking as well as a National Task Force made up of the 
Ministries of Justice, Manpower Development 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 large 
part because of changes in directorships 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 functional level, which helps coordinate 
trafficking programs nationwide. 
 
K. (U)  The Ministry of Justice has the lead on developing 
the new law against trafficking.  The Ministry of Manpower 
Development and Employment takes the lead on the program 
level to combating child labor as well as child trafficking. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
Para 18, Investigation and Prosecution of Traffickers 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
A. (U) There is no specific provision in Ghanaian law 
outlawing trafficking in persons.  There are laws against 
slavery, prostitution, rape (or child rape, termed 
"defilement"), use of underage labor, manufacture of 
fraudulent documentation, etc.  Traffickers are prosecuted 
under these statutes.  However, the Ministry of Justice is 
currently finalizing a draft law criminalizing human 
trafficking that will soon go out to stakeholders for 
comment.  It is estimated the draft legislation will go to 
Parliament in the Fall 2003. 
B. (U) There are currently no specific penalties for 
trafficking, but penalties for related offenses range from 
six months to 25 years (see above). 
 
C. (U) In June 1998, Parliament passed comprehensive 
legislation to protect women and children's rights.  The bill 
doubled the mandatory sentence for rape, making it punishable 
by 5 to 25 years in prison.  It also banned the practice of 
ritual servitude, criminalized indecent assault and forced 
marriage, and raised the punishments for defilement, incest, 
and prostitution involving children.  There is no specific 
penalty for trafficking in persons, although a specific 
penalty is envisioned for the trafficking law being drafted. 
 
D. (U) Traffickers have been prosecuted under statutes listed 
in para 18, A.  Penalties imposed range from several months 
to many years in prison. Sentences for rape or defilement, 
for example, are often 10 to 15 years in length.  Information 
on sentencing of traffickers is not kept separately from 
other data on sentencing for rape, kidnapping, and other 
offenses for which traffickers can be prosecuted. 
 
E. (U) Within Ghana, brokers or recruiters procure children 
from rural areas and move them to the locations where they 
will work (see para 16, F).  These recruiters may move as 
many as ten children at one time.  Internationally, some 
trafficking groups are reportedly taking advantage of Ghana's 
growing international air links by moving Nigerian women 
through Ghana to Europe as a way of avoiding stricter airport 
controls in Nigeria. 
 
F. (U) Local law enforcement does not use any special 
techniques in the detection or investigation of trafficking; 
however, there are several current cases involving detection 
of trafficking by police through tip-offs by local residents, 
and arrests have been made (under the related offenses 
mentioned above). 
 
G. (U) The National Plan to Combat Trafficking includes a 
training component for police and immigration officials. 
Presently, Ghana Immigration does attempt to identify 
traffickers and trafficked persons through the detection of 
fraudulent documentation.  In the past year, Ghana 
Immigration Service (GIS) has been successful in stopping 
child traffickers in the north of Ghana.  INS Accra and Post 
RSO recommended three candidates from GIS and the National 
Police to participate in the International Visitors' Program 
for training in connection with human trafficking.  The 
candidates traveled in the Spring of 2002. This program 
inspired the GIS official, who shortly after the IVP program 
rose to Director, to provide seminars to her officers. INS 
Accra, as well as the immigration services of other Embassies 
in Ghana, have trained GIS officials in the detection of fake 
documents such as passports and visas.  GIS has been 
receptive to such training, and has called on INS and 
Consular officials on many occasions when they have had 
questions about travelers going to the U.S. who they suspect 
may be victims of trafficking.  Many government officials and 
law enforcement agencies have attended training sponsored by 
local and international NGOs in the past year. 
 
H. (U) See para 16, G, for discussion of GOG cooperation with 
its neighbors in the ECOWAS sub-region.  In addition, Ghana 
Immigration has been very receptive to training in the 
detection of fake documents and other techniques to prevent 
trafficking and various forms of illegal immigration (see 
above). 
 
I. (U) We have no examples of the extradition of accused 
traffickers. 
J. (SBU) There is no evidence of government involvement in or 
tolerance of international trafficking.  However, it is more 
difficult to assess the Government's position on domestic 
trafficking.  It is commonplace for poor children from rural 
areas to go to cities to work as domestic help for extended 
family relations.  This is not viewed as "trafficking" and is 
not illegal in Ghana, but is seen as a way of giving the 
children improved opportunity. 
 
K. (U) We are unaware of any Government officials involved in 
trafficking. 
 
L. (U) Ghanaian Parliament ratified ILO Convention 182 in May 
2001.  Ghana ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the 
Child in 1989, becoming one of the first countries do so. 
The Government passed a Children's Act in 1998, which 
specifies the rights of children in Ghana and codifies the 
law in such areas as child custody, health, and education. 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
Para 19, Protection and Assistance to Victims 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
A. (U) Any protection or shelter given to the victims of 
trafficking, either international or domestic, is done on a 
case-by-case basis, as resources are limited.  In many cases, 
the authorities do try to reunite trafficked and abused 
children with their families.  NGOs have sought to provide 
services the police and social services cannot by 
establishing a few crisis centers. However, as awareness of 
the problem grows and trafficking victims seek assistance, 
the limited resources for providing such assistance becomes 
more strapped. 
 
B. (U) See para 17, D. 
 
C. (U) If they are arrested, the victims of international 
trafficking are prosecuted on an occasional, case-by-case 
basis, for offenses such as possession of altered travel 
documents.  In 2000, Ghana Immigration officials detained six 
PRC nationals with fake U.S. visas who were being trafficked 
through Accra from Hong Kong to the United States.  The PRC 
nationals were prosecuted for possession of counterfeit 
documents and sentenced to six months in a local prison. 
 
D. (SBU) We are unaware of trafficking victims' being 
encouraged to seek redress against traffickers. 
 
E. (U) The Government does not provide specific protection 
for victims of trafficking beyond those available to all 
crime victims or witnesses. 
 
F. (U) Aside from Ghana Immigration,s internal trafficking 
seminars, Post is not aware of any other GOG funded training. 
Much of the specialized training for officials in the past 
year has been sponsored by NGOs with outside donor funds. 
The Women and Juvenile Unit (WAJU) of the National Police, 
using INL funds, is currently working on internal training as 
well as community outreach initiatives on trafficking and 
domestic violence issues. 
 
G. (U) Repatriated victims of trafficking are given 
assistance on an ad hoc basis.  Though the Government has no 
formal program to provide assistance to victims of 
trafficking per se, WAJU assists victims of abuse and 
violence, including trafficking victims.  Crisis centers are 
extremely few. The Department of Social Welfare has a few 
children,s homes and remand homes, but these are generally 
inappropriate and inadequate to deal with trafficking 
victims. Many NGOs, working closely with local authorities, 
are beginning to step in where official resources are lacking 
to provide safe havens, counseling and transportation back 
home. 
 
H. (U) Several NGOs, both local and international, work with 
trafficking victims.  African Centre for Human Development, 
Save the Children UK, Children in Need, Action Aid, Catholic 
Action for Street Children, the Gender and Human Rights 
Documentation Center, Catholic Relief Services, Street Girls 
Aid, ILO/IPEC and UNICEF all work in the areas of child labor 
and support for street children.  These organizations, as 
well as the University of Ghana's Center for Social Policy 
Studies, conduct studies into trafficking as part of their 
broader agenda, perform some rescue operations for street 
kids, provide training and education for victims of 
trafficking and abuse, and in some cases, assist with family 
reunification. 
 
---------------- 
Point of Contact 
---------------- 
 
3. (U) Embassy point of contact for this report is PolOff 
Kerry Schnier; telephone (233-21)-775-348, ext. 239; fax 
(233-21)-776-008. 
PERGL