INDEPENDENT NEWS

Cablegate: Mozambique: Tip Interim Assessment

Published: Mon 19 Nov 2007 05:54 AM
VZCZCXRO9531
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHTO #1349 3230554
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 190554Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY MAPUTO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8207
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORP 0243
UNCLAS MAPUTO 001349
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
AF/S FOR MSHIELDS
G/TIP FOR RYOUSEY
USAID FOR AFR/SA
MCC FOR SGAULL
SENSITIVE
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KCRM PHUM KWMN PGOV SMIG MZ
SUBJECT: MOZAMBIQUE: TIP INTERIM ASSESSMENT
Ref A) STATE 147232 B) MAPUTO 1293
1. (U) Since March 2007, the Government of Mozambique (GRM) has made
some progress in combating trafficking in persons. The
comprehensive anti-trafficking in persons bill drafted jointly by
the GRM and civil society was approved by the Council of Ministers
in August. The head of the committee responsible for scheduling the
legislative agenda is confident that the bill will be approved by
the National Assembly in March 2008 (Comment: the October-December
National Assembly session was cut short by a month to provide extra
time to prepare for provincial elections, which likely bumped the
anti-TIP bill to the early 2008 National Assembly session End
Comment). Both civil society leaders and US Embassy officials have
already met with the above committee to encourage that the bill be
scheduled for debate and vote in the first trimester of 2008.
2. (U) The GRM has yet to launch a nationwide campaign to foster
public awareness of the issue among government officials and private
citizens. As a result, the majority of the population (including
many law enforcement officials) still does not have a clear
understanding of what constitutes trafficking in persons. The GRM
also continues to lack formalized procedures for identifying
potential victims and transferring them to organizations with the
capacity to provide care. The Mozambican police (PRM) began
including a one-day police (PRM) trafficking seminar for new
officers in the central provinces (Sofala, Tete, Manica, and
Zambezia) begun in 2006 was extended in November to include the
northern provinces. Training began in Nampula and further seminars
are scheduled for Cabo Delgado and Niassa provinces in January and
February 2008. In addition to training, every police station in the
country now has a center for women and children, including
trafficking victims.
3. (U) Since March 2007, law enforcement officials investigated one
case that may have involved trafficking. Some 100 workers at Golden
Fields, a flower company owned by former Foreign Minister Leonard
Simao and his wife, were recruited in Tete and Manica provinces,
promised good working conditions, and provided with transportation
to Maputo Province. Instead an inspector from the Ministry of Labor
found workers in slave-like conditions, working long hours without
proper protective equipment, living in tents, no access to
bathrooms, and no access to safe drinking water. When the workers
complained to the owner and asked to be provided transportation back
to their home provinces, they were denied. Following the visit of
the labor inspector, the GRM immediately suspended the company's
operations and ordered the return of workers to their home
provinces.
CHAPMAN
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