U.S. Department of State 2005 Trafficking in Persons Report - Guinea

Guinea (Tier 2 Watch List)

Guinea is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor. Guinean girls are trafficked internally for forced labor as domestic servants and boys for shoe shining and street vending. Some children are also trafficked for forced labor in agriculture and diamond mining camps. Women and girls are trafficked to Cote D'Ivoire, Benin, Senegal, Nigeria, South Africa, Spain, and Greece for sexual exploitation. On a smaller scale, men are trafficked for forced labor in agriculture. Guinea is a destination country for forced child labor from Mali, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, and Senegal.

The Government of Guinea does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. Guinea is placed on Tier 2 Watch List for its failure to show increasing efforts to combat trafficking in persons over the past year. To enhance its trafficking efforts, Guinea needs to work regionally to detect and prevent trafficking from occurring along its borders, increase law enforcement efforts, and implement its national plan to address trafficking in the country, which should include prevention and outreach campaigns.

Prosecution

The Government of Guinea showed only minimal law enforcement efforts over the past year. It did not produce any trafficking-related prosecutions or convictions and it continued to lack a clear law enforcement strategy to address trafficking in the country. Efforts to adopt more stringent legal reforms on trafficking-related matters are pending. Currently, Guinean law prohibits forced labor and the exploitation of vulnerable persons for unpaid or underpaid labor. Trafficking in persons carries a penalty of five to ten years' imprisonment and the confiscation of any money or property received for trafficking activities. While law enforcement efforts under these and other laws remained weak, the police dismantled a trafficking ring in 2004 that resulted in the arrest and deportation of 100 individuals. Limited training was also provided to 15 police officers on trafficking-related matters. In an effort to track individuals and hotels suspected of trafficking, the government undertook an effort to register all small hotels. The government is currently negotiating terms of agreements with neighboring countries to facilitate the return of trafficking victims. Corruption remains a problem and impedes cross-border trafficking investigations, yet the government reported no investigations or prosecutions of corrupt officials.

Protection

The government, hampered by resource constraints, did not provide adequate protection for victims of trafficking during the reporting period. Victims are usually transferred to NGOs and missionary groups for care and assistance. In a few cases, however, the government was able to provide limited assistance to victims of trafficking, mainly in the form of rescue and referrals to NGOs. The government, in collaboration with an NGO, assisted in the rescue of over 600 children from cocoa and coffee fields.

Prevention

The government's prevention efforts remained ad hoc and lacked clear focus during the last year, in large part due to its paucity of resources. Nonetheless, the government did carry out some limited prevention campaigns. The government appointed an official to serve as the anti-trafficking coordinator and drafted a national plan of action on trafficking, which remains largely unimplemented. During the reporting period, the government broadcast a program related to trafficking in women and children and the rights of the child on a state-run television station.