2007 Trafficking in Persons Report - Center for Women Policy Studies

appropriate. Victim advocates assist all trafficking
victims with legal advice and support. All victims
are provided shelter and access to legal, medical
and psychological services. The PISG provides 24-
hour protection to victims and allows anonymous
testimony in cases where the victim’s safety is at
risk. In 2006, the Victims’ Advocacy and Assistance
Unit moved from the UNMIK Department of
Justice to the new Ministry of Justice. The Ministry
of Justice’s Victims’ Advocacy assisted 35 victims of
trafficking in 2006 and IOM assisted 538 trafficking
victims, of whom 51% were Moldovans. Funding
for shelters remained inadequate. The Ministry of
Labor and Social Welfare provided some funding
for a shelter for internal trafficking victims. The largest
shelter for foreign trafficking victims received no
government funding and relied on foreign donors;
it closed due to insufficient funds.
Prevention
Most anti-trafficking campaigns are run by international
organizations and NGOs with the PISG’s
support. IOM and the Ministry of Justice sponsor
anti-trafficking hotlines. The Ministry of Education,
Science and Technology circulated informational
brochures in primary and secondary schools and
introduced counter-trafficking information in school
curricula. Kosovo named a national anti-trafficking
coordinator and adopted a Kosovo Action Plan.
SIERRA LEONE (Tier 2)
Sierra Leone is a source and transit country, and
may be a destination country, for children and
women trafficked for the purposes of forced labor
and commercial sexual exploitation. Within the
country, women and children are trafficked from
rural provinces to towns and mining areas for
domestic servitude, sexual exploitation as well as
forced labor in diamond mines, petty trading, petty
crime and begging. Women and children may also
be trafficked for forced labor in agriculture and the
fishing industry. Transnationally, Sierra Leonean
women and children are trafficked to other West
African countries, notably Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire,
Liberia, Nigeria, Guinea-Bissau, and The Gambia,
for the same purposes listed above and to North
Africa, the Middle East, and Western Europe for
domestic servitude and sexual exploitation. Women
and children may also be trafficked from Liberia
and Guinea for forced labor in mines and sexual
exploitation.
The Government of Sierra Leone does not fully
comply with the minimum standards for the elimination
of trafficking; however, it is making significant
efforts to do so, despite limited resources. To
strengthen its response to trafficking, Sierra Leone
should: continue to increase law enforcement
efforts against traffickers; improve its data collection
on the number of traffickers and victims identified;
train government officials about trafficking,
including officials at Sierra Leonean embassies and
consulates in destination countries; and implement
its 2007 national action plan to combat trafficking.
Prosecution
The Government of Sierra Leone demonstrated
increased law enforcement efforts over the reporting
period. Sierra Leone prohibits all forms of trafficking
through its 2005 Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act,
which prescribes a maximum punishment of 10
years’ imprisonment. This punishment is sufficiently
stringent and commensurate with penalties
for rape. Between January 2006 and February 2007,
the government reported 12 trafficking investigations
and seven prosecutions. During the reporting
period, Sierra Leone convicted its first trafficker
under its 2005 law, imposing penalty of five years’
imprisonment. The government has provided
venues for NGO-sponsored law enforcement training
on the 2005 law against trafficking. However,
there is limited coordination between police and
ministries responsible for combating trafficking. In
2006, the Sierra Leone Police Family Support Unit
(FSU), which is responsible for combating trafficking,
added fields for all forms of trafficking to its
crime database, although data collected to date are
not uniformly reliable.
Protection
The Government of Sierra Leone took limited steps
to protect victims over the past year. Although
the government does not operate shelters for
trafficking victims, police identified and referred
an unknown number of victims to the Ministry
of Social Welfare (MOSW) for further referral to
NGOs for care. The MOSW, in coordination with
NGOs, has conducted training for social workers to
provide trafficking victim assistance in FSU offices
nationwide. The government has collaborated with
UNICEF and NGOs to create a protection network
for street children, many of whom are vulnerable
to being trafficked or may be escaped trafficking
victims. Sierra Leone does not train employees in its
embassies and consulates in destination countries
to provide care to victims or establish relationships
with anti-trafficking NGOs in those countries. The
government does not encourage victims, many of
whom are children, to participate in trafficking
S I E R R A L E O N E
181