Guinea-Bissau - Corruption
Guinea-Bissau's lack of capacity to control its porous land, maritime and air borders and offshore territory, weak state structures, political instability, and widespread impunity expose the country as a safe haven for organized crime networks. Over the past years, Guinea-Bissau has been on top of the international agenda due to its highly unstable political situation and the observed increase in cocaine trafficking. Encouraging progress has recently been made by national authorities in breaking the political and institutional deadlock that has persisted in Guinea-Bissau, which has seen seven prime ministers appointed between August 2015 and December 2019.
Cocaine is not the only illicit drug trafficked through West Africa and drug trafficking is not the only transnational criminal venture spending in the region. Criminal networks, based in West Africa, have also been trafficking in human beings, small arms, light weapons, and natural resources, as well as having been involved in the smuggling of migrants, counterfeiting, e-fraud, and the illegal dumping of toxic wastes. Although there is no reliable estimate of the amount of dirty money reinvested in West African countries, the amounts can be considerable. Strengthening border and territorial controls, law enforcement agencies' operational capabilities, legal frameworks, and enforcement mechanisms against organized crime, money laundering, and corruption are all measures required to restore the authority of the state and the rule of law.
Socioeconomic development is also key for rebuilding countries like Guinea-Bissau, but development assistance must reach its intended beneficiaries. Complete transparency and strict accountability is required in the allocation and use of the development assistance. In post-conflict weakened countries like Guinea-Bissau, reconstruction must start with the security and justice sectors and be accompanied by economic investments. International support is needed to help governments in the region firmly establish justice and security as one of the cornerstones of their countries' development.
There is no record of investigations, prosecutions, or convictions for the offense of money laundering, and corruption within the government points to internal obstacles to the fight against drug trafficking and money laundering. Some of the arrested traffickers and seized narcotics have later vanished from the state’s prisons and coffers, with no explanation forthcoming from the Bissau-Guinean authorities.
Members of the military and civilian administration reportedly trafficked in drugs and assisted international drug cartels by providing access to the country and its transportation infrastructure. Antonio Indjai, the former head of the armed forces, continued to circulate freely in the country. A fugitive still subject to a 2012 UN travel ban for his involvement in a successful 2012 coup d’etat, the 61-year-old Indjai was purported to retain significant influence within the military. President Sissoco publicly refused to honor a foreign government’s request to extradite Indjai on drug trafficking charge, asserting Guinea-Bissau would try him if he were found to have committed crimes on Bissau-Guinean soil.
In February 2020 Antonio Indjai was seen participating in the inauguration of Prime Minister Nuno Nabiam along with President Sissoco and other senior military officials. In September 2020 the Judicial Police arrested the former migration services director for interference in a drug raid in the International Airport Osvaldo Vieira in March 2020. He remained at home awaiting trial. The government did not prosecute any cases of officials involved in drug trafficking during the year.
Human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Guinea-Bissau, and traffickers exploit victims from Guinea-Bissau abroad. Child forced begging is the most prevalent form of human trafficking. Corrupt Quranic teachers exploit their students in forced begging in informal Quranic schools (daaras) and do not provide an education. The traffickers are principally men from the Bafata and Gabu regions or other West African countries. Corrupt Quranic teachers exploit Guinea-Bissau’s weak institutions and porous borders to transport large numbers of Bissau-Guinean boys to Senegal – and to a lesser extent Mali, Guinea, and The Gambia – for forced begging in exploitative daaras. Corrupt Quranic teachers also force Bissau-Guinean, Guinean, Gambian, and Sierra Leonean boys to beg in Bissau. In some cases, due to lack of economic or educational alternatives, families willingly send their children to Senegal knowing they may be forced to beg.
Some military and civilian authorities were also complicit in trafficking in illegally cut timber. In November 2020 the Judicial Police seized a large quantity of logs cut illegally in the country’s national forest. The timber had been cut by a company in which Prime Minister Nuno Nabiam allegedly had financial interests. In December 2020 the Judicial Police requested that the Prosecutor’s Office question the prime minister regarding his participation in illegal logging and sale of timber. The interior minister and National Guard commander were also reportedly under investigation.
Traffickers force Bissau-Guinean and other West African boys to harvest cashews during Guinea-Bissau’s annual harvest, and some boys recruited for work in the harvest are then forced to beg. Traffickers exploit boys in forced labor in street vending and shoe-shining in Bissau. Traffickers exploit Bissau-Guinean girls in domestic servitude and in sex trafficking in bars, nightclubs, and hotels in Bissau. There are reports tourists from Europe, South America, and North America traveling to Bafata for hunting or fishing trips exploit girls in sex trafficking, and tourists reportedly exploit children in sex trafficking in the Bijagos, an archipelago largely devoid of government and law enforcement presence.
Traffickers exploit Bissau-Guinean boys in agriculture, mining, and street vending in Senegal, especially around the southern cities of Kolda and Ziguinchor. Traffickers exploit Bissau-Guinean girls in sex trafficking and forced labor in street vending and domestic work in Guinea, The Gambia, and Senegal. Senegalese trafficking networks recruit Bissau-Guinean girls for modeling jobs or traveling football clubs and exploit them in sex trafficking. Traffickers fraudulently recruit and exploit Bissau-Guinean women in domestic servitude in Guinea-Bissau and abroad. According to sources, there were 34 to 50 Cuban regime-affiliated medical professionals working in Guinea-Bissau. The government paid the Cuban regime directly for workers services, leaving professionals vulnerable to wage confiscation. Cuban regime-affiliated workers were not allowed to travel outside the country, and it was unclear if workers were able to keep their passports. The Cuban regime may have forced Cuban regime-affiliated professionals to work in Guinea-Bissau.
The Government of Guinea-Bissau does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so. The government demonstrated overall increasing efforts compared with the previous reporting period; therefore, Guinea-Bissau was upgraded to Tier 2. These efforts included prosecuting and convicting two traffickers; these were the first trafficking prosecutions reported in five years and the first convictions under the anti-trafficking law. The government identified and referred more trafficking victims to services and cooperated with a foreign government to repatriate Bissau-Guinean child trafficking victims. However, the government did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas. The government did not allocate dedicated funds for anti-trafficking efforts. Authorities initiated fewer investigations. Efforts to identify adult victims and overall services for victims remained inadequate. Official corruption and complicity, especially in the judiciary, remained a significant concern and impeded anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts. Weak case management and data collection hindered the government’s ability to track victim protection and law enforcement statistics.
Many officials viewed human trafficking, especially child forced begging, as a cultural practice instead of a crime. The government reported investigating, prosecuting, and convicting four migration police officers and four civil registration workers for forging documents and facilitating illegal border crossings of migrants. Despite these efforts, official corruption and complicity in trafficking crimes remained concerns, inhibiting law enforcement action during the year. The judicial system lacked sufficient personnel and resources to function effectively, especially in rural areas, and corruption and impunity remained pervasive. Judges reportedly did not take trafficking cases seriously and were often influenced by imams to drop child forced begging cases. There was no record keeping system in place at the criminal court, which hampered the government’s ability to track law enforcement efforts.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
