U.S. Department of State 2007 Trafficking in Persons Report - Cote D'Ivoire

Cote D'Ivoire (Tier 2)

Cote d'Ivoire is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Trafficking within the country is more prevalent than international trafficking. Women and girls are trafficked from northern rebel-controlled areas to southern cities for domestic servitude, restaurant labor, and sexual exploitation. Boys are trafficked internally for agricultural and manual labor. Transnationally, boys are trafficked from Ghana, Mali and Burkina Faso for forced agricultural labor; from Guinea for forced mining, from Togo for forced construction labor, from Benin for forced carpentry work, and from Ghana and Togo for forced labor in the fishing industry. During the year, Ivorian boys were also trafficked to Mali through false promises of jobs in Europe as soccer players. Women and girls are trafficked to and from other West and Central African countries for domestic servitude and forced street vending. Women and girls from Ghana, Nigeria, the People's Republic of China, Ukraine, the Philippines, and North Africa are trafficked to Cote d'Ivoire for sexual exploitation. A local NGO estimated that, in 2006, 58 percent of females in prostitution in Abidjan were not citizens. Women are also trafficked from and through Cote d'Ivoire to Europe for sexual exploitation. Refugee and displaced children in Cote d'Ivoire are likely also trafficked within the region. Ivorian children are also conscripted into armed forces by rebel and militia groups.

The Government of Cote d'Ivoire does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. To strengthen its response to trafficking, the government should enact its draft statute against child trafficking, draft and enact a law against trafficking of adults, investigate reports of security forces exploiting women in prostitution, ensure that victims are not arrested or prosecuted, reach out to NGOs and the international community to develop a system of care for adult trafficking victims, and adopt the national action plan to combat trafficking.

Prosecution

The Government of Cote d'Ivoire demonstrated modest efforts to address trafficking though law enforcement during the reporting period. Ivorian law does not prohibit all forms of trafficking, but laws against child abuse, forced labor, and pimping are used to prosecute traffickers. In January 2007, the government drafted a new bill prohibiting child trafficking and child labor. The bill has yet to receive cabinet approval. In March 2007, an Ivorian court convicted a Taiwanese man and Philippine woman for trafficking four Philippine women to Abidjan for sexual exploitation, and the government closed down the bar in which the victims were exploited. The penalty imposed on the traffickers, however – six months' imprisonment, a fine of $1,000, and restitution of $10,000 to each of the victims – is inadequate. In June 2006, a judge convicted a man for charges relating to trafficking 13 children to Cote d'Ivoire from Togo, but imposed a sentence of only one year in prison. The government arrested nine additional suspected traffickers and released two, but failed to follow up law enforcement information about the others. NGOs report that security forces often use their position to sexually exploit women in prostitution. The government trained four judges and 15 security and defense officers about trafficking.

Protection

The government demonstrated steady efforts to protect trafficking victims in the last year. The government does not operate victim shelters, but continued to provide offices and personnel to an NGO and a foreign aid organization assisting victims. The government provided personnel to assist the ILO in establishing 13 village-level, and five regional, anti-trafficking and child protection committees. Police rescued at least 57 foreign child victims, referring 42 of them to NGOs or foreign aid organizations for repatriation. The police brought 13 of these children to a government social center for a night, but by morning the victims had fled. The police handed two Beninese victims to a Beninese chief in Cote d'Ivoire for further referral to the Beninese Embassy. The government does not encourage victims to assist in investigations and prosecutions of their traffickers. The government does not provide legal alternatives to the removal of foreign victims to countries where they face hardship or retribution. Some trafficking victims are penalized for prostitution or document fraud, unlawful activities they committed as a direct result of their being trafficked.

Prevention

The Government of Cote d'Ivoire made sustained efforts to prevent trafficking. The government held trafficking public awareness campaigns targeting potential victims, traditional chiefs, religious leaders, local government officials, school inspectors and headmasters, and business leaders. The government finalized its national action plan against trafficking, which awaits cabinet approval. Cote d'Ivoire has not ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol.