This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 DJIBOUTI 000240 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR G/TIP, G, INL, DRL, PRM, IWI, AF/RSA; 
STATE PLEASE PASS TO USAID, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, 
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, 
DEPARTMENT OF TREASURY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG KFRD ASEC PREF ELAB DJ SO ET
SUBJECT: DJIBOUTI - 2005 ANNUAL ANTI-TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS 
REPORT 
 
REF: 2004 SECSTATE 273089 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Djibouti is reportedly a country of 
transit and a country of destination for internationally 
trafficked persons. There is no evidence to suggest that 
Djibouti is a country of origin. The trafficking problem in 
Djibouti is vague and undocumented. Post would like to 
emphasize that there is a dearth of solid evidence and 
statistics to make a true case for Trafficking in Persons as 
a large problem for the Government of Djibouti. However, 
Djibouti has numerous children working as prostitutes, most 
of them economic migrants from neighboring countries. 
Unfortunately, it is difficult to determine exactly how many 
children are working as prostitutes. Some estimates place 
the total number of prostitutes in Djibouti to be between 
500 and 600, a small portion believed to be under the age of 
¶18.  The Government does not see Trafficking in general as a 
problem and does not have laws in place to address the 
issue.  Djibouti does have laws against prostitution and 
exploitation of a person's weakness or ignorance. However, 
these laws do not cover the full extent of Trafficking in 
Persons issues.  Djibouti also lacks resources to 
sufficiently train its security forces to recognize 
trafficking, establish prevention programs, find and 
prosecute traffickers, and establish programs to protect 
victims of Trafficking. Post's sources for information 
included in this report are the Ministries of Justice, 
Labor, and Health, the Border Police, Interpol, the Police 
Vice Squad, and several local NGOs. End Summary. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --------------- 
------------------------ 
Overview of Djibouti's Activities to Eliminate Trafficking 
in Persons 
--------------------------------------------- --------------- 
------------------------ 
¶A.   According to information gathered by Post, Djibouti is 
not a country of origin for internationally trafficked 
persons.  However, Djibouti is described as a country of 
transit and country of destination for trafficked persons. 
Reports from international and local non-Governmental 
Organizations indicate that Djibouti has a problem with 
child prostitution. These child prostitutes are mostly 
economic migrants or persons smuggled from Ethiopia and 
Somalia who resort to prostitution in order to provide for 
their families.  There are also girls from poor Djiboutian 
families that use prostitution as a means of income.  There 
is little evidence that any of the girls are smuggled into 
Djibouti specifically for child sex tourism. Insufficient or 
non-existent monitoring of migration and labor statistics 
makes it nearly impossible to determine whether trafficking 
occurs within the country's borders.  A large number of 
youth from poverty-stricken interior districts migrate to 
the city to seek work.  There is little evidence to suggest 
that these economic migrants become victims of trafficking. 
There are no areas in Djibouti that are outside the 
government's control.  Due to the extreme dearth of accurate 
statistics in Djibouti, it is difficult to discern how many 
of the smuggled economic migrants become victims of 
trafficking, if any.  It is also very difficult to determine 
the number of children working as prostitutes. 
 
¶B.   Sources at local and international NGOs indicate that 
persons trafficked into Djibouti, or persons who migrate to 
Djibouti and become victims of trafficking, come from 
Ethiopia, Somalia and the self-proclaimed independent 
Republic of Somaliland. The same sources, as well as 
Djibouti's Interpol Office, report that occasionally persons 
are trafficked to Arab countries, Somalia and Somaliland. 
The destination of many economic migrants, who become 
victims of trafficking through child prostitution, is 
Djibouti City and the Ethiopia-Djibouti trucking corridor. 
 
¶C.   Due to lack of statistics and/or monitoring of the 
trafficking situation, it is not possible to determine 
whether any changes in the direction or extent of 
trafficking has occurred. 
 
¶D.   There are currently no government or independent 
efforts planned or underway to document the extent and 
nature of trafficking in Djibouti.  There were no new 
reports or surveys made available during research for this 
year's report. 
 
¶E.   In the respect that Djibouti is considered to have a 
small problem of trafficking in persons in the form of child 
prostitution, the conditions girls are trafficked into vary. 
Some prostitutes work out of the street, some in apartments 
or brothels, others are rumored to be house girls. 
Embassy's contact within the "Brigade des Meurs," the Police 
Vice Squad, estimated the total number of prostitutes in 
Djibouti to be between 500 and 600. Among those, he 
personally knew of around twenty girls that were under the 
age of 18.  For the majority of street children that work as 
prostitutes, living conditions are miserable. Information 
from local NGOs indicates that there are some older street 
children that force younger children to work in prostitution 
in order to collect their earnings.  It is generally 
understood that girls working as prostitutes can leave the 
profession if they desire, but few have other employment 
options.  NGOs report that there is no known organized 
structure to prostitution, but individuals acting as pimps 
or protectors are frequently used to set up transactions. 
Street children working as prostitutes usually give portions 
of their revenues to an older child that acts as 
mentor/protector. 
¶F. There is no evidence to suggest that Djibouti is 
currently a country of origin for international trafficked 
persons. There was one case of several Djiboutian girls 
being taken to Syria in 1998 with false promises of 
employment. 
 
¶G.  As there is little proof that a Trafficking in Persons 
problem exists in Djibouti, there is currently no political 
will to address, or combat, the issue. Few resources are 
devoted to training for security forces, prevention, 
protection, and prosecution of Trafficking in Persons. 
Research showed no evidence of government officials linked 
to TIP. 
 
¶H.  There is no information to suggest that authorities or 
members of government forces facilitate or condone 
trafficking. Local NGOs suggested that some agents of the 
Border Police might receive bribes from smugglers. However, 
they did not believe that these bribes were connected to any 
TIP activities. However, there is no firm evidence of these 
allegations. 
 
¶I.    The Government of Djibouti lacks resources in many 
areas to adequately address the problem of Trafficking in 
Persons. Sources at the Border Patrol indicate that there 
are gaps in monitoring of the borders in areas where there 
is not a Border Post. There is also a lack of funding for 
the Labor Inspector's Bureau, which consists of one 
Inspector and six Controllers. The current state of labor 
inspection makes it nearly impossible to accurately assess 
labor conditions throughout the country. Resources to 
adequately train government security forces on how to 
recognize Trafficking in Persons are also lacking.  There is 
little to no capacity to provide government resources to aid 
the victims of trafficking. 
 
¶J.   The government does not have specific efforts to 
counter trafficking in terms of prosecution, prevention, and 
victim protection. It therefore does not systematically 
monitor or publish any anti-trafficking efforts. 
 
¶K.  Prostitution is illegal under the Penal Code of 
Djibouti, however there is a complicit tolerance of its 
existence. The prostitutes, brothel owners, clients, pimps 
and enforcers' activities are all criminalized. These laws 
are only enforced when the Police come across activities in 
the streets, rarely in cases of clubs, brothels or 
apartments that house prostitutes. 
 
-------------- 
Prevention 
-------------- 
¶A.  As the problem of trafficking is not very visible and no 
concrete statistics can be found, the government does not 
acknowledge that trafficking is a problem in Djibouti. 
 
¶B.   There is no specialized agency within the Government 
for trafficking in persons, but Interpol and the Police Vice 
Squad would have primary responsibility. 
 
¶C.   There have not been any recent government-run anti- 
trafficking public education campaigns. 
 
¶D.  The Ministry of Women's affairs conducts programs to 
promote inclusion of women in politics and business. Micro- 
credit loans assist women in creating income-generating 
activities. The Ministry of Education is also in the process 
of implementing programs to keep children in school. The 
compulsory age for schooling has been raised from 14 to 16. 
The Ministry is also beginning to implement programs to 
track the number of students that leave school, and their 
reasons for leaving, in efforts to combat this problem. 
 
¶E.   The government does not currently have the resources to 
support prevention programs for Trafficking in Persons. 
 
¶F.   There is little to no cooperation between government 
officials, NGOs and other organizations that deal with 
trafficking in persons. There are a few local NGOs that are 
devoted to caring for street children or educating adult 
prostitutes in other employment skills. 
 
¶G.   According to the Border Patrol, the government can only 
adequately monitor its borders where an outpost exists. 
Areas without a checkpoint are not monitored at all. Neither 
Border Patrol or Immigration services monitors immigration 
and emigration patterns for evidence of trafficking. 
Immigrations services does, however, look for patterns of 
smuggling. The head of Border Police stated the Government 
has increased its border patrols to prevent potential 
terrorists from entering the country. However, he said they 
only receive general training for recognizing patterns of 
trafficking. 
 
¶H.   No agencies in Djibouti exist to combat trafficking, 
nor is there a trafficking persons task force or public 
corruption task force. 
 
¶I.    The Government does not participate in any working 
groups or efforts to combat trafficking. 
 
¶J.   The Government does not have a national plan of action 
to address trafficking in persons. 
 
¶K.   There is no entity or person responsible for developing 
anti-trafficking programs within the Government. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
Investigation and Prosecution of Traffickers 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
¶A.   Djibouti does not have a specific law prohibiting 
trafficking in persons. The only law in the penal code that 
could possibly be used to prosecute a Trafficking in Persons 
crime is the "exploitation of the weakness and ignorance of 
persons." 
 
¶B.  Exploitation of the weakness and ignorance of a person 
is punishable by a minimum of five years imprisonment. This 
is the only law that could cover either trafficking for 
sexual exploitation or labor exploitation. 
 
¶C.    The penalty for rape is a minimum of five years 
imprisonment. The penalty for forcible sexual assault is 
considered a misdemeanor and has a maximum of five years 
imprisonment. 
 
¶D.    Court officials indicated there were no recent 
prosecutions of traffickers. 
 
¶E.   In terms of child prostitution, there are reports that 
indicate older street children force younger ones to work as 
prostitutes in order to collect their earnings. There are no 
reports of organized crime syndicates. Revenues from child 
prostitution are normally used for subsistence living. There 
are no reports that revenues from prostitution goes any 
further than the prostitute or their protector/pimp. 
 
¶F.   The last international trafficking case to be 
investigated was in 1998, when several Djiboutian girls were 
trafficked into Syria under false promises of employment. 
The Government actively investigated this case, which 
resulted in the imprisonment of three individuals and the 
safe return of most of the victims. The investigation 
remains open, though the local Interpol office indicated 
that another girl was located in 2004. Interpol indicated 
that it does not use active investigative techniques, such 
as electronic surveillance, undercover operations, and 
mitigated punishment or immunity for cooperating suspects. 
However, Interpol stated that these techniques were not 
outlawed by Djiboutian law, there was merely inadequate 
resources to utilize such techniques. 
 
¶G.   The Government does not provide any specialized 
training for government officials in how to recognize, 
investigate, and prosecute instances of trafficking. 
 
¶H.   The Government does cooperate with other governments in 
the investigation and prosecution of trafficking cases 
through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Interpol. There 
is no information available on the number of recent 
cooperative investigations. 
 
¶I.    Djiboutian nationals charged with Trafficking are not 
extradited and are prosecuted by national courts. It is 
prohibited by law to extradite Djiboutian nationals. 
Foreigners are also prosecuted in national courts, but can 
be extradited to their country of origin if there is an 
extradition treaty with that country. There are no numbers 
available as to how many, if any, traffickers have been 
extradited. However, French soldiers accused of a crime, 
such as pedophilia, in Djibouti are extradited and tried in 
France in accordance with their extradition treaty.  The 
Government of Djibouti does not plan to modify its laws to 
permit the extradition of its own nationals. 
 
¶J.    There is no evidence of government involvement in, or 
tolerance of, trafficking on a local or institutional level. 
 
¶K.   No government officials have been prosecuted for 
involvement in trafficking or trafficking-related corruption 
in recent years. 
 
¶L.   There is no evidence to suggest that child sex tourism 
exists in Djibouti, but a few cases of pedophilia have been 
reported. Court officials and Interpol stated a very small 
number of French soldiers were extradited after being 
charged with pedophilia. 
 
¶M.  Djibouti signed and ratified ILO convention 182 in June 
21, 2004. ILO conventions 29 and 105 have also been 
ratified. Djibouti has not ratified the Optional protocol to 
the Convention on the rights of the Child on the sale of 
children, child prostitution, and child pornography or the 
Protocol to prevent, suppress and punish Trafficking in 
Persons, especially Women and Children, supplementing the UN 
Convention Against Organized Transnational Crime. However, 
Djibouti has signed and ratified the African Charter of 
Human Rights. 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
Protection and Assistance to Victims 
--------------------------------------------- 
¶A.   There is no special assistance available to victims of 
trafficking, they are treated the same as victims of any 
other crime. Due to budget constraints, victims get whatever 
care is available at the time. Local hospitals do not 
provide adequate medical care to patients in general, let 
alone specialized care for victims. Police stations are 
sometimes used for temporary shelters for victims of various 
crimes. 
 
¶B.   There is no Government funding or support for domestic 
NGOs that provide service to victims. All local NGOs must 
rely on their own resources or solicit funding from foreign 
donors. 
 
¶C.   There are no NGOs providing care specifically to 
trafficking victims. 
 
¶D.   Victims are usually treated with respect. However, if 
they are undocumented foreigners, they are deported to their 
country of origin. If victims are Djiboutian nationals, they 
are returned to their families. Minors under the age of 18 
arrested for prostitution are charged with a misdemeanor 
crime; as opposed to the full criminal charge prostitution 
normally carries. 
 
¶E.   Victims of any crime are entitled to file a civil suit. 
They also have the right to attend and testify in court 
during the suspect's trial. 
 
¶F.   The Government does not have the means to provide full 
protection to victims, who are usually sheltered in police 
stations to wait for expedited court hearings. 
 
¶G.   The government does not provide any specialized 
training for government officials in trafficking 
recognition, or in the provision of assistance to trafficked 
victims. 
¶H.   The Government provided medical assistance to its 
repatriated nationals, who were victims in the Trafficking 
case in 1998. They were then returned to their families. 
 
¶I.   There are no international NGOs working in Djibouti 
specifically for trafficking victims. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Post's point of contact for Trafficking in Persons 
is Erinn Reed, Political/Economic Officer. Contact 
information is email: reedec@state.gov, tel: 253-353995 ext 
2305, fax: 253-353940. Pol/Econ Officer and Econ Assistant 
spent approximately 40 hours each in preparation of this 
report.