VZCZCXRO3863
RR RUEHPA
DE RUEHAB #0227/01 0601650
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 011650Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY ABIDJAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1024
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0449
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ABIDJAN 000227 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR PRM/AFR-MNICHOLSHON AND AF/W-RKAMINSKI 
DEPT PASS TO USAID/OFDA/DDEBERNARDO 
GENEVA FOR RMA 
BRUSSELS FOR MMEZNAR 
DAKAR FOR USAID/OFDA/RDAVIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREF PHUM PREL EAID SOCI IV
SUBJECT: COTE D'IVOIRE:  ILO-UNHCR TO PUBLISH REPORT ON 
EXPLOITATION OF REFUGEE CHILDREN 
 
REF: A. ABIDJAN 93 
 
     ¶B. ABIDJAN 152 
     ¶C. ABIDJAN 168 
     ¶D. STATE 229909 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  ILO and UNHCR will publish a report on 
the exploitation of refugee and displaced children in Cote 
d'Ivoire almost two years after its completion.  ILO-UNHCR 
identified labor and sexual exploitation as the two main 
forms of exploitation for refugee and displaced children in 
Cote d'Ivoire.  The draft study also shows that conflict in 
Cote d'Ivoire since September 2002 has increased the 
vulnerability of refugee and displaced children to 
exploitation throughout the refugee welcome zone (ZAR) along 
the border with Liberia.  Officials with the International 
Rescue Committee (IRC) have worked with some 50 children 
suffering from various forms of exploitation since July 2003 
in seven villages around Tabou where they operate.  UNHCR has 
not shared their findings with IRC.  The study's findings 
provide further reason for UNHCR to engage in an active 
return promotion phase for Liberian refugees in local 
communities and in the Nicla camp and Tabou Transit Center 
(TC) in Cote d'Ivoire.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) ILO and UNHCR officials confirmed plans to publish 
the findings of a report on exploitation of refugee and 
displaced children in Cote d'Ivoire almost two years after 
its completion.  Refugee Coordinator (RefCoord) learned from 
PolOff working on the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report 
that UNHCR had participated in this study with ILO in 2004, 
but for one reason or another had not authorized ILO to 
publish the results of the study until now.  RefCoord met 
with Kimbimbi Sanda, UNHCR Representative, on February 17. 
Sanda appeared nervous and uncomfortable and only after a 
long discussion did he admit that UNHCR was responsible for 
the delay in publication.  Sanda gave a draft copy of the 
report to RefCoord with the understanding that it would not 
be cited in the TIP report until official publication. 
 
ILO RECEIVES AUTHORIZATION 
-------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) RefCoord met the Head of ILO's Abidjan Office, Ben 
Lakp Low, and their Child Trafficking Focal Point, Boua Bi 
Semien Honore, on February 22.  Honore explained that ILO had 
entered into the joint-study with the Protection Unit at 
UNHCR in 2004.  He said the Protection Officer in charge at 
that time, Mr. Van der Castel, was concerned about the 
possibility of child exploitation among the refugee 
population living in the Refugee Welcome Zone (ZAR) 
established by the Government of Cote d'Ivoire along the 
western border with Liberia.  (Note: the ZAR stretches from 
the region west of Guiglo to the south around the city of 
Tabou.  End note.)  Refugees in the ZAR are mostly integrated 
into local villages.  Current estimates put the Liberian 
refugee population in Cote d'Ivoire around 40,000 with a 
small percentage living in the Tabou Transit Center 
(approximately 2,500 refugees) and in a refugee camp near 
Guiglo (approximately 6,000 refugees).  ILO and UNHCR agreed 
to look at the impact of the Ivoirian crisis on both refugee 
and displaced children in the ZAR region for the study. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Although ILO had the lead role in the study, Honore 
explained they could not publish it without UNHCR's approval. 
 Honore confirmed that UNHCR had changed personnel involved 
in the study and that this probably played some role in 
UNHCR's delay.  However, he also believed the results 
revealed what he called "sensitive" issues in refugee child 
protection and felt UNHCR was uncomfortable with the results. 
 Interestingly, Honore said they had just received UNHCR's 
authorization and expected their own consultant to prepare a 
final version within ten days, after which ILO will move to 
publication. 
 
DRAFT STUDY SHOWS REFUGEE CHILDREN IN PRECARIOUS SITUATION 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) ILO-UNHCR identified labor and sexual exploitation 
as the two main forms of exploitation for refugee and 
displaced children.  Although the study points out that it 
can be difficult to distinguish between exploitation refugee 
children suffer to that experienced by displaced children, it 
concludes that refugee children are vulnerable due to their 
 
ABIDJAN 00000227  002 OF 003 
 
 
status as refugees (i.e., they are without their normal 
social support networks in the host-country), the loss of 
wealth as a result of their fleeing to Cote d'Ivoire, 
hostilities within the ZAR region itself (33% of refugee 
children began working after 2002), and the fact that they 
represent a cheap and easily manageable labor force. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) The report shows that refugee children are working 
at an increasingly earlier age (35% between the ages of 
5-14), they often accept the worst jobs, they are often 
injured at work, and they are not guaranteed regular salary 
payments.  The report concludes that all children in the ZAR 
region are increasingly exploited in mining work and on 
palm-oil plantations, are susceptible to recruitment into 
militia groups, and are increasingly involved in child 
prostitution.  The report states that female refugee children 
are most often found working in prostitution and exposed to a 
range of physical violence, an increased potential for 
HIV/AIDS infection, and unwanted pregnancies. 
 
IRC UNAWARE OF REPORT'S FINDINGS 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has worked 
in Cote d'Ivoire as one of UNHCR's main implementing partners 
in the Tabou region.  Sanda mentioned that UNHCR worked with 
IRC in gender-based violence (GBV) activities in the west but 
admitted he had not shared results of the 2004 study with 
IRC.  Maurizio Crivellaro, Acting Country Director for IRC, 
stated IRC was also disappointed with UNHCR's support in 
lobbying for recognition of schooling for refugee children in 
the ZAR region.  Having their school studies officially 
recognized would aid refugee children returning to Libeia or 
help them integrate into the local school ystem if they 
chose to remain in Cote d'Ivoire. The ILO-UNHCR report also 
alludes to schooling for children in the ZAR region as one of 
the problems in the post-2002 context. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) IRC established a Child Protection Program in 2003 
to address child abuse and exploitation and other child 
protection concerns in the villages in the Tabou region where 
they are present.  IRC treated 55 children between July 2003 
and December 2005 who were victims of sexual abuse, labor 
exploitation on plantations, and refugee children living with 
heavily impoverished parents who were subjected to various 
forms of abuse and exploitation as a result. 
 
PROTECTION: DID UNHCR DROP THE BALL? 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Sanda told RefCoord that many of the refugee 
children in Cote d'Ivoire received their status at a time 
when the government granted refugee status on a prima facie 
basis to all Liberians.  The report itself mentions that it 
was difficult for researchers to determine which Liberian 
refugee children were actually holding refugee status and 
which were simply Liberians engaged in long-standing 
cross-border movements who claimed to be refugees.  Although 
it is possible that a large number of the refugee children 
covered in the study might not have held refugee status, the 
study affirms that the exploitation taking place in the ZAR 
region was common to all children, regardless of their status 
as refugees, displaced, or migrants. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) The report's findings that conflict within the ZAR 
region after 2002 led to increased risk of exploitation for 
displaced and refugee children would seem to stand in direct 
contradiction to Sanda's often stated position that Liberian 
refugees are well integrated in local communities.  We have 
noted that almost all of UNHCR's facilitated returns to 
Liberia from Cote d'Ivoire (more than 13,000 officially 
assisted) have come from the local communities, not the Nicla 
camp or the Tabou Transit Center (TC).  UNHCR claims a 
further 20,000 have returned on their own from these same 
communities. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) At the same time, Liberian refugee camps and 
populations continue to be located in areas of extreme 
volatility.  Recent ethnic clashes near Guiglo and Tabou in 
just the last month have resulted in some 20 deaths and the 
displacement of hundreds of people (refs. A and B).  Violence 
against UNHCR's own offices in Guiglo in January has left 
them dependent on local Caritas staff who do not even have 
 
ABIDJAN 00000227  003 OF 003 
 
 
proper equipment to distribute food rations (ref. C). 
Against this backdrop, it does appear the study's conclusions 
might have pointed to shortcomings in UNHCR's ability to 
provide adequate protection to refugee children in Cote 
d'Ivoire they would have preferred not to reveal. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶12.  (SBU) If UNHCR has an advocacy role to fill in Cote 
d'Ivoire it should be in support of the rights of refugee 
children.  At a minimum, the study's findings should have 
been shared with UNHCR's NGO and UN partners working in the 
ZAR region to enable them to prepare some specific activities 
in response to information ILO-UNHCR had worked to produce. 
The findings of the report would also seem to bolster further 
the need for UNHCR to move forward with an active promotional 
phase for return to Liberia for both the local and camp-based 
refugee populations.  Post requests that PRM follow-up on 
this issue with UNHCR Geneva to make sure our concerns on the 
delay of the report's publication are conveyed and that UNHCR 
Abidjan has a clear plan to implement UNHCR's promotion 
return phase for Liberian refugees in Cote d'Ivoire. 
Hooks