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RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHAB #0138/01 0631613
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 031613Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY ABIDJAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4040
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHBS/AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS 0339
RUEHML/AMEMBASSY MANILA 0042
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT 0068
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHDC
RUEAWJB/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 12 ABIDJAN 000138 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR G/TIP, G, INL, DRL, PRM, AF/RSA; PASS TO 
USAID 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG KFRD ASEC PREF ELAB PGOV
PREL, IV 
SUBJECT: COTE D'IVOIRE: 2008 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT 
 
REF: SECSTATE 2731 
 
¶1. (SBU) Cote d'Ivoire is beginning to emerge from a 
five-year crisis during which the country was divided in two, 
with government forces controlling the southern half of the 
country and rebel forces, known as the New Forces (NF), in 
control of the north.  President Laurent Gbagbo and New 
Forces leader Guillaume Soro signed the Ouagadougou Political 
Agreement (OPA) in March 2007 and a new government was formed 
in April 2007 with Soro as Prime Minister.  Although 
implementation of the OPA, which is designed to be a roadmap 
out of the crisis, has begun and the President and Prime 
Minister have said that they are committed to holding 
presidential elections in 2008, the political situation has 
not yet returned to normal.  The economy has stagnated as a 
result of the political crisis and government revenues have 
failed to keep up with rising expenditures, creating severe 
budgetary pressures.  Despite these challenges, the 
government has demonstrated political will and dedicated some 
limited resources to combating TIP.  In addition, available 
information indicates that the overall magnitude of 
international trafficking to Cote d'Ivoire has decreased 
since civil war broke out in 2002, because of the partition 
of the country, tighter security at borders, and decreased 
economic opportunities. 
 
¶2. (SBU) OVERVIEW OF COTE D'IVOIRE'S ACTIVITIES TO ELIMINATE 
TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS 
 
¶A.  Cote d'Ivoire is primarily a country of destination for 
international trafficking of women and children.  It is also 
a transit country and a country of origin to countries in 
Europe.  Boys are trafficked from Ghana, Mali, and Burkina 
Faso to work in the agricultural sector, particularly, cocoa, 
coffee, pineapple and rubber plantations; from Guinea to work 
in the mining sector; from Togo to work in construction; and 
from Benin to work in carpentry.  Girls are trafficked from 
Ghana, Togo and Benin to work as domestic servants and street 
vendors.  They are also trafficked from several other 
countries, including primarily Nigeria as well as China, 
Ukraine and the Philippines, to work as waitresses and 
prostitutes in street-side restaurants. 
 
Domestic trafficking for labor on plantations, low wage 
service labor and sexual exploitation is more prevalent than 
international trafficking and it occurs in both the former 
NF-controlled zone as well as the government zone.  Girls are 
more at risk of being trafficked domestically than boys 
because of their lower school enrollment and increasing 
poverty in families due to the civil conflict that divided 
the country.  Girls are trafficked from the former NF-held 
territories to Abidjan and other cities in the south of the 
country to work as domestic servants and waitresses and are 
frequently pushed into prostitution by their employers. 
Women and girls are more at risk of being trafficked than 
boys. 
 
Sources of available information on TIP include local and 
international NGOs, the police and defense forces, the 
Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Family and Social 
Services, and other embassies.  We have no reports of adult 
men 
being trafficked in or to Cote d'Ivoire.  Internally, victims 
are more likely to come from the north, and to a lesser 
extent, from the west, than from southern or eastern Cote 
d'Ivoire. 
 
There are no reliable estimates as to the extent or magnitude 
of the trafficking problem in Cote d'Ivoire, but NGOs and 
international organizations like Interpol believe that 
trafficking of women for sexual exploitation is increasing 
while child trafficking is starting to decrease.  Several 
studies to determine the scope of the problem were completed 
in 2006.  The GTZ/LTTE (German Technical Cooperation Office 
for the Fight against Trafficking and the Worst Forms of 
Child labor) and Cote d'Ivoire Prosperite, a local NGO which 
provides social and health services to young girls trafficked 
into prostitution, carried out a study entitled "Child 
Prostitution and the Trafficking Networks in the Districts of 
Yopougon and Adjame in 2006."  The study, published in 
 
ABIDJAN 00000138  002 OF 012 
 
 
February 2007, revealed that 85 percent of the girls were 
minors and that more Ivoirian girls have now been trafficked 
into prostitution than foreign girls, a likely consequence of 
the political crisis in Cote d'Ivoire (53 percent of the 
girls in the study were Ivoirian, 33 percent Nigerian and the 
rest were of other nationalities).  The study also revealed 
that 48 percent of the girls lived with their pimps, 17 
percent with their parents and 23 percent with friends. 
Twenty-nine percent had never attended school, 38 percent had 
attended primary school and 28 percent had attended secondary 
school.  The study also assessed the living conditions of the 
girls.  Sixty-nine percent worked every day of the week and 
had more than 10 clients a day and their pimps kept most of 
the money they earned.  The girls in the study also lived in 
environments plagued by alcohol, drug abuse and rape and were 
under constant threat of physical violence and police 
roundups. 
 
¶B.  Cote d'Ivoire remains a source and destination country 
for child labor trafficking and a source and transit country 
for trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation. 
Women and girls were trafficked from Nigeria and Ghana mainly 
for sexual exploitation in Abidjan and larger towns.  A 
smaller number of women and children are trafficked from 
North Africa, the Ukraine, China, and the Philippines to 
become prostitutes.  Sometimes, women are promised jobs in 
restaurants or hair salons but are then forced into 
prostitution.  Frequently, these girls and women come to 
Abidjan and its surrounding areas and work for a few days or 
months in order to generate enough money to pay for tickets 
and identity documents and to reimburse traffickers.  If they 
earn enough money and if the trafficker allows it, the women 
go on to other destinations, usually European countries such 
as Spain, the Netherlands, and Italy.  The victims often live 
in hotels or brothels and can only go out in public under the 
surveillance of their procurer (pimp).  Traffickers often 
withhold travel and identity documents, threaten the victims 
and use physical violence. 
 
While international traffickers are increasingly seen as 
organized crime networks, domestic child labor and sex 
traffickers are often related to the victim by blood or 
ethnic ties.  The trafficker might be a distant relative 
capitalizing on the system throughout West Africa known in 
Cote d'Ivoire as "confiage" that encourages communal raising 
of children.  The traffickers deceive parents with promises 
of schooling, money, or an apprenticeship for the child. 
Parents are often proud to say their child is in Abidjan 
working or are too overwhelmed by the number of children they 
have to feed to worry about parting with one.  If their child 
returns with money, they frequently overlook the emotional 
and physical damage. 
 
According to various sources, persons involved in the 
transnational trafficking trade are transporters and other 
traffickers from the countries of origin of the children. 
There is no information on who may be orchestrating any 
larger network.  Those receiving the victims (especially 
children) are usually from the same country as the persons 
being trafficked.  The police anti-trafficking department and 
the police brigade for sexual exploitation are aware of the 
possible existence of Moroccan and Asian sex trafficking 
networks.  To date they have not fully investigated, citing 
the extremely closed nature of the Arab and Asian communities 
in Abidjan, which they report makes it very difficult to 
infiltrate these communities clandestinely. In 2007 Interpol 
reported a link between drug trafficking and trafficking in 
women for sexual exploitation.  They noted that Lebanese 
merchants in Abidjan have heroin trafficking networks that 
also transport women to Europe for prostitution. 
 
Persons involved in internal domestic trafficking are almost 
all Ivoirians and are usually known to the children's 
parents.  The traffickers are not known to work in large 
groups or networks.  There are no reports that employment, 
travel and tourism agencies or marriage brokers are used to 
traffic individuals.  There are no reports indicating that 
profits from trafficking in persons are being channeled to 
other persons or entities. 
 
 
ABIDJAN 00000138  003 OF 012 
 
 
In 2007 the government continued its efforts to collect data 
on child trafficking victims.  As in previous years, NGOs and 
government authorities attribute increased identification of 
trafficked children on the training seminars held in 2006 and 
2007 for law enforcement authorities that sensitized police 
and border officials in identifying and reporting child 
trafficking. NGOs and government also credit the creation of 
village level anti-trafficking committees and the work of the 
National Committee for the Fight Against Trafficking and 
Child Exploitation (NCFTCE) for the detection of child labor 
trafficking victims.  As a result of increased law 
enforcement awareness, traffickers have also altered their 
methods of bringing children into the country in the south, 
preferring to bring children in small groups or individually 
on foot at night rather than in large groups by bus or train. 
 Some traffickers make children de-board buses and cross the 
border on foot in order to avoid detection by security and 
defense forces.  Once they have crossed the borders, they 
re-board their buses. 
 
The most vulnerable group for internal trafficking are 
children from the poorest parts of the country who do not 
have birth certificates, making it easier for traffickers to 
conceal their identity.  Before the redeployment of the civil 
administration beginning in June 2007 and the start of the 
audiences foraines in September 2007 (public mobile courts to 
issue birth certificates to those over age 13 who were not 
registered), the lack of government presence in the north 
meant that children could not receive official certificates. 
Moreover, in small villages throughout the country, poor, 
uneducated parents often do not even request birth 
certificates for their children.  Children who have never 
attended school or have dropped out of school are also at 
risk.  The government refused to administer school exams in 
the former New Forces-held zone for three years, resulting in 
a higher incidence of children not attending school or 
dropping out.  All of these factors make the children of the 
north especially vulnerable to trafficking.  In January 2007, 
the government administered school exams for the first time 
since the rebel movement split the country in 2002 and, in 
August 2007, did so concurrently in the north and south for 
the first time since 2002. 
 
In 2006, NGOs noted that Cote d'Ivoire became a country of 
origin for regional child trafficking because of the crisis 
and increasing poverty.  In 2007, there continued to be 
reports of young Ivoirian girls being sent to Gabon to work 
as domestic servants. 
 
While in recent years international pressure and press 
coverage has drawn attention to child labor and trafficking 
in the cocoa sector, the Ministry of Labor reports that the 
most common victims of internal trafficking are young girls 
brought to Abidjan to perform domestic labor.  In the cocoa 
sector, smaller Ivoirian farmers generally use their own 
children as farm hands while Ivoirians who own larger areas 
(individually or held communally) either rent land to men 
from the north, Burkina Faso and other neighboring countries, 
or employ such men as laborers.  Children trafficked to 
perform labor in the cocoa sector are most commonly found on 
larger farms cultivated by persons from neighboring countries 
or distant regions of Cote d'Ivoire who exploit the system of 
confiage to bring children in from their own countries to 
work the farms.  There were reports of children who, once 
interviewed apart from the farmers, revealed that, indeed, 
the farmers were not their real parents, though frequently 
familial or kinship bonds existed.  These complex 
relationship patterns make it difficult to estimate the 
overall magnitude of trafficked children in the cocoa sector. 
 
Western Cote d'Ivoire hosts a significant population of 
refugees and internally displaced children who may be more 
vulnerable to trafficking and other forms of exploitation. 
Many children in this region, in order to provide for 
themselves or their families, do not attend schools and are 
exposed to an increasing range of situations where they are 
easily exploited.  The traffickers in this region often 
recruit young girls of their own ethnic group to become 
domestic servants.  Children are also recruited to work in 
mines or palm oil plantations.  The trafficker usually 
 
ABIDJAN 00000138  004 OF 012 
 
 
receives at least 10 percent of the child's wages. 
 
Many Ivoirians are still grappling with the difference 
between children helping their parents on family farms, and 
child trafficking that involves the worst forms of child 
labor, but the political will to combat trafficking in 
persons appears to have grown despite the fact that the 
country's leaders remain preoccupied with the political 
crisis.  The international press first drew the attention of 
Ivoirians to the phenomenon of trafficking in Cote d'Ivoire 
with reports of Malian boys working in slave-like conditions 
on cocoa farms.  Today, Ivoirians are much less defensive 
about negative international reports about trafficking and 
officials have acknowledged publicly that a problem exists 
and must be dealt with.  This is a welcome change from the 
previous approach of dismissing negative reports as a way to 
"discredit" Cote d'Ivoire. 
 
One of the underlying causes of the ongoing political crisis 
is directly related to how the cocoa sector in Cote d'Ivoire 
has traditionally operated. "Allogenes" (foreigners and 
native peoples from the north) form communities in the 
southern and western cocoa belt on land rented from 
southerners.  Allogene communities often do not have schools 
or clinics and their children often do not go to school, 
remain unregistered and in general fall outside the orbit of 
regular government services.  Planters in allogene 
communities are known to bring relatives, often minors, from 
their home regions, which frequently have worse conditions of 
poverty, to work.  Given these factors, it is difficult to 
classify these persons, both those brought in from other 
countries as well as the children of the allogene cocoa 
farmers, in standard trafficking terms. 
 
¶C.  President Gbagbo and Prime Minister Soro have both stated 
publicly their commitment to ending the worst forms of child 
labor in the cocoa sector.  The government bureaucracy is 
trying to address the problem of trafficking but has been 
given very meager resources to work with.  There are nine 
ministries involved in anti-trafficking efforts with the 
Ministry of Family and Social Affairs operating as the lead; 
in 2006, many of these ministries created specific 
anti-trafficking units.  In 2006, the Ministry of Family and 
Social Affairs created an anti-trafficking unit within the 
Department of Social Protection.  This unit coordinates the 
National Committee for the Fight against Trafficking and 
Child Exploitation (NCFTCE).  In 2006, the Ministry of Labor 
and Public Administration created an anti-trafficking unit 
within the ministry.  In 2006, the Ministry of Interior 
created a Department for the Fight against Child Trafficking 
and Juvenile Delinquency within the division of criminal 
police.  In 2006 and 2007, this department worked closely 
with the police unit that focuses on trafficking of women for 
sexual exploitation (vice brigade).  In January 2007 the 
child trafficking unit took over the child protection 
portfolio of the vice brigade.  In 2005, the Ministry of 
Agriculture created a unit in charge of coordinating the 
fight against trafficking, child labor and exploitation in 
the cocoa industry.  Within the Ministry of Education, the 
Autonomous Department for Literacy handles all the Ministry's 
trafficking and child labor prevention programs.  Within the 
Ministry of Interior, the prefects and the sub-prefects 
represent the government outside of the district of Abidjan. 
They take the lead in all regional and local government 
anti-trafficking initiatives.  In the Ministry of Justice, 
the Department for Child and Youth Affairs handles matters 
related to child trafficking. 
 
In 2007 there continued to be greater government engagement 
in the fight against trafficking.  The Ministry of Family and 
Social Affairs through the NCFTCE maintained a staff of 
professional civil servants focused solely on child 
trafficking.  In February 2007, the NCFTCE and the Ministry 
of Family and Social Affairs adopted standard operating 
procedures for all actors - NGOs, law enforcement officials, 
etc. - that work in trafficking.  The Ministry of Interior 
maintains the department for child trafficking, child 
protection, and juvenile delinquency that was created in 2006 
within the criminal police division to centralize information 
received from and activities carried out by the police 
 
ABIDJAN 00000138  005 OF 012 
 
 
throughout the country.  Local government officials, as well 
as judges, social workers and law enforcement officials, 
continue to participate in the training workshops offered by 
Interpol and GTZ, the German government's international 
assistance agency.  In February 2007, the Ministries of 
Family and Social Affairs and Labor and Public 
Administration, along with their NGO partners, proposed a 
bill outlawing child trafficking and the worst forms of child 
labor.  The bill awaits approval by the Council of Ministers. 
 If the Council of Ministers approves it, the President can 
sign it into law by decree.  Unfortunately, the mandate of 
Cote d'Ivoire's legislature expired in December 2005 and 
legislative elections have not been held.  The Minister of 
Justice and Human Rights has stated that he prefers that such 
a bill be enacted by vote in the National Assembly rather 
than Presidential decree.  In 2007, the government adopted a 
national action plan to eliminate child labor and 
trafficking. 
 
¶D.  The government's ability to address the problem of 
trafficking is hampered by: lack of training of law 
enforcement officials and judges, lack of financial resources 
to NGOs assisting victims and law enforcement officials 
charged with investigating and detecting trafficking, 
corruption, and the absence of a comprehensive 
anti-trafficking law.  Because of the ongoing political 
crisis and continuing high security-related expenditures, the 
Government of Cote d'Ivoire faces a tight fiscal situation 
and lacks the resources necessary to adequately support 
anti-trafficking programs.  Most of the programs carried out 
by the government in 2007 were funded by international 
organizations such as the ILO, UNICEF, GTZ and ICI 
(International Cocoa Initiative).  Despite official figures 
showing modest economic growth in 2004, 2005 and 2006, Cote 
d'Ivoire has experienced negative net growth since the crisis 
began in 2002.  Moreover, even if positive, recent economic 
growth has depended on rising oil and gas revenue, which have 
a limited effect in stimulating employment and broader 
development.  Despite these severe budgetary problems, the 
government hopes to allocate additional resources to 
anti-trafficking efforts.  In the 2008 budget the government 
has allocated 4.3 million USD of the 7 million USD needed to 
implement the Government's national action plan to eliminate 
child labor and trafficking.  The Minister of Labor and 
Public Administration is asking for an additional 3.7 million 
USD from international partners. 
 
The government has managed to devote some human resources to 
various anti-trafficking programs and hopes to strengthen the 
capacity of law enforcement officials and judges in 
anti-trafficking efforts.  The government continues to send 
police officers, gendarmes, and other officials to attend 
seminars hosted by internationally-funded NGOs to learn how 
to identify traffickers and treat victims.  Local officials 
have participated in the implementation of programs and have 
also devoted social workers from their offices to 
neighborhood watch groups and local NGOs engaged in the fight 
against trafficking in persons.  The government has also 
provided office space to NGOs working on anti-trafficking and 
child labor issues.  Nonetheless, the government still does 
not have shelters for trafficked children or funding for 
their care and repatriation. 
 
Few trafficking cases are prosecuted and judges still have 
not been systematically trained and sensitized to the issue 
of trafficking and the laws at their disposal.  The lack of 
an anti-trafficking law hampers the government's law 
enforcement capabilities because many law enforcement 
officials simply repatriate the children and do not press 
charges against the traffickers. 
 
Corruption is endemic at all levels of government in Cote 
d'Ivoire and is also an obstacle to the fight against 
trafficking.  A local NGO reported to the NCFTCE that 
Nigerian traffickers bribe defense and security forces in 
order to traffic Nigerian girls into the country for 
prostitution. 
 
¶E.  The government monitors its anti-trafficking efforts 
through the following organs:  1) the National Committee for 
 
ABIDJAN 00000138  006 OF 012 
 
 
the Fight Against Trafficking and Child Exploitation 
(NCFTCE); 2) the Ministry of Interior Department of Criminal 
Police's anti-trafficking unit; 3) the follow-up committee 
set up to monitor the Mali-Cote d'Ivoire Anti-Trafficking 
Cooperation Agreement; 4) the National Commission for Child 
Protection (CNPE) created in October 2005 to serve as a think 
tank and an implementation body aimed at improving and 
reinforcing the protection of children against abuse, 
trafficking and economic and sexual exploitation; and 5) the 
National Follow-Up Commission set up in July 2006 to monitor 
the implementation of the July 2005 Multilateral 
Anti-Trafficking Cooperation Agreement between ten West 
African countries.  The government shares information about 
its anti-trafficking efforts available through these five 
bodies and through regional and international organizations. 
It also publicizes its efforts during events like the World 
Day against Child Labor on July 31st. 
 
In 2007, the NCFTCE provided training to the 13 local 
committees it set up in 2006 and early 2007 in villages in 
Daloa, Bediala, Issia, Bouafle and Asuefry.  Additional local 
and regional committees were set up in other regions with the 
support of GTZ and UNICEF.  These committees are charged with 
conducting a census of the school enrollment and employment 
status of all children at risk of being trafficked and 
informing the NCFTCE through sub-regional child protection 
committees.  The sub-committees are also responsible for 
reporting cases of children being trafficked from the 
village.  The NCFTCE uses the information collected from the 
village and sub-regional committees to track domestic child 
trafficking trends. 
 
The NCFTCE gathers information for their database on child 
trafficking from the Ministry of Interior through the police 
(the border police, criminal police and the division in 
charge of the child trafficking, child protection and 
juvenile delinquency) as well as the mayors and prefects and 
sub-prefects who represent the government bureaucracy in the 
interior of the country; and the Ministry of Family and 
Social Affairs (social workers and specially trained 
educators). 
 
 
¶3. (SBU) INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION OF TRAFFICKERS 
 
¶A.  Cote d'Ivoire does not have a specific law prohibiting or 
punishing trafficking in persons.  There is no specific law 
against slavery.  The government drafted and submitted 
legislation against trafficking in persons to the National 
Assembly in April 2002, but it was not adopted before the 
rebellion took place in September 2002.  The mandate of the 
legislature ended in December 2005 and legislative elections 
have not yet been held. 
 
The government can prosecute traffickers under the law 
prohibiting kidnapping of children (Penal Code, Article 371). 
 The government can also use the law prohibiting the removal 
(alienation) of a person's freedom (Article 376), receiving 
or leaving a person as a financial security (Article 377), or 
imposing labor or a service on a person (Article 378). 
Mistreatment, torture, and starvation of minors are also 
punishable (Article 362).  These laws are used in trafficking 
cases.  Despite these statutes and some arrests, the 
government acknowledges that an anti-trafficking law is 
needed to adequately investigate and prosecute trafficking. 
 
In May 2006, in a study entitled "Legal Study of Trafficking 
and the Worst Forms of Child Labor in Cote d'Ivoire", the 
Ministry of Civil Service, Labor and Administrative Reform 
and GTZ asked a judge to compile all the laws that can be 
used to try traffickers and those who exploit children's 
labor.  The study highlighted the following laws: 
 
- All the forms of slavery or similar practices such as 
selling, trafficking children, practicing indentured 
servitude, bondage, forced labor or compulsory labor are 
punishable by the Ivoirian Penal Code: Articles 376 to 378 on 
forced labor or pawning a child; 
 
- Forced recruitment or compulsory recruitment of children 
 
ABIDJAN 00000138  007 OF 012 
 
 
with a view to using them in armed conflicts is forbidden by 
the Military Code; 
 
- Using, recruiting or offering children for prostitution 
purposes, for pornographic films, pictures or spectacles is 
punished by the penal code, specifically articles 335 to 337 
on pimping and inciting minors to vice (sexual exploitation 
of children); 
 
- Physical violence against minors, depriving minors of food 
and care, attempt against children's freedom and life, 
kidnapping children are punished by the Penal code.  Articles 
362, 370 and 371 of the Penal Code and the law relating to 
kidnapping are most frequently used in trafficking cases; 
 
- Article 345 of the penal code punishes physical violence 
and injury; 
 
- Articles 354 to 360 of the penal code punish sexual 
violence. 
 
¶B.  There are currently no specific penalties for trafficking 
in persons for sexual exploitation. 
 
¶C.  There are currently no specific penalties for trafficking 
in persons for labor exploitation although there are 
penalties for forced labor.  The government can prosecute 
traffickers under the law prohibiting kidnapping of children 
(Penal Code, Article 371) which states that anyone who, 
without fraud or violence, kidnaps or tries to kidnap a minor 
can be punished with one to five years' imprisonment and a 
fine of 50,000 FCFA (111 USD) to 500,000 FCFA (1,111 USD). 
 
The government can also use the law prohibiting the denial of 
a person's freedom (Article 376) which provides for 
imprisonment for five to 10 years and fines of 500,000 FCFA 
(1,111 USD) to 5 million FCFA (11,111 USD) for anyone who 
enters into a contract in order to alienate, either for free, 
or for money, the freedom of a third person.  The defendant 
receives the maximum sentence when the person whose freedom 
has been denied is less than 15 years old. 
 
The government can also use the law prohibiting treating a 
person as property (Article 377) which provides 
for six months to three years imprisonment and fines of 
30,000 FCFA (67 USD) to 300,000 FCFA (667 USD) for anyone who 
leaves or receives a person as property, for whatever reason. 
 The prison sentence is five years when the 
victim is under 15. 
 
The government can also use the law prohibiting forced labor 
or a service on a person (Article 378) which provides 
for imprisonment from one to five years and fines between 
360,000 FCFA (800 USD) and one million FCFA (2,222 USD) for 
anyone who forces a minor into a religious or traditional 
marriage or forces labor on someone. 
 
The government can also use the law prohibiting mistreatment, 
torture, or starvation of minors (Article 362) which provides 
for imprisonment of one to five years and a fine of between 
10,000 FCFA (22 USD) and 100,000 FCFA (222 USD) against 
anyone who commits violence against a minor or a person who 
is unable to protect himself or herself because of his/her 
physical or mental state, or voluntarily deprives that person 
of food or care to such an extent as to endanger the person's 
health. 
 
¶D.  Rape is punishable by five to 20 years imprisonment 
(Penal Code Article 354).  The sentence becomes life 
imprisonment if the perpetrator has one or more accomplices 
or is the father, an older relative or a person who has 
responsibility for the victim's upbringing, or if the victim 
is under 15 years of age.  The penalty for statutory rape or 
attempted rape of either a girl or a boy under the age of 15 
is one to three years in prison and a fine of the equivalent 
of 75,000 FCFA (167 USD) to 750,000 FCFA (1,667 USD) (Penal 
Code Article 356). 
 
¶E.  There is no law criminalizing prostitution.  Prostitution 
is seen as legal as long as it is between consenting adults 
 
ABIDJAN 00000138  008 OF 012 
 
 
and in private.  Soliciting a client is a crime, as is 
procuring (pimping), even if the prostitute is an adult. 
Operating an establishment that is mainly for prostitution is 
a crime.  The police brigade charged with combating sexual 
exploitation uses Articles 334 through 341 to arrest 
traffickers and pimps involved in the sexual exploitation of 
girls and minors (attempts against good public moral conduct). 
 
- Article 334 provides for one month to two years of 
imprisonment and a fine of 30,000 FCFA (67 USD) to 300,000 
FCFA (667 USD) to anyone who engages in commercial 
pornographic activities and the penalties are double if the 
offense is committed against a minor. 
 
- Article 335 makes pimping (whoever helps, assists and 
protects or knowingly protects somebody else who commits 
prostitution, even if the person is an adult) punishable by 
one to five years of imprisonment and a fine of one million 
FCFA (2,222 USD) to 10 million FCFA (22,222 USD). 
 
- Article 336 doubles these penalties if the crime is 
committed against a person who is under 21; if the crime is 
carried out with threats, constraint, blows, or abuse of 
authority; if the offense is committed with a firearm; or 
committed by the father, mother or any other person having 
authority over the person. 
 
- Article 337 provides for punishment of two to five years of 
imprisonment and a fine of 500,000 FCFA (1,111 USD) to five 
million FCFA (11,111 USD) for anyone who violates good moral 
conduct by inciting, favoring or facilitating vice and 
corruption among under 18 years old people of either sex. 
 
- Article 338 provides for imprisonment for 15 days to three 
months and a fine of 50,000 FCFA (111 USD) to 500,000 FCFA 
(1,111 USD) to whoever, through gestures, words, written 
documents or any other means accosts or tries to accost 
persons of either sex in order to incite them to vice. 
 
- Article 339 provides for two to five years of imprisonment 
and a fine of one million FCFA (2,222 USD) to 10 million FCFA 
(22,222 USD) to whoever, owns, runs and finances a building 
used mainly for prostitution. 
 
- Article 340 provides for six months to two years of 
imprisonment and a fine of 500,000 FCFA (1,111 USD) to five 
million FCFA (11,111 USD) to whoever knowingly puts private 
property at the disposal of persons committing prostitution. 
 
Laws regarding pimping are not well-enforced.  While police 
officers often receive reports of brothels operating with 
trafficked women and children, they say that they are 
constrained from following up on these reports by a lack of 
vehicles.  Police also usually do not have any support to 
offer victims that they rescue.  In late 2007 the Ministry of 
Interior transferred the responsibility for child sexual 
exploitation from the Abidjan Vice Unit to the child 
trafficking unit.  Previous police commissioners for both 
units were sensitized to the issue of trafficking in women 
and children for labor and sexual exploitation.  The current 
police commissioner in charge of child trafficking and 
protection does not even acknowledge that trafficking of 
girls and or women for sexual exploitation is a major 
problem.  NGOs have reported that the security forces often 
use their position to exploit prostitutes.  A local NGO, 
Movement of Nid, that operates in the Abidjan district of 
Yopougon, an area frequented by prostitutes and their 
clients, reports that foreign prostitutes who do not have 
proper identity documents are often forced to have sex with 
police to avoid going to jail.  There are reports that 
members of the security forces are also customers of the same 
brothels that they are charged with dismantling. 
 
¶F.  In 2007, several traffickers and pimps were arrested and 
jailed although information on their sentences was 
unavailable.  Very rarely does the government conduct 
in-depth investigations of cases of trafficking.  The police 
lack the resources necessary, such as vehicles, to 
effectively do their jobs.  There is no information that the 
government used undercover electronic means to investigate 
 
ABIDJAN 00000138  009 OF 012 
 
 
trafficking (or any other crime) or have offered immunity 
from prosecution to potential witnesses.  There is no 
procedure, code, or law prohibiting police from engaging in 
covert operations. 
 
For example, from April 2007 to January 2008, official police 
records show that a total of 135 trafficked children were 
intercepted and repatriated and 12 traffickers were arrested. 
 
In August 2007, police arrested the president of the Beninese 
community in Daloa for trafficking 25 Beninese children for 
work on plantations.  The children were turned over to the 
Beninese consulate for repatriation assistance. 
 
¶G.  The government, with the technical and/or financial 
assistance of Interpol, ILO, and GTZ provided specialized 
training for government officials in 2007. 
 
¶H.  Cote d'Ivoire signed in July 2005 the Multilateral 
Anti-Trafficking Cooperation Agreement with nine other West 
African  countries.  The agreement calls for cross-border 
cooperation in the investigation of child trafficking 
networks and the prosecution of traffickers.  At the time of 
this report, however, there had not been any instances of 
international cooperation on trafficking. 
 
¶I. The government has not extradited suspected traffickers. 
To date, authorities arrest, try, and require traffickers to 
serve their sentence in Cote d'Ivoire before sending them out 
of the country.  The Multilateral Anti-Trafficking 
Cooperation Agreement calls for extradition to signatory 
countries.  There is no law prohibiting Ivoirians from being 
extradited. 
 
¶J.  There is no evidence that government officials were 
directly implicated in trafficking.  However, there are 
allegations that many law enforcement and public officials 
are open to bribery and other types of corruption.  No 
government officials have been directly implicated in 
trafficking in persons. 
 
¶K.  N/A 
 
¶L.  N/A 
 
¶M.  Cote d'Ivoire is not known to be a source or destination 
country for child sex tourism. 
 
 
¶4. (SBU) PROTECTION AND ASSISTANCE TO VICTIMS 
 
¶A.  The government does not assist foreign trafficking 
victims by providing temporary or permanent residency status. 
 Most foreign trafficked children are returned to local 
representatives of their communities, or are repatriated with 
the assistance of their consulates, the International 
Organization for Migration (IOM), UNICEF, or a local NGO. 
 
¶B.  In general, the government does not have special centers 
for trafficking victims.  The government seeks the help of 
local NGOs that have centers and can provide shelter, medical 
and psychological assistance to the victims. 
 
¶C.  The government does not provide funding to foreign or 
domestic NGOs for services to victims.  The government asks 
international NGOs to give funding to local NGOs that have 
the capacity to provide services to victims and encourages 
international NGOs to conduct anti-trafficking campaigns. 
However, the number of international NGOs and bilateral 
donors with resources available for anti-trafficking programs 
is limited due to bilateral and multilateral sanctions in 
place against Cote d'Ivoire.  The government has given both 
GTZ and BICE a building and free utilities to support their 
anti-trafficking activities.  The government also assigns 
civil servant social workers to work with the social services 
NGOs.  In Bonoua, the mayor and deputy mayor have assigned 
their assistants to work with the watch groups and provided 
an office and a room to accommodate child victims until they 
are picked up by an NGO. 
 
 
ABIDJAN 00000138  010 OF 012 
 
 
¶D.  In February 2007, the government adopted formal 
procedures for identifying and caring for child labor 
trafficking victims.  The government and larger NGOs like 
BICE and international organizations like UNICEF and IOM have 
increased their coordination in the referral process but 
smaller, local NGOs complain that they do not receive 
information in time to aid victims and sometimes children 
flee from police custody.  The government is focused on child 
labor trafficking particularly in the cocoa sector.  There is 
little special attention paid to identifying victims of 
trafficking for sexual exploitation. 
 
¶E. The government has no mechanism for screening trafficking 
victims among commercial sex workers. 
 
¶F.  Government officials view trafficking as a child 
protection issue.  As such, the priority is to return 
children to their families whether in Cote d'Ivoire or in a 
foreign country.  In previous years, trafficked children were 
kept in police custody in centers for young delinquents 
because the police officers did not have another facility 
available.  In 2007, there were no such reports, but the lack 
of shelter for victims in police custody until NGOs took over 
the cases remained a problem.  Victims who do not want to be 
repatriated are not deported and some NGOs provide them with 
vocational training.  Government officials, particularly the 
police, do not see adults as victims of trafficking since 
adults are able to give consent to their circumstances or are 
capable of escape.  Trafficking victims are not usually held 
in detention centers or arrested, but some are prosecuted on 
a case-by-case basis for offenses such as illegal 
prostitution or document fraud. 
 
¶G.  The government does not encourage or discourage victims 
from assisting in the investigation and prosecution of 
trafficking.  Usually traffickers are caught "red-handed" so 
victims do not need to appear in court.  In less clear-cut 
cases, the absence of a law against trafficking complicates 
the legal procedure and limits the tools available to 
victims, prosecutors and law enforcement authorities. 
 
There is no witness protection or restitution program. 
Moreover, foreign victims who are material 
witnesses in court cases against former employers must leave 
the country if they cannot find other employment.  If the 
victim is an adult, he can file a complaint.  If the victim 
is a child, the police usually attempt to return him to his 
family or to a community member. 
 
¶H.  No special protection is provided beyond what is normally 
provided to witnesses in other criminal cases.  The 
government does not run any shelters but it has given BICE a 
building that BICE has converted into a shelter for children. 
 However, BICE reports that the Ministry of Justice and Human 
Rights has been trying to take back the building for the 
Ministry's use.  BICE continues to resist.  If shelter or 
other assistance are needed for victims, the government 
refers the case to an NGO.  NGOs provide food, psychological 
counseling, medical care and repatriation assistance.  If the 
government requests assistance with repatriation from IOM, 
IOM and UNICEF usually share the cost.  The consular 
officials of the victims' countries are notified but most 
embassies provide little if any support for the repatriation 
of their nationals. 
 
¶I.  The government conducted training sessions for government 
and security officials during the year with the financial and 
technical support of international NGOs and Interpol.  There 
was continued improvement in 2007 in the law enforcement 
authorities' attention to child labor trafficking.  As a 
result, routine government reporting of child trafficking 
increased.  In April 2007, Interpol and GTZ conducted the 
first of two bilateral training workshops on trafficking for 
Ivoirian and Ghanaian police officers.  The program trained 
20 officers in total.  The government does not provide 
training on protection to its embassies and consulates in 
foreign countries. 
 
¶J.  There was no formal government assistance for repatriated 
nationals who were victims of trafficking. 
 
ABIDJAN 00000138  011 OF 012 
 
 
 
¶K.  Several international organizations and NGOs work on 
trafficking issues in Cote d'Ivoire, including Save the 
Children UK and Sweden, UNICEF, GTZ, BICE, IOM and the ILO. 
Local NGOs include Afrique Secours Assistance (ASA), the Abel 
Community, the Movement of Nid, the Amigo Doume Foundation, 
and Cote d'Ivoire Prosperite.  As noted above, the government 
cooperates with NGOs but provides little material support to 
these NGOs due to a lack of funding. 
 
International NGOs provide the majority of funding to local 
NGOs to assist victims of trafficking.  Services include 
counseling, literacy courses, medical care, reuniting victims 
with their families in Cote d'Ivoire, and repatriating 
foreign victims. 
 
 
¶5. (SBU) PREVENTION 
 
¶A.  The government does fully acknowledge that trafficking is 
a problem and, unlike in years past, in 2007 the government 
was not as defensive about the issue of child labor and 
trafficking in the cocoa sector.  The government at high 
levels has also taken an active role in publicizing the issue. 
 
¶B. In early 2007, the Ministry of Family and Social Affairs 
and the NCFTCE set up 13 village level anti-trafficking and 
child protection committees.  They also gave school supplies 
to 280 at-risk children to allow them to attend primary 
school.  The ministry and the NCFTCE also set up five 
sub-regional committees.  Twenty-five additional 
village protection committees are being planned. 
 
Using funding from UNICEF and Save the Children, the Ministry 
of Family and Social Affairs continues to support Community 
Action Centers for Children (Centres d'Accueil Communautaire 
Enfantine - CACE) under eight who are not enrolled in school 
in Abidjan as well as in other towns and villages.  The 
purpose of these centers is to provide care for these 
children while their parents are working. 
 
The Ministry of Education continues to support the Community 
Education Centers (Centres Educative Communautaire - CEC) 
established in 2005.  The 
mandate of the CEC is: 1) to receive children removed from 
the worst forms of child labor in commercial agriculture, in 
particular the cocoa sector; and 2) to provide basic 
education for children.  In 2007, the Ministry of Education 
continued to carry out its mobile school program aimed at 
combating the worst forms of child labor as well as 
protecting the children working in the sub-regions of 
Abengourou, Soubre, Oume, Divo and San Pedro. 
 
The National School for Civil Servants, with the help of the 
ILO, continues to include a course on child labor as part of 
the curriculum for Workplace Inspectors. 
 
The government continues to contribute funds to the Institute 
for Women's Training and Education (Institut de Formation et 
de l'Education Feminine) centers around the country where 
women can take literacy, cooking, and sewing courses and 
learn about hygiene and homemaking. 
 
¶C.  The government continues to maintain relationships with 
international and local NGOs involved in anti-trafficking 
efforts.  The Ministry of Family and Social Services is 
forthcoming and well regarded for its anti-trafficking 
efforts with NGOs and international organizations. 
International NGOs fund most of the activities carried out by 
government ministries and agencies, local NGOs and Interpol. 
Most local NGOs and international organizations that are 
involved in the anti-trafficking fight (except for ILO) are 
members of the NCFTCE and cooperation is good with larger 
NGOs.  Smaller NGOs have complained about coordination. 
Since the government does not have shelters around the 
country, officials often ask local NGOs for assistance in 
offering shelter as well as medical and psychological 
assistance to recovered trafficking victims. 
 
¶D.  The government is unable to adequately patrol its long, 
 
ABIDJAN 00000138  012 OF 012 
 
 
porous borders.  It does not maintain publicly available 
statistics on border crossings.  Additionally, it has 
remained difficult to know the extent of trafficking across 
the  borders in the northern part of the country, which has 
remained under the effective control of the NF since 2002. 
The border police prefer to deny entry into Cote d'Ivoire to 
children traveling with persons other than their parents, 
because they often have no place to put them. 
 
However, the Ministry of Interior has instructed police and 
gendarmes at various border points to arrest persons trying 
to bring children into Cote d'Ivoire.  In June and November 
2007, ICI held five training seminars on child trafficking in 
the cocoa producing regions of San Pedro, Divo, Gagnoa, 
Guiglo and Daloa for a total of 137 officers of the security 
and defenses forces (gendarmerie, police, customs and 
forestry).  In August 2007, Interpol with the financial 
support of GTZ, trained 20 police prefects from ten regions 
in Grand Bassam.  In August 2007, GTZ and Interpol also 
trained 17 members of the union of truckers in Soubre on 
identifying child trafficking victims.  To avoid being 
apprehended, traffickers sometimes enter Cote d'Ivoire along 
the coast by boat. 
 
¶E.  The NCFTCE coordinates the efforts of the various 
agencies.  The government does not have a public corruption 
task force.  In December 2005, then Prime Minister Banny 
created a sub-ministry in charge of good governance.  This 
sub-ministry was eliminated in the government that Prime 
Minister Soro created in March 2007. 
 
¶F.  The government approved a national plan of action to 
address child trafficking and the worst forms of child labor 
in November 2007.  The plan has a 7 million USD budget 
designed to eliminate the worst forms of child labor in 50 
percent of all industries.  Representatives from key 
ministries played an active role in developing the 
anti-trafficking action plan, as did several international 
and local NGOs. 
 
¶G.  The government has made little effort to reduce the 
demand for commercial sex acts.  In February 2008, the 
Director of Criminal Police noted to Poloff that the police 
plan and occasionally execute raids of bars but they have no 
statistics available. 
 
¶H.  N/A 
 
¶I.  N/A 
 
 
¶6. (SBU) Mission point of contact is FP-04 PolOff Laura 
Taylor-Kale.  Direct line: (225)22-49-45-70, fax: 
(225)22-49-40-20 or email: Taylor-KaleLD@state.gov. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Poloff spent approximately 60 hours on the 2008 TIP 
report.  PolFSN Specialist spent approximately 20 hours on 
the 2008 TIP report. 
NESBITT