The International Organization for Migration has said that a high number of women and girls from Ivory Coast are being trafficked to Northern Africa and Europe.. Ivory Coast, the world’s top cocoa producer, introduced its first national plan to end child labor in 2012, but the problem remains widespread in poor farming communities. Ivory Coast police on Monday vowed to ramp up efforts to stop child trafficking after rescuing 137 children from forced labour and sex work in the first major operation in several years. Côte d'Ivoire is not a party to the 2000 UN TIP Protocol. The Ministry of Interior disseminated anti-trafficking awareness materials to police and gendarmes at border points, along with guidance on investigating those who were attempting to bring children into Côte d'Ivoire. Published 16 December 2015 There was no witness protection or restitution program for trafficking victims. The operation, code-named "Bia III", was the first since at least 2017 and followed the launch six months ago of a new national action plan against child labour, said Luc, deputy director in the anti-trafficking division. A boy no older than 12 clambers up a tall cocoa tree, his arms and shoulders criss-crossed by scars from the machete he uses to cut down the seed pods. "We are appealing to all parents. Kouadio Yeboue Marcellin — a government official in Aboisso, a southeastern town which borders Ghana — said the rescued children are from Benin, Niger, Nigeria, Ghana, Togo, and Benin. Our global editorial team of about 55 journalists and more than 350 freelancers covers the lives of people around the world who struggle to live freely or fairly. Twelve traffickers were also arrested. How old are the children on the cocoa farms? The children of Ivory Coast face many challenges, 25% of Ivorian children are not registered after birth civil status and therefore cannot enjoy a certain number of rights and privileges. You're signed out. As the chocolate industry has grown over the years, so has the demand for cheap cocoa. The lawsuit claims one plaintiff was only 11 years old when a local man in his home town of Kouroussandougou, Mali, promised him work in Ivory Coast for 25,000 CFA francs (£34) a month. In May 2009, a court in Daloa convicted and sentenced the trafficker to three years’ imprisonment and a $2,000 fine, and the Nigerian Embassy in Abidjan assisted the victims in returning home. 37% of women who are married have been married before 18 years, one in five families does not have access to safe drinking water without forgetting the phenomenon of child truants also called “microbes” who are great factor … Ivorian law does not criminalize the trafficking of adults for commercial sexual exploitation. While the Ministry of Family and the National Police employed a small team of social workers to assist trafficking victims after they were identified, the government relied on NGOs for medical and psychological assistance to victims, giving the organizations no financial or material support in return. Ivory Coast is the world's leading producer of cocoa, the raw ingredient for chocolate, and is responsible for about 36 percent of global exports. Children are also trafficked to Ivory Coast for other types of work, such as mining and domestic servitude. Child victims were assigned a Ministry of Family case worker with responsibility for informing victims about judicial proceedings, and these case workers allowed children to decide whether they wished to testify against their alleged traffickers. In Ivory Coast, an organisation called CREER has opened the region's first centre to help rehabilitate trafficked children. Low Price Business Model. (Playback ID: ej6ru2oijNHwhpxY) Learn More. The report documents how children as young as three years old are exploited as domestic and agricultural workers in several countries. Visit http://news.trust.org). More than 800,000 children here … In a note to mark European Anti-Trafficking Day the IOM said there was an emerging trend of a rise in the number of women and girls crossing the Mediterranean. If playback doesn't begin shortly, try restarting your device. An estimated 890,000 children work in the cocoa sector, some for their parents and some trafficked from abroad, according to a 2018 report by anti-slavery organisation Walk Free Foundation. Ivory Coast, the world’s top cocoa producer, introduced its first national plan to end child labour in 2012, but the problem remains widespread in poor farming communities. [1], The Government of Côte d'Ivoire demonstrated sustained and modest efforts to prevent trafficking during the reporting period, primarily through public awareness campaigns, which the Ministry of Family estimated reached 11,000 residents of the country. The ‘other purposes’ for which children had been trafficked included forced begging, forced marriage, forced criminal activities, and to serve as child soldiers. The government had no care facilities for foreign or domestic trafficking victims. The boy will then pack the pods into a sack which weighs over 100 pounds when full. Approximately 2.1 million children in the Ivory Coast and Ghana may be exposed to the worst child labour conditions on cocoa farms. Côte d'Ivoire also failed to investigate for a third consecutive year NGO reports that police harass undocumented foreign women in prostitution by demanding sex in exchange for not arresting them. All of the children had been forced to work in the informal sector. Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producer, introduced its first national plan to end child labour in 2012, but the problem remains widespread in poor farming communities. [1], The government of Côte d'Ivoire does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. [1], In February 2009, Nigerian traffickers promised jobs in Germany to four Nigerian girls ages 16 to 19, but transported them to Côte d'Ivoire and forced them into prostitution in Vaou; the traffickers evaded capture. (Reporting by Nellie Peyton; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, property rights, and climate change. Trafficking within the country's borders is more prevalent, with victims primarily trafficked from the north of the country to the more economically prosperous south. ‡ Child labor understood as the worst forms of child labor per se under Article 3(a)–(c) of ILO C. 182. Among the victims rescued last week were at least six Nigerian girls being trafficked for prostitution, said police. In June 2009, police in Soubre intercepted 15 Burkinabe children who were being transported by bus to Côte d'Ivoire for the purpose of labour exploitation and returned them to their parents; the traffickers eluded capture. Children from Côte d'Ivoire are subjected to human trafficking for forced labor in domestic work within the country and in Northern Africa. Children are also trafficked to Ivory Coast for other types … [1], The Ivorian government made inadequate efforts to protect victims of trafficking during the last year. The government said it hoped to "send a strong signal" to traffickers by raiding Aboisso, a hot spot. The BBC's Chris Parkinson went to the small town of Abengourou to meet Gramboute Ibrahima, a local man who rescues children, returning them to safety. The victims ranged in age from six to 17 and came from the nearby West African countries of Nigeria, Benin, Ghana and Togo, according to a statement. [1], U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons placed the country in "Tier 2" in 2017. Ivory Coast has launched a new strategy to end child labor in cocoa farming and other sectors by raising women's incomes and building schools, the government said on Wednesday. Tree is on a cocoa plantation outside of Yamoussoukro, the ivorian government made inadequate to. And Guinea into the Ivory Coast UN TIP Protocol the 2000 UN TIP Protocol labor is n't to. 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