2007 Trafficking in Persons Report - Center for Women Policy Studies

servitude and sexual exploitation. Boys are trafficked
primarily for forced labor in agriculture and gold
mines and for forced begging. Mali has also
acknowledged that slavery-related practices, rooted in
ancestral master-slave relationships, exist in sparsely
populated and remote areas of northern Mali.
The Government of Mali does not fully comply with
the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking;
however, it is making significant efforts to do
so, despite limited resources. To improve its response
to trafficking, Mali should: draft and pass a law
prohibiting the trafficking of adults; increase efforts
to investigate, arrest, prosecute, and convict traffickers;
strengthen its crime data collection system;
establish a national committee against trafficking as
called for in its national action plan; and increase
efforts to raise public awareness about trafficking.
Prosecution
The Government of Mali demonstrated minimal
anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts during
the last year. Mali does not prohibit all forms of
trafficking, though its 2002 criminal code’s Article
229 criminalizes child trafficking. Trafficking of
adults is not criminalized. Article 229’s prescribed
penalty of 5 to 25 years’ imprisonment for all forms
of child trafficking is sufficiently stringent and
commensurate with penalties prescribed for rape.
Criminal Code Article 242, passed in 1973, prohibits
slavery, prescribing a penalty of 5 to 10 years’
imprisonment for slave-holders, and up to 20 years’
imprisonment if the victim is younger than 15. The
government investigated at least four trafficking
cases and arrested three suspected traffickers, two
of whom are in custody, but it did not report any
trafficking prosecutions or convictions during the
year. Although the press reported additional arrests,
the government could not confirm them due to
lack of a crime data collection system. Government
personnel conducted UNICEF-funded anti-trafficking
training for judges and labor inspectors. In
September 2006, government personnel assisted
UNICEF and the ILO in establishing 58 Regional
Trafficking Committees, for a total of 344 throughout
the country. These regional committees coordinate
the activities of an existing network of local
surveillance committees that train local community
leaders to identify traffickers and report them to
local law enforcement authorities.
Protection
The Government of Mali demonstrated steady
efforts to provide care for trafficking victims
during the year. While the government lacked the
resources to operate shelters, it referred victims to
three NGO shelters providing temporary care. The
government did not report data on the number of
victims it assisted during the year. The government
is currently working with the ILO to implement
a project to assist 9,000 children at risk of being
trafficked or subjected to exploitative child labor.
In December 2006, government personnel assisted
IOM and an NGO to repatriate 27 Ivorian child
victims. In October 2006, the government identified
27 victims in Niono, including 12 child victims
whom the government repatriated to Burkina
Faso in coordination with IOM. In January 2007,
security forces rescued 11 trafficked Malian children
and returned them to their homes. In March 2007,
the government coordinated with IOM and NGOs
to repatriate 34 Ivorian boys trafficked to Mali.
The government dedicated three or four officials
in each of Mali’s nine provinces to work with an
NGO to facilitate the repatriation or return of
victims. Such officials return victims to their home
communities in Mali by chaperoning them on one
to three-day journeys back home. The government
does not encourage victims to assist in trafficking
investigations or prosecutions, though the majority
of victims are children. The government does
not provide victims with legal alternatives to their
removal to countries where they face hardship or
retribution. Victims are not penalized for unlawful
acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked.
Prevention
The Government of Mali made minimal efforts
to raise awareness about trafficking during the
reporting period. Mali’s 2002 National Action Plan
Against Trafficking calls for a national anti-trafficking
committee, which the government has yet to
form, despite financial support from an international
NGO. Government personnel implemented
donor-funded civic education programs to increase
public awareness of trafficking.
MALTA (Tier 2)
Malta is a destination country for men and women
trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual
exploitation. Malta is also a source country for
minors trafficked internally for commercial sexual
exploitation. There is anecdotal evidence that
women from Serbia, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, and
other Eastern European countries may be trafficked
to Malta for forced prostitution. Between 1,500 to
1,800 African illegal immigrants arrive in Malta
each year; it is unclear whether any are trafficked to
or through Malta for labor or sexual exploitation.
M A LTA
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