2007 Trafficking in Persons Report - Center for Women Policy Studies

an NGO and the second by IOM. The Government
of Montenegro fully funds the NGO shelter and
provides police security.
Prevention
The Government of Montenegro continued support
activities aimed at the prevention of trafficking in
persons. The government maintains an informative
Web site on its anti-trafficking efforts. A government-funded
NGO maintains a hotline for potential
victims of trafficking. Montenegro collaborates with
international organizations in raising awareness of
trafficking. The government also supports anti-trafficking
educational programs in the public schools.
MOROCCO (Tier 1)
Morocco is a source country for children trafficked
internally for the purposes of domestic servitude
and, to a lesser extent, commercial sexual exploitation.
Morocco is also a source, transit and destination
country for women and men trafficked for
commercial sexual exploitation and involuntary
servitude. Young Moroccan girls from rural areas are
recruited to work as child maids in cities, but often
face conditions of involuntary servitude, including
restrictions on movement, non-payment of wages,
threats, and physical or sexual abuse. Moroccan
boys and girls are exploited in prostitution within
the country and are increasingly victims of a growing
child sex tourism problem. Moroccan girls and
women are trafficked internally and to Saudi Arabia,
Qatar, Syria, the U.A.E., Cyprus, and European countries
for commercial sexual exploitation. In addition,
men and women from sub-Saharan Africa, India,
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan often enter
Morocco voluntarily, but illegally, with the assistance
of smugglers. Once in Morocco, some women are
coerced into commercial sexual exploitation to pay
off smuggling debts, while men may be forced into
involuntary servitude.
The Government of Morocco fully complies with the
minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.
Morocco continues to prosecute child sex
trafficking crimes, and in January 2007 it initiated a
public awareness campaign to educate Moroccans
about the consequences of employing child maids.
The Secretary of State for Family, Solidarity, and the
Handicapped announced a National Plan of Action
for Children for 2006-2015 to protect children
from mistreatment, violence, and exploitation by
creating child protection units around the country.
The government, however, did not investigate or
prosecute any abusive employers for forced child
domestic labor. In addition, the government did not
take serious steps to increase law enforcement efforts
against the commercial sexual exploitation of adults
and foreign women. The government should utilize
existing laws to increase prosecutions of those who
traffic both adults and minors for forced prostitution
and involuntary servitude and should increase law
enforcement efforts against the commercial sexual
exploitation of children and foreign women.
Prosecution
The Government of Morocco made uneven progress
in its prosecution of traffickers and corrupt officials
over the last year. While Morocco does not have a
comprehensive anti-trafficking law, its penal code
prohibits forced child labor through Article 467,
forced labor through Article 10, and forced prostitution
and prostitution of a minor through Articles
497-499. The Moroccan government reports that
it also employs the Immigration Law of 2003 and
other statutes, such as those prohibiting kidnapping,
fraud, and coercion, to prosecute trafficking offenses.
Penalties under these various statutes appear to be
sufficiently stringent, and those for sex trafficking
are commensurate with those prescribed for other
grave crimes. In 2006, the government prosecuted
170 cases of inciting a minor into prostitution and
convicted 134 traffickers; Morocco did not provide
data regarding the sentences imposed on the
convicted traffickers. The government did not report
prosecuting any cases concerning the involuntary
domestic servitude of children or the forced prostitution
of adults. Morocco reported dismantling more
than 350 “trafficking rings;” however, the government
makes no distinction between migrant smuggling
and trafficking, so it is difficult to determine
how many of these rights were actually engaged in
trafficking. The government convicted three police
officers for trafficking offenses in northern Morocco.
Sentences for these convicted officers ranged from
a two months’ suspended prison sentence with a
fine to four years’ imprisonment. In addition, two
Casablanca port police officers were charged with
organizing a criminal gang to facilitate trafficking.
Protection
Morocco made some progress in its overall efforts
to protect victims of trafficking over the last year.
Some victims are encouraged to assist in the
investigation of their traffickers, but the government
does not offer foreign victims legal alternatives to
removal to countries in which they may face hardship
or retribution. Moreover, Morocco does not
attempt to identify systematically trafficking victims
among vulnerable people, such as foreign women
arrested for prostitution and illegal migrants; as a
M O R O C C O
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