2007 Trafficking in Persons Report - Center for Women Policy Studies

C R O AT I A
84
and girls are trafficked to and from other West and
Central African countries for domestic servitude
and forced street vending. Women and girls from
Ghana, Nigeria, the People’s Republic of China,
Ukraine, the Philippines, and North Africa are
trafficked to Cote d’Ivoire for sexual exploitation.
A local NGO estimated that, in 2006, 58 percent of
females in prostitution in Abidjan were not citizens.
Women are also trafficked from and through Cote
d’Ivoire to Europe for sexual exploitation. Refugee
and displaced children in Cote d’Ivoire are likely
also trafficked within the region. Ivorian children
are also conscripted into armed forces by rebel and
militia groups
The Government of Cote d’Ivoire does not fully
comply with the minimum standards for the elimination
of trafficking; however, it is making significant
efforts to do so. To strengthen its response to trafficking,
the government should enact its draft statute
against child trafficking, draft and enact a law against
trafficking of adults, investigate reports of security
forces exploiting women in prostitution, ensure that
victims are not arrested or prosecuted, reach out to
NGOs and the international community to develop
a system of care for adult trafficking victims, and
adopt the national action plan to combat trafficking.
Prosecution
The Government of Cote d’Ivoire demonstrated
modest efforts to address trafficking though law
enforcement during the reporting period. Ivorian
law does not prohibit all forms of trafficking, but
laws against child abuse, forced labor, and pimping
are used to prosecute traffickers. In January 2007,
the government drafted a new bill prohibiting child
trafficking and child labor. The bill has yet to receive
cabinet approval. In March 2007, an Ivorian court
convicted a Taiwanese man and Philippine woman
for trafficking four Philippine women to Abidjan
for sexual exploitation, and the government closed
down the bar in which the victims were exploited.
The penalty imposed on the traffickers, however
— six months’ imprisonment, a fine of $1,000, and
restitution of $10,000 to each of the victims — is
inadequate. In June 2006, a judge convicted a man
for charges relating to trafficking 13 children to Cote
d’Ivoire from Togo, but imposed a sentence of only
one year in prison. The government arrested nine
additional suspected traffickers and released two,
but failed to follow up law enforcement information
about the others. NGOs report that security forces
often use their position to sexually exploit women
in prostitution. The government trained four judges
and 15 security and defense officers about trafficking.
Protection
The government demonstrated steady efforts to
protect trafficking victims in the last year. The government
does not operate victim shelters, but continued
to provide offices and personnel to an NGO and
a foreign aid organization assisting victims. The
government provided personnel to assist the ILO in
establishing 13 village-level, and five regional, antitrafficking
and child protection committees. Police
rescued at least 57 foreign child victims, referring 42
of them to NGOs or foreign aid organizations for
repatriation. The police brought 13 of these children
to a government social center for a night, but by
morning the victims had fled. The police handed two
Beninese victims to a Beninese chief in Cote d’Ivoire
for further referral to the Beninese Embassy. The
government does not encourage victims to assist in
investigations and prosecutions of their traffickers.
The government does not provide legal alternatives
to the removal of foreign victims to countries where
they face hardship or retribution. Some trafficking
victims are penalized for prostitution or document
fraud, unlawful activities they committed as a direct
result of their being trafficked.
Prevention
The Government of Cote d’Ivoire made sustained
efforts to prevent trafficking. The government held
trafficking public awareness campaigns targeting
potential victims, traditional chiefs, religious leaders,
local government officials, school inspectors
and headmasters, and business leaders. The government
finalized its national action plan against
trafficking, which awaits cabinet approval. Cote
d’Ivoire has not ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol.
CROATIA (Tier 2)
Croatia is primarily a country of transit, and increasingly
source and destination, for women and girls
trafficked from Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia
and Herzegovina, and other parts of Eastern Europe
for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Victims transiting
Croatia are trafficked into Western Europe for
commercial sexual exploitation, given Croatia’s land
and maritime borders with three EU countries.
The Government of Croatia does not fully comply
with the minimum standards for the elimination of
trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts
to do so. The government continued to improve
its cooperation with NGOs to identify and assist
victims of trafficking, increased its efforts to investigate
and prosecute trafficking crimes, and increased
training of government officials, particularly police