The government increased law enforcement efforts. Law No. 2016-111 on the Fight Against Trafficking in Persons criminalized sex trafficking and labor trafficking and prescribed penalties of five to 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine of 5 million to 10 million West African CFA francs (FCFA) ($8,490-$16,980) for adult trafficking and 20 to 30 years’ imprisonment and a fine of 10 million to 50 million FCFA ($16,980-$84,890) for child trafficking. These penalties were sufficiently stringent and, with respect to sex trafficking, commensurate with those prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape. The 2010 Child Trafficking and Child Labor Law was also used to prosecute child trafficking, and it criminalized child sex trafficking and labor trafficking with 10 to 20 years’ imprisonment and a fine of 5 million to 20 million FCFA ($8,490-$33,955). The government used penal code provisions on illegal mining and “pimping” to prosecute trafficking cases. The penal code prescribed penalties of one to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of 1 million to 10 million FCFA ($1,700-$16,980) for “pimping” and penalties of two to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of 50 million to 100 million FCFA ($84,890-$169,780) for illegal mining. These penalties were significantly lower than those prescribed under the anti-trafficking law.
The government reported investigating 98 trafficking cases, compared with initiating 10 and continuing 13 investigations during the previous reporting period. The government reported prosecuting 109 alleged traffickers and convicting 46 traffickers under the 2016 anti-trafficking law. This compared with prosecuting 25 alleged traffickers and convicting 11 traffickers during the previous reporting period. The government did not provide sentencing information for the convicted traffickers. The government did not disaggregate between sex and labor trafficking, and the data may have included other crimes, such as sexual abuse or child labor.
The government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government officials complicit in human trafficking crimes; however, official corruption and complicity in trafficking crimes remained concerns, inhibiting law enforcement action. In previous years, observers alleged low-ranking police on the borders with Mali and Ghana facilitated migrant smuggling, including potential trafficking cases, and organized a system to collect bribes at checkpoints and along bus routes. In 2018, five gendarmes and two military firefighters allegedly abducted a trafficking victim from an NGO shelter. A subsequent prosecution of four of the gendarmes and one of the military firefighters for kidnapping of a minor, forced confinement, and attempted rape involving the abducted child victim remained pending before a military investigative judge.
The Sub-Directorate in the Fight against Trafficking and Child Labor (SDLTEDJ) bore primary responsibility for enforcing anti-trafficking laws and investigating cases throughout the country; it operated specialized anti-child labor and child trafficking police units in six cities. The gendarmes, under the Ministry of Defense, were responsible for investigations in rural areas where the SDLTEDJ was not present. The Brigade Mondaine was responsible for investigating sex trafficking cases; however, resource constraints limited investigations to Abidjan and a few regional precincts. The Transnational Organized Crime Unit operated a specialized human trafficking department that had jurisdiction over transnational trafficking cases. However, the law enforcement units lacked coordination, and no unit had a clear responsibility for internal adult labor trafficking cases. Limited funding and resources significantly hindered law enforcement’s ability to identify and investigate human trafficking cases. The government did not report operationalizing prosecutorial teams within the appeals courts focused on combating human trafficking in four cities; proposed in 2021, the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights intended these to accelerate the procedural process and support trafficking prosecutions.
The government collaborated with foreign counterparts from Benin, Ghana, and Nigeria on law enforcement activities. It had an MOU on combating human trafficking with Nigeria, and Ivoirian and Nigerian officials convened meetings to facilitate law enforcement cooperation. The Ministry of Justice held trainings for magistrates on the 2016 anti-trafficking law. International organizations, with some government support, also trained judicial and law enforcement officials on topics including anti-trafficking legal frameworks, investigative techniques, and victim-witness protection. The government collaborated with an international organization to develop and launch an anti-trafficking training module for law enforcement officials. However, observers reported law enforcement and judicial officials needed additional specialized anti-trafficking training. Some judges and prosecutors remained unaware of the 2016 law and continued to use the 2010 law and illegal mining and “pimping” statutes to prosecute trafficking cases, which carried lesser penalties. Officials often conflated human trafficking with other crimes, such as child labor. The government’s capacity to collect anti-trafficking statistics and comprehensively report on law enforcement action was limited.
from 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report – U.S. Department of State
2024 Trafficking in Persons Report – United States Department of State
