Instability in Ivory Coast leads to increased risk of trafficking

A recent report by the Inter Agency Standing Committee of the United Nations has highlighted the deteriorating humanitarian and human rights situation in the Ivory Coast. Since the civil war in 2002, the country has been divided between the rebel Forces Nouvelles and the government. Peacekeeping forces patrol the buffer zone between the zones of control, but despite the presence of the UN, local and tribal militias are multiplying and there is a general atmosphere of lawlessness and impunity, particularly in the north and west of the country. The report underlines that, although funds were provided by the UN (through the ONUCI - l’Opération des Nations Unies en Côte d’Ivoire) for the protection of human rights, these funds only paid for personnel and equipment and were not sufficient to finance actual action to protect human rights. It was strongly suggested that more funding be provided both for protecting human rights and also to make borders more secure.
Ivory Coast continues to be a major source and destination country for women, children and men being trafficked into forced labour and prostitution. Children are trafficked from Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, and Benin and forced to work in commercial agriculture and domestic servitude. Women are trafficked from Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, and Asian countries for sexual exploitation in Abidjan in the south of the country. To read the full report, please click here.