U.S. Dep't of State, 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report: Togo

TOGO (Tier 2) The Government of Togo does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so. The government demonstrated overall increasing efforts compared with the previous reporting period; therefore Togo remained on Tier 2. The government updated its anti-trafficking NAP for the first time since 2008. Togolese authorities initiated more prosecutions and, in partnership with international organizations, trained more officials, including diplomats, on combating trafficking.

The government increased efforts to reduce children’s vulnerability to trafficking by collaborating with an NGO to increase the issuance of birth registrations and identity documents. However, the government did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas. The government initiated fewer investigations and convicted fewer traffickers. Authorities identified fewer trafficking victims.

Availability of shelter for adults remained limited and adversely impacted efforts to investigate cases involving potential adult trafficking victims. The government did not provide the National Commission Against Trafficking in Persons (CNLTP) the budget and staff necessary to be fully operational in leading national anti-trafficking efforts. PRIORITIZED RECOMMENDATIONS: Train law enforcement, justice sector personnel, and community-based protection organizations on the SOPs on victim identification and referral to care. * Implement the 2023-2024 NAP and dedicate resources to its implementation. * Increase efforts to investigate and prosecute alleged traffickers, and seek adequate penalties for convicted traffickers, which should involve significant prison terms. * Partner with NGOs and international organizations to increase the availability of shelter and victim services to all trafficking victims, including adults. * Allow courts outside of the Assize Court system to hear trafficking cases to expedite adjudication of pending and future cases. * Provide training and institutional support to law enforcement and judicial officials to increase their ability to effectively investigate and prosecute trafficking cases. * Designate focal points within the Ministry of Interior and Gendarmerie to coordinate and lead anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts. * Implement a victim-witness assistance program to increase protective services for victims participating in the criminal justice system. * Develop a data collection and information management system to organize law enforcement and victim referral data, in collaboration with NGOs and international organizations.

PROSECUTION

The government maintained overall law enforcement efforts. Articles 317 through 320 of the penal code criminalized sex trafficking and labor trafficking and prescribed penalties of 10 to 20 years’ imprisonment and fines between 10 million and 50 million West African CFA francs (FCFA) ($16,980 and $84,890) for offenses involving an adult victim, and 20 to 30 years’ imprisonment and fines between 20 million and 50 million FCFA ($33,960 and $84,890) for offenses involving a child victim. These penalties were sufficiently stringent, and with regard to sex trafficking, commensurate with penalties prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape. The Ministry of Justice’s anti-trafficking unit initiated 34 investigations – 14 for sex trafficking and 20 for labor trafficking – and continued 20 investigations from the previous reporting period.

This compared with 63 investigations initiated during the previous reporting period. Officials prosecuted 36 defendants, compared with eight defendants in the previous reporting period. The government did not report any trafficking convictions compared with three convictions in the previous reporting period. Observers noted the Assize Court system, which handles all trafficking cases for the country, had a substantial backlog of cases, which deterred victims from participating in judicial proceedings and resulted in some victims waiting years for their cases to be adjudicated.

The government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees complicit in human trafficking crimes; however, corruption and official complicity in trafficking crimes remained significant concerns, inhibiting law enforcement action. In past years, officials reported adjudicating some forced child labor cases through informal mediation processes. The government continued to provide written instructions on victim identification to its law enforcement and immigration officials. The government partnered with international organizations to provide anti-trafficking training to officials.

Due to a state of emergency in the Savanes region, anti-trafficking officials were limited in their ability to combat trafficking crimes, provide victims with services, and gather data. The government reported cooperating with foreign governments, including Ghana and Burkina Faso, on trafficking investigations.

PROTECTION

The government maintained overall protection efforts. The government identified 107 trafficking victims, compared with 181 trafficking victims identified in the previous reporting period. Of the 107 victims, 94 were children and 13 were adults; 67 were female and 40 male; and the victims included Togolese nationals as well as foreign nationals from Benin and Liberia. The government had formal SOPs to identify and refer victims to services in coordination with NGOs.

The CNLTP collaborated with an international organization to hold training workshops for officials on victim identification. Government officials intercepted 40 potential trafficking victims from Liberia at the border. The government reported providing services to 107 trafficking victims compared with providing services to 134 victims in 2022. The government ran a shelter for vulnerable children, including child trafficking victims.

However, there were no similar shelters available for adult trafficking victims; the government could refer adults to a center for victims of natural and humanitarian disasters. The Ministry of Social Affairs (MSA) continued to operate the Reference Center for the Guidance and Care of Children in a Difficult Situation (CROPESDI). The CROPESDI shelter, located in Lomé, received victims referred by the national child abuse hotline, including trafficking victims, and provided shelter as well as legal, medical, and social services before transferring children to care facilities managed by NGOs, including six NGO-run shelters. The government did not report how many children were served by this shelter compared with 19 child trafficking victims served during the previous reporting period.

Observers reported the lack of shelter options for adult victims severely limited access to care and adversely impacted efforts to investigate potential cases; in some cases, officers reported using their own resources for shelter and basic necessities, which disincentivized some police from pursuing viable cases. The government reportedly offered foreign trafficking victims the same access to shelters as domestic victims and performed a risk evaluation before repatriating potential victims. For the fifth consecutive year, the government allocated 18 million FCFA ($30,560) to efforts combating child trafficking, of which it designated 11 million FCFA ($18,680) for victim care. The government additionally committed to providing 600,000 FCFA ($1,020) to each of the six NGO shelters that it supported but did not report if these funds were disbursed by the end of the reporting period.

The government provided assistance to support victim participation in investigations and prosecutions.

PREVENTION

The government slightly increased efforts to prevent trafficking in persons. The CNLTP, chaired by the MSA and composed of 13 government agencies and two civil society organizations, continued to lead anti-trafficking efforts. Officials noted the CNLTP lacked the budget and staff necessary to be fully operational. For the first time since 2008, the government adopted a new anti-trafficking NAP for 2023-2024.

However, it did not allocate funds to implement it. The CNLTP trained law enforcement on its SOP for the protection of people at risk and trafficking victims and on identifying indicators for human trafficking, adopted a strategic plan, revised its tools for data collection, and facilitated better inter-agency coordination amongst agencies and civil society organizations. The National Committee for the Reception and Social Reintegration of Child Victims of Trafficking (CNARSEVT) coordinated information and statistics on child trafficking in Togo and led coordination with NGOs and international organizations on repatriation of Togolese child trafficking victims. Observers noted a lack of financial resources limited CNARSEVT’s effectiveness.

The government continued national awareness raising campaigns throughout the country and continued to train members of the CNLTP; however, overall awareness-raising activities decreased due to limited funding. The MSA continued to run a toll-free hotline for reporting child abuse, including trafficking crimes, which operated 16 hours per day, seven days a week; the government did not provide information on calls related to trafficking. Despite past allegations of fraudulent recruiters facilitating the exploitation of Togolese abroad, authorities did not report investigating any foreign labor recruiters for trafficking crimes. The government reported there were no employment agencies approved to recruit migrant workers in Togo on behalf of foreign employers.

The Ministries of Labor and Social Affairs could regulate labor recruitment firms, including foreign recruiters, but the government’s weak information management systems hindered its ability to provide enforcement statistics. The government worked to reduce children’s vulnerability to trafficking by collaborating with an NGO to increase the issuance of birth registrations and identity documents. The Ministry of Labor carried out routine and unannounced labor inspections; however, the government did not report identifying any trafficking cases through these inspections. Security concerns in the north and financial constraints limited the reach and effectiveness of inspections.

The CNLTP trained diplomats in identifying trafficking indicators. Officials provided anti-trafficking training to Togolese troops prior to their deployment abroad on international peacekeeping missions. Although not explicitly reported as human trafficking, there was one open case of alleged sexual exploitation with trafficking indicators by a Togolese peacekeeper deployed to the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali in 2020; the UN substantiated the allegations and repatriated the offender. For the fourth consecutive year, the government did not report if any accountability measures were taken.

TRAFFICKING PROFILE: As reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Togo, and traffickers exploit victims from Togo abroad. Most trafficking victims are children from economically disadvantaged families in rural areas. Traffickers exploit men and boys in agriculture, stone and sand quarries, and mechanical and carpentry shops. Traffickers exploit women and girls in sex trafficking and forced labor in markets, domestic service, and bars and restaurants.

Traffickers exploit Togolese children in the agricultural sector, primarily in the Plateau region – particularly on coffee, cocoa, and cotton farms. Traffickers also transport rural children to the cities to work as vendors, porters, and domestic servants. Togolese victims exploited in foreign countries are most often sent by land to Ghana, Benin, Burkina Faso, and Nigeria and via ship to Gabon. Togolese and other West African trafficking victims are also sent through Togo to the Middle East.

Observers noted an increase in adult male and female trafficking victims working in Nigerian and Ivorian plantations. Families and trusted intermediaries take advantage of high levels of poverty throughout the country to exploit many Togolese trafficking victims, with the Centrale, Kara, and Savanes regions serving as primary source regions. NGOs and government officials reported markets selling Togolese children for commercial sex acts (“small girls markets” or “devissime”) exist in Lomé and elsewhere in the country. COVID-19 pandemic-related impacts on the service and retail sectors likely increased the vulnerability of many Togolese to exploitation.

Observers report as pandemic-related restrictions ease, increasing numbers of undocumented migrant children are vulnerable to trafficking. In past years, the western border of the Plateau region, which provides easy access to major roads between Lomé and Accra, Ghana, served as a primary area traffickers used to transport victims. NGOs noted the Abidjan-Lagos corridor remains a prominent route for cross-border trafficking – as well as the smuggling of illicit goods – with criminals using Togo as a transit country. Civil society actors and law enforcement officers reported the country’s rise as a regional economic and logistics hub has led to a corresponding increase in human trafficking as well as migrant smuggling.

Observers stated trafficking networks are predominantly community-based and loosely organized by local actors, while syndicates with ties to the Middle East are more organized and use social media, online portals, and chat apps to recruit professional migrants. Officials noted an increase in child forced begging by some corrupt Quranic teachers and attempts to transport these children from the Savanes region at the Segbe border to Ghana. Most foreign trafficking victims in Togo are young boys from the Volta region in Ghana, as well as Nigeria, Niger, and Guinea exploited in forced labor in cafeterias and shops. Traffickers also recruit children from Benin and transport them to Togo for forced labor.

Illicit networks exploit Ghanaian girls in sex trafficking in Togo. In past years, many Togolese adults and children migrated in search of economic opportunities to Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, where criminal elements may exploit them in forced labor and sex trafficking. Traffickers force victims to work in cocoa harvesting in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire; palm wine production and other agriculture sectors in rural Nigeria; gold mining in Burkina Faso; domestic service in urban Nigeria; and sex trafficking in Beninese and Nigerian bars and restaurants. Officials noted traffickers from Lebanon, France, and Nigeria have engaged in extraterritorial child sexual exploitation and abuse in Togo during previous years.

Cuban government-affiliated medical professionals who worked in Togo as part of the pandemic response may have been forced to work by the Cuban government. On This Page search > < TOGO (Tier 2) PRIORITIZED RECOMMENDATIONS: PROSECUTION PROTECTION PREVENTION TRAFFICKING PROFILE: Tags Bureau of African Affairs Human Trafficking Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons Reports Togo