PREVENTION
The government decreased efforts to prevent trafficking. The government validated the national anti-trafficking action plan in March 2014, yet it failed to provide funding for its implementation. The government’s inter-ministerial anti-trafficking commission did not meet regularly in 2014. Coordination of anti-trafficking efforts across government ministries continued to be poor, while relevant agencies remained largely unaware of the passage of the anti-trafficking law and the scale of the problem, which severely hindered progress.With donor funding, an NGO-led joint working group on human trafficking, which included representation from the National Police and the Ministries of Justice and National Solidarity, met in early 2014 to share information.The government, however, did not take an active role or provide material support to the efforts of the group, and by the end of the reporting period the NGO suspended its activities on trafficking in Burundi. In early 2014, the Children and Ethics Brigade continued its national awareness- raising campaign to educate officials and local populations about the dangers of human trafficking and encourage citizens to report trafficking cases to local authorities. It did not, however, prioritize trainings during most of the year.The government did not report efforts to monitor or investigate fraudulent labor recruitment practices.The government did not provide anti-trafficking training for its diplomatic personnel.The government attempted to prevent child prostitution from occurring within the prison system by separating the children and adults at night; however, children were authorized to have contact with adults during daytime hours.The government also did not make efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts, child sex tourism, or forced labor in 2014. Prior to their deployment abroad on international peacekeeping missions, Burundian troops received ethics training funded by a foreign donor; the training covered human trafficking and sexual exploitation. Despite this training, an international organization reported in September 2014 that up to 21 members of the Burundian and Ugandan personnel serving in AMISOM were allegedly involved in the sexual abuse—and in some instances, sex trafficking—of Somali women and girls in Mogadishu.

CABO VERDE:  Tier 2 
CaboVerde is a source, transit, and destination country for children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking within the country and in Guinea. Boys and girls, some of whom may be foreign nationals, are exploited in prostitution in Santa Maria, Praia, and Mindelo. Sex tourism, at times involving children in prostitution, also occurs. Children in domestic service often work long hours and at times experience physical and sexual abuse—indicators of forced labor. Cabo Verdean children engaged in begging, street vending, car washing, garbage picking, and agriculture are vulnerable to trafficking. Adult migrants from China, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Nigeria, and other ECOWAS countries may receive low wages, work without contracts, and be in irregular status, creating vulnerabilities to forced labor. West African migrants may transit the archipelago en route to situations of exploitation in Europe.
The Government of Cabo Verde does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so.The government conducted three prosecutions and enacted a new law that prohibits trafficking offenses against foreign workers.The government also continued efforts to prevent the sexual exploitation of children through the creation of a national coordinating committee and the development of a code of ethics for the tourism industry. However, it did not report any convictions relating to trafficking offenses, identify or offer any specialized services to victims, or conduct any national awareness campaigns during the reporting period.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CABO VERDE:
Enact legislation that prohibits all forms of trafficking in persons and prescribes sufficiently stringent punishments; use existing laws to vigorously investigate and prosecute trafficking offenses and convict and punish trafficking offenders; take appropriate steps to clarify that Cabo Verdean law prohibits facilitating the prostitution of children aged 16 and 17; provide specialized training to law enforcement officials and judicial personnel on how to identify trafficking victims and investigate and prosecute trafficking offenses; develop and implement procedures for the identification and referral of trafficking victims amongst vulnerable populations; develop a system to compile comprehensive anti- trafficking law enforcement data; increase efforts to raise public awareness about human trafficking; expand the mandate of labor inspectors to include the regulation of informal sectors; and draft and implement a national action plan on trafficking in persons.

PROSECUTION
The government continued to make minimal law enforcement efforts to combat human trafficking. Cabo Verdean law does not specifically prohibit all forms of trafficking, though several existing statutes cover certain forms. Article 14 of the labor code prohibits forced labor and Article 271 of the penal code outlaws slavery, both of which prescribe sufficiently stringent penalties of six to 12 years’ imprisonment. Article 148 of the penal code

outlaws facilitating prostitution of children under the age of 16 and prescribes sufficiently stringent penalties of two to eight years’ imprisonment when crimes involve victims under 14 years and one to five years’ imprisonment in cases with victims aged 14 or
15. The penalties for victims aged 14 or 15 are not sufficiently stringent or commensurate with penalties for other serious crimes, such as rape.The penal code does not prohibit or punish those who facilitate the prostitution of children aged 16 and 17. Investigations into sex crimes, including child prostitution, involving children aged 14 and 15 require complaints from the child’s legal guardian; government officials indicated no such case has ever been reported to police.Thus, children in prostitution aged 14 to 17 are rendered virtually invisible to law enforcement and social welfare officials under existing law, granting impunity to those who profit from their exploitation. In July 2014, a Law of Foreigners was passed to address the regulation of foreign workers and visitors in Cabo Verde; the law outlaws the act of knowingly subjecting an undocumented migrant worker to trafficking and prescribes a penalty of two to six years’ imprisonment. In December 2014, the Ministry of Justice drafted an anti-trafficking amendment to the penal code; this amendment was not enacted during the reporting period.
The government failed to provide comprehensive law enforcement statistics during the reporting period. However, the government conducted at least one investigation, which resulted in three prosecutions for child sex trafficking—compared with two investigations, three prosecutions, and three convictions reported in the previous reporting period. A CaboVerdean court ultimately acquitted the three alleged traffickers prosecuted during the reporting period, citing a lack of sufficient evidence. In collaboration with an international donor, the government co-hosted training for 33 law enforcement and judicial personnel on the identification of trafficking victims. The government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government officials complicit in human trafficking offenses.