PROTECTION
The government made minimal efforts to protect victims. It did not develop measures for the proactive identification of victims among vulnerable groups or enact a standardized system for referring identified victims to NGOs to receive care.The government did not report identifying any trafficking victims during the year. An NGO identified 104 victims of trafficking, including 51 in Mbaiki and 54 in Bangui. It assisted many of the victims in Mbaiki by sourcing appropriate shelter, obtaining health care services, mental health services, vocational training, and legal assistance, and by resettling them within the country. In cooperation with UNICEF, the government engaged in discussion with anti-Balaka and ex- Seleka commanders to demobilize child soldiers they recruited. As a result, in the reporting period, 2,589 child soldiers were demobilized, including 1,986 from anti-Balaka groups, 585 from ex-Seleka, 15 children freed from the LRA, and one from RJ.The remaining children remained awaiting certification and release operations planned for May 2015.
The government, which has very limited resources, did not directly provide reintegration programs for child soldiers, which left victims susceptible to further exploitation or re-trafficking by armed groups, including those affiliated with the government, or other traffickers. In previous years, reports indicated the government arrested and jailed individuals involved in the sex trade, some of whom may have been trafficking victims, without verifying their ages or attempting to identify indicators of trafficking. It is unknown whether the government punished any individuals for involvement in the sex trade during this reporting period.The government did not provide legal alternatives to the removal of foreign victims to countries where they may face hardship or retribution, and no such victims were identified.

PREVENTION
The government did not report any anti-trafficking prevention efforts during the reporting period. The government’s working group carried out limited activities due to continued violence that pervaded the country during the reporting period. In March 2015, a working group established by an NGO, in partnership with the government, began drafting a national action plan against trafficking

during the reporting period for presentation to the Transitional National Council during 2015. The government did not report any efforts to establish a policy against child soldiering or raise awareness about the country’s laws prohibiting the use of children in armed forces. The government did not report any measures to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts during the year or provide anti-trafficking training for its diplomatic personnel.

CHAD:  Tier 2 
Chad is a source, transit, and destination country for children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking. The country’s trafficking problem is primarily internal and frequently involves children being entrusted to relatives or intermediaries in return for promises of education, apprenticeship, goods, or money, and subsequently subjected to forced labor in domestic service or herding. Children are subjected to forced labor as beggars and agricultural laborers. Some children who leave their villages to attend traditional Koranic schools are forced into begging, street vending, or other labor. Child herders, some of whom are victims of forced labor, follow traditional routes for grazing cattle and, at times, cross ill-defined international borders into Cameroon, Central African Republic, and Nigeria. Some of these children are sold in markets for use in cattle or camel herding. In some cases, child herders are subjected to forced labor by military or local government officials. Chadian girls travel to larger towns in search of work, where some are subsequently subjected to prostitution or are abused in domestic servitude.
The Government of Chad does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. During the reporting period, the government took steps to increase its capacity to combat trafficking and sustain its progress in the previous reporting period. It drafted legislation specifically prohibiting human trafficking, institutionalized anti-trafficking training at the national police academy, and prioritized and planned its future anti-trafficking efforts by incorporation of trafficking provisions in the Ministry of Justice’s broader action plan. It regularly convened the inter- ministerial committee on trafficking and identified at least 30 trafficking victims. Additionally, the government continued efforts to prevent the recruitment and use of child soldiers by providing training to military leaders. However, the government reported fewer prosecutions and convictions, did not provide services specifically tailored for trafficking victims, and did not systematically refer victims to NGOs and international organizations for care.

RECOMMENDATIONS  FOR CHAD:
Finalize and enact legislation prohibiting all forms of trafficking in persons and prescribing sufficiently stringent punishments; increase efforts to enhance magistrates’ understanding of and capability to prosecute and punish trafficking offenses under existing laws;

provide specialized anti-trafficking training to law enforcement officers; continue anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts, including the investigation and prosecution of suspected trafficking offenders; continue collaborating with NGOs and international organizations to increase the provision of protective services to all types of trafficking victims, including children exploited in prostitution or forced into cattle herding or domestic service; allocate regular funding to support the activities of the inter-ministerial committee on trafficking in persons, including funding for victim protection efforts; continue to take steps to raise public awareness of trafficking issues, particularly at the local level among tribal leaders and other members of the traditional justice system; and draft and implement a national action plan to combat trafficking.

PROSECUTION
The government sustained modest anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts. Existing laws do not specifically prohibit trafficking, though they do prohibit forced prostitution and many types of labor exploitation.Title 5 of the labor code prohibits forced and bonded labor, prescribing fines of 50,000 to 500,000 Central African CFA francs (FCFA) ($93-$928), but not imprisonment; these penalties are not sufficiently stringent to deter this form of trafficking and do not reflect the serious nature of the crimes. Penal code Articles 279 and 280 prohibit the prostitution of children, prescribing punishments of five to 10 years’ imprisonment and fines up to FCFA 1,000,000 ($1,860); these penalties are sufficiently stringent and commensurate with penalties prescribed for other serious crimes. Pimping and owning brothels are prohibited under penal code Articles 281 and 282. The 1991 Chadian National Army Law prohibits recruitment of children younger than 18 years; punishment for those who violate this provision is at the discretion of military justice officials. Draft revisions to the penal code intended to prohibit child trafficking and provide protection for victims have not been enacted for the fifth consecutive year. The government drafted anti-trafficking legislation with the support of an international donor; the draft was pending final review by the Ministry of Justice at the close of the reporting period.
Although the government did not collect comprehensive law enforcement data, the government, NGOs, and international organizations reported at least five investigations, five prosecutions, and three convictions during the reporting period, a decrease from the 36 investigations, 23 prosecutions, and 11 convictions reported the previous year. During the reporting period, the Ministry of Social Action, with the support of international organizations, developed training modules on the protection of vulnerable populations, including trafficking victims; the modules were integrated into police training in April and May 2015. During the previous reporting period, the government commenced the prosecution of a senior military official for allegedly trafficking three boys for the purposes of forced labor. NGOs report military and local officials were complicit in trafficking offenses during the reporting period.