through the enactment of a new child labor law prohibiting child trafficking and increased in-kind support to the Morals and Minors Brigade, the office charged with the investigation of child abuse and exploitation. However, it failed to investigate, prosecute, or convict trafficking offenders during the year, including officials complicit in trafficking crimes. While the government continued limited support to NGO-run centers offering counseling, medical, and legal service to child and female victims of sexual and other violence on each of the three islands, it did not identify or assist any victims during the year. Officials lacked formal victim identification or referral procedures. Official complicity in trafficking crimes and use of mediation, resulting in the return of children to their alleged exploiters, continued to be a serious concern.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR COMOROS:
Redraft the amendments to the penal code related to trafficking, passed by Parliament, but not yet assented to by the president so as not to conflict with the newly enacted Child Labor Law and existing penal code provisions; investigate, prosecute, and convict trafficking offenders including allegedly complicit officials; develop procedures for the identification and referral of trafficking victims to care; end the practice of returning children to their exploiters through arbitration; increase the availability of and provide support for the provision of counseling and psychological care for trafficking victims, possibly within facilities already in existence for victims of other crimes; work with international partners to conduct a study on the forms and extent of the trafficking problem in the Comoros; continue anti-trafficking public awareness campaigns on each of the islands; and accede to the 2000 UN TIP Protocol.

PROSECUTION
While the government increased its capacity to respond to trafficking crimes by modestly increasing in-kind support of Morals and Minors Brigades on all three islands and by promulgating a new child labor law prohibiting child trafficking, it did not investigate, prosecute, or convict those allegedly responsible for the commission of these offenses. Comoran law does not prohibit all forms of human trafficking. Article 310 of the penal code prohibits aiding or assisting in the prostitution of others, prescribing penalties of six months to three years’ imprisonment and fines.Article 311 of the penal code prescribes increased penalties for aggravating factors related to Article 310 ranging from two to 10 years’ imprisonment. Article 323 of the penal code prohibits the facilitation of child prostitution, prescribing sufficiently stringent punishments of two to five years’ imprisonment and fines of between the equivalent of approximately $460 and $6,150; however, these penalties are not commensurate with those for other serious crimes, such as rape. Although prostitution is illegal in the Comoros, existing laws do not criminalize the forced prostitution of adults. Article 333 of the penal code prohibits illegal restraint and prescribes penalties of 10 to 20 years’ imprisonment; these penalties are sufficiently stringent and commensurate with penalties for other serious crimes, such as rape. Article 2 of the labor code prohibits forced

and bonded labor, prescribing insufficiently stringent penalties of three months’ to three years’ imprisonment or fines from the equivalent of approximately $310 to $1,540. In January 2015, the President promulgated the Law Countering Child Labor and Trafficking in Children (Child Labor Law), which prohibits the worst forms of child labor in Article 6 and child trafficking in Article 13, among other offenses. However,Articles 6 and 13 are inconsistent with each other: Article 6 does not require the means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, fraud, or deception and prescribes an insufficiently stringent penalty of five months to 10 years’ imprisonment; and Article 13 does require the means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, fraud, or deception. Article 6 also partially overlaps with Articles 310, 311, and 323 and prescribes penalties ranging from two to 10 years’ imprisonment for such acts involving children.The overlap in these laws raises concern prosecutors may be confused as to which laws to use to hold traffickers accountable and traffickers might be charged with lesser offenses, both of which would weaken efforts to deter trafficking and comply with international law.
In June 2014, the parliament adopted, but the President has not yet assented to, amendments to the penal code, which would specifically add provisions to prohibit trafficking in persons under Article 265.
The government failed to investigate, prosecute, or convict trafficking offenders during the reporting period.The government did not report progress in its investigation, initiated in the previous reporting period, of a magistrate allegedly responsible for the domestic servitude of a 14-year-old girl. A foreign donor trained investigators from Grand Comore on investigation of trafficking in December 2014. During the year, the Morals and Minors Brigade continued to oversee the investigation of cases of child abuse and exploitation, including child trafficking, nationwide.The police generally lacked resources, which stymied investigation of child abuse and exploitation cases.The prosecutor general and six law enforcement officials received donor-funded training in December 2014 on how to recognize, investigate, and prosecute trafficking and trafficking related crimes.The government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government officials complicit in human trafficking offenses. Corruption remained a significant concern throughout the Comoros and hindered law enforcement efforts, including efforts to address trafficking.Alleged perpetrators were sometimes released without prosecution after out-of-court settlements with victims’ families. Previously, judges renegotiated agreements between a child’s parents and his or her trafficker, effectively re-trafficking the victim by returning the child to domestic servitude, and reports emerged of police returning sexually abused children to their exploiters.

PROTECTION
The government continued to offer extremely limited victim protection services and did not identify or assist any victims or increase its capacity to more ably do so during the year.There are no shelters specifically for trafficking victims, and the quality of care provided remained poor. NGO staff provided temporary shelter in their private homes, if needed; however, children were often returned to their parents or guardians. In 2014, the government provided the salaries of five employees at a cost of 2,500,000 francs ($6,800) per year for the NGO-run centers, supported by an international organization, to provide assistance to abused and neglected children. The international organization provided a vehicle, driver, and additional financial support of 14,000,000

francs ($38,000).The government failed to provide psycho-social services for victims and provided minimal support to NGOs doing so. Law enforcement’s failure to fully protect children remained a concern; the Morals and Minors Brigade lacked adequate facilities to shelter child victims, even temporarily, and a majority of its staff remained without training for interviewing child victims of crime. The government did not develop or employ systematic procedures for identifying trafficking victims or for referring them to the limited care available. As government officials did not make systematic efforts to identify victims, victims may have remained unidentified in the law enforcement system.There were no reports of the government penalizing victims for crimes committed as a direct result of being subjected to trafficking.