PREVENTION
Despite lacking an overarching strategy or coordination mechanism, the government made efforts to prevent human trafficking by security officials; however the government failed to raise awareness of trafficking in persons—including sex trafficking and forced labor crimes—among the general population. In 2014, the government demonstrated continued progress in implementing key instruments intended to address the use of child soldiers by the government, including the UN-backed action plan, signed in October 2012, to end recruitment and use of child soldiers and the 2013 directives imposing severe sanctions against FARDC members found guilty of any of the six grave violations against children during armed conflict, including child soldiering. The joint technical working group overseeing implementation of the UN-backed plan held 12 meetings during the year, established technical working groups in three provinces (North Kivu, South Kivu, and Orientale), and the President appointed a personal representative to lead work against sexual violence and child recruitment. UN partners assisting with implementation of the plan reported awareness of the directives among FARDC commanding officers increased, the recruitment of children by the FARDC significantly decreased, and access of UNICEF and other child protection personnel to troops, training facilities, and recruitment sites for screening and separation as child soldiers continued to improve. Government cooperation with the UN and other child protection actors resulted in the identification of more than 300 underage applicants who were prevented from joining the FARDC. In addition, the Mines Ministry, in cooperation with representatives of the PNC, international organizations, private industry, and civil society, piloted a program to provide baseline certification indicating minerals from artisanal mines are conflict-free, including free of child labor and not controlled by criminal Congolese army elements or armed groups. Through this process, during the reporting period more than 100 mines received a “green” or positive rating following the baseline assessment; however, the program does not include protocols for identifying, referring, or assisting adult or child victims of forced labor removed from inspected mining sites.
The government did not increase efforts to establish the identity of local populations, and low rates of birth registration continued to contribute to individuals’ vulnerability to trafficking.The National Ministry of Labor, responsible for inspecting worksites for child labor, remained understaffed and did not identify any cases of forced child labor in 2014. Inspectors had limited presence outside Kinshasa and often lacked transportation or resources to carry out their work. The government took no measures during the reporting period to reduce the demand for forced labor or commercial sex acts.The government did not provide anti-trafficking training or guidance for its diplomatic personnel.

CONGO, REPUBLIC  OF THE:
Tier 2 Watch List 
The Republic of the Congo is a source and destination country for children, men, and women subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking. According to a study released by an international organization in 2013, most trafficking victims in the Congo originate from Benin and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and to a lesser extent from other neighboring countries. Experts reported fewer child trafficking victims than in previous years, especially from Benin; however, traffickers may have developed

more sophisticated methods to avoid detection.Trafficking victims are subjected to domestic servitude and market vending by other nationals of the West African community living in the Congo, as well as by Congolese nationals in the city of Pointe-Noire. Source countries for adult victims include the DRC, Central African Republic (CAR), Cameroon, Benin, and Mali. Both adults and children are victims of sex trafficking in the Congo, with the majority of victims originating from the DRC and exploited in Brazzaville.The majority of children subjected to trafficking within the country migrate from rural to urban areas to serve as domestic workers for relatives or family friends. Some child trafficking victims are also subjected to forced labor in stone quarries, bakeries, and the fishing and agricultural sectors, including in cocoa fields in Sangha department. As reported by an international organization, nationals of the Congo are among both traffickers and victims in Congo, with 43 percent of traffickers, 28 percent of adult victims, and 14 percent of child victims reported as Congolese. Internal trafficking involves recruitment from rural areas for exploitation in cities.The Congo’s indigenous population is especially vulnerable to forced labor in the agricultural sector. Chinese workers in the fishing sector were potentially trafficking victims, as employees of two fishing companies in the Congo endured passport withholding and other abuses.
The Government of the Republic of the Congo does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. Despite these measures, the government did not demonstrate overall increasing anti-trafficking efforts compared to the previous reporting period; therefore, the Republic of the Congo is placed on Tier 2 Watch List. The government did not enact draft anti- trafficking legislation finalized in the previous reporting year, and knowledge of the country’s existing anti-trafficking laws was uneven across the government. While the government investigated four suspected traffickers, it did not demonstrate vigorous efforts to prosecute and convict traffickers, failing to initiate prosecutions of alleged traffickers in 2014 or convict any traffickers from cases which remained pending from up to four years ago. Allegations of complicity re-emerged during the reporting period, and the government has yet to take action to hold the alleged perpetrators accountable. The lack of an inter-ministerial coordinating body continued to hinder countrywide progress to address internal trafficking and sex trafficking from the DRC and other countries.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO:
Enact comprehensive anti-trafficking legislation, including provisions prohibiting the trafficking of adults; greatly increase efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking offenses and to convict and punish trafficking offenders, including complicit government officials, under the 2010 Child Protection Code; fund and hold a special session of the high court to hear the trafficking case backlog; increase outreach, victim identification, and law enforcement efforts on sex trafficking and internal trafficking beyond Pointe-Noire,

with specific attention to the trafficking of adults and indigenous populations; develop formal procedures to identify trafficking victims among child laborers, illegal immigrants, and women and girls in prostitution; provide adequate security and supervision for victims placed in foster families; conduct government-led training for social workers and law enforcement officials on the use of identification and referral procedures; establish a national body that includes all relevant ministries to increase coordination of countrywide anti-trafficking efforts; increase anti-trafficking law enforcement cooperation with other governments in the region, especially Benin and the DRC; and accede to the Convention AgainstTransnational Organized Crime and the 2000 UN TIP Protocol.