PROSECUTION
The government made minimal anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts, failing to prosecute, or convict suspected traffickers, while serious allegations of official complicity emerged during the reporting period. Article 60, Chapter 2, of the 2010 Child Protection Code prohibits the trafficking, sale, trading, and exploitation of children, for which Article 115 prescribes penalties of hard labor for an undefined period of time and fines. Article 68 prohibits the worst forms of child labor, including the forced labor and prostitution of children, for which Article 122 prescribes penalties of three months’ to one year’s imprisonment or fines between approximately $110 and $1,080. Article 4 of the country’s labor code prohibits forced or compulsory labor, imposing fines of approximately $1,300 to $1,900. None of these penalties are sufficiently stringent, and the penalties prescribed for sex trafficking are not commensurate with those prescribed for other serious crimes, such as rape.The penal code prohibits forced prostitution. Although Congolese law prohibits some forms of trafficking of adults, it does not outlaw bonded labor or the recruitment, harboring, transport, or provision of a person for the purposes of forced labor. Draft anti-trafficking legislation, completed in partnership with UNODC in the previous reporting period remained pending with the Supreme Court.
The government investigated four suspected traffickers during the reporting period; three offenders remained in jail awaiting trial. However, complicit officials at a foreign diplomatic mission allegedly tipped off the fourth suspect, who fled the country after allegedly repeatedly selling a child to labor traffickers in the Congo and Gabon. Despite issuing instructions in January 2013 directing officials to file criminal charges in all potential trafficking cases, the government did not to charge any suspected traffickers for the second consecutive year—continuing its failure to demonstrate vigorous efforts to address trafficking crimes. Prosecutions involving at least 23 offenders, some charged nearly four years ago, remained pending at the end of the reporting period. As serious crimes, trafficking cases are to be heard at the high court, which did not meet in regular session during the reporting period; accordingly, cases continue to languish and a significant backlog persists.The Ministry of Labor did not report investigating any cases of forced child labor in 2013.The police and gendarme academies continued anti-trafficking trainings for their staff, reaching an estimated 1,000 police officers and an unknown number of gendarmerie officials in 2014. Nonetheless, limited understanding of the child anti-trafficking law among law enforcement officials, judges, and labor inspectors continued to hinder the prosecution of trafficking crimes.
Serious allegations of official complicity, reported consistently since 2011, continued in 2014. During the year, allegations of official complicity involving the leadership of the Coordination

Committee, chaired by the local coordination committee in Pointe-Noire, resurfaced; the previous director of this committee had been reassigned in 2012 following similar reports. Instead of assisting in the placement of child trafficking victims among care providers, complicit officials on the committee allegedly colluded with complicit consular staff at a foreign mission to return victims to a trafficking network. However, the government did not investigate, prosecute, or convict these or other officials complicit in human trafficking offenses.

PROTECTION
The government provided minimal protection services to trafficking victims. The government, in partnership with an NGO, identified 23 trafficking victims during the reporting period, including five children and 18 adults.The government reported its repatriation of two children, one returned to her biological family, and another remained with a host family, awaiting repatriation.To assist victims, the government relied on partnerships with NGOs and foster families to enable trafficking victims in Pointe-Noire to receive access to care. The quality of care provided to victims varied widely. The foster care system, created in July 2009 and intended to ensure trafficking victims remained safe while the government and NGOs conducted family tracing, was allegedly undermined by inadequate security and official complicity. This reportedly made the placement of child trafficking victims in foster families—or those pretending to serve this function—tantamount to their re-trafficking during the year. The government allocated foster families approximately $10 per child per day to ensure the victims’ basic needs were met. During the reporting period law enforcement, immigration, and social services personnel did not employ systematic procedures to proactively identify victims among vulnerable groups, relying instead on NGOs and international organizations to identify victims. During the year, there were no reports of victims jailed or prosecuted for crimes committed as a result of their trafficking; however, inadequate identification efforts may have left victims unidentified in the law enforcement system. Although officials interviewed victims after their rescue—encouraging their assistance in the prosecution of their traffickers—child victims were not expected to testify in court. The government did not deport rescued foreign victims, but it did not issue temporary or permanent residency status to victims and had no legal alternatives to removal to countries in which victims would face retribution or hardship. For the third consecutive year, the government did not carry out joint investigations or extraditions of charged trafficking offenders as part of its bilateral agreement with the Government of Benin.

PREVENTION
The government continued limited efforts to prevent trafficking in 2014. During the year, the government drafted a 2014-2017 action plan based on draft anti-trafficking legislation. The government did not establish a national coordinating body to guide its efforts. The government placed one billboard in Pointe-Noire to raise awareness about trafficking, and held a series of trainings for social workers and neighborhood leaders in the city. The government did not take measures to reduce the domestic and transnational demand for commercial sex acts during the reporting period. The government has signed the Convention AgainstTransnational Organized Crime and the 2000 UN TIP Protocol; however, it has not yet acceded to either of these laws.The government did not provide anti-trafficking training or guidance for its diplomatic personnel.