News
Three New Country Directors in Africa
At the start of 2008, the ABA Rule of Law Initiative is launching new country offices in three African countries that show promise for reform. A trio of new country directors—Mathieu Ndongo-Koni in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Yolande Fouda in Cameroon, and Kenneth Anderson in Ethiopia—have been recruited to oversee the programs as they promote the rule of law in Africa, a region where ABA ROLI’s work is expanding. Read More »»
Programs
Development of Legal Framework for Prosecuting Traffickers
ABA-ROLI will create a reference manual setting out a comprehensive strategy for prosecuting traffickers in Cameroon. Naturally, this manual will detail the provisions and procedures of the 2005 child trafficking law, but significant emphasis will also be placed on alternative methods of prosecution. Read more »
Trainings on Trafficking for Members of the Justice Community
ABA-ROLI will conduct a series of trainings on trafficking for police and immigration officers, prosecutors, and judges. The purpose of these trainings will be two-fold. Firstly, the trainings will describe both the characteristics of trafficking and techniques for identifying traffickers. Read more »
Identifying Needs of the Legal Community
ABA-ROLI will seek to establish better lines of communication between different stakeholders in the struggle against trafficking. The goal of this segment of the project is to ensure that each group of actors (NGOs, police, legal professionals) understands not only their own role in stopping trafficking but also the role of other actors. Read more »
Background
Cameroon is a country that has been coming to terms with its trafficking problem. Over the course of the last five years, efforts from international and national NGOs have resulted in an increased recognition of the problem of trafficking in the country. ABA-ROLI is perfectly positioned to make a substantial impact by increasing the capacity of the Cameroonian legal community to prosecute cases of trafficking. ABA-ROLI has strong experience working with police, prosecutors, and judges on identifying, prosecuting, and sentencing traffickers.
Human trafficking in Cameroon takes many forms. Children are frequently trafficked into working on agricultural plantations for little or no recompense, and with no means by which to travel the vast distances to return to their families. Many businessmen abuse the practice of apprenticeship, whereby children from neighboring countries travel to Cameroon to work for experience and training. In practice, it is common for these children to be exploited for no compensation and then deported once they are strong enough to resist coercion. International trafficking, especially of women, to Europe and the Middle East are also serious problems. Thanks the initiative of a broad coalition of NGOs these abuses are currently recognized as illegal. Cameroon passed a child trafficking law in 2005.
However, legislation and recognition can ultimately accomplish very little if traffickers are still able to operate with impunity. Understanding of the legal provisions of anti-trafficking legislation within the Cameroonian legal system is extremely limited, and knowledge of the new law is not widespread. Unless visible action is taken swiftly to build on recent efforts, the issue of human trafficking, including the 2005 law, risk fading into obscurity. In this context, ABA-ROLI is perfectly positioned to make a substantial impact by increasing the capacity of the Cameroonian legal community to prosecute cases of trafficking. ABA-ROLI has strong experience working with police, prosecutors, and judges on identifying, prosecuting, and sentencing traffickers. ABA-ROLI, through a grant from the U.S. Department of State, will address these issues in Cameroon through the following initiatives.
