COTE D'IVOIRE: ILO-UNHCR TO PUBLISH REPORT ON

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ABIDJAN 000227

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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREF PHUM PREL EAID SOCI IV
SUBJECT: COTE D'IVOIRE: ILO-UNHCR TO PUBLISH REPORT ON
EXPLOITATION OF REFUGEE CHILDREN

REF: A. ABIDJAN 93


B. ABIDJAN 152

C. ABIDJAN 168

D. STATE 229909


1. (SBU) Summary: ILO and UNHCR will publish a report on
the exploitation of refugee and displaced children in Cote
d'Ivoire almost two years after its completion. ILO-UNHCR
identified labor and sexual exploitation as the two main
forms of exploitation for refugee and displaced children in
Cote d'Ivoire. The draft study also shows that conflict in
Cote d'Ivoire since September 2002 has increased the
vulnerability of refugee and displaced children to
exploitation throughout the refugee welcome zone (ZAR) along
the border with Liberia. Officials with the International
Rescue Committee (IRC) have worked with some 50 children
suffering from various forms of exploitation since July 2003
in seven villages around Tabou where they operate. UNHCR has
not shared their findings with IRC. The study's findings
provide further reason for UNHCR to engage in an active
return promotion phase for Liberian refugees in local
communities and in the Nicla camp and Tabou Transit Center
(TC) in Cote d'Ivoire. End Summary.


2. (SBU) ILO and UNHCR officials confirmed plans to publish
the findings of a report on exploitation of refugee and
displaced children in Cote d'Ivoire almost two years after
its completion. Refugee Coordinator (RefCoord) learned from
PolOff working on the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report
that UNHCR had participated in this study with ILO in 2004,
but for one reason or another had not authorized ILO to
publish the results of the study until now. RefCoord met
with Kimbimbi Sanda, UNHCR Representative, on February 17.
Sanda appeared nervous and uncomfortable and only after a
long discussion did he admit that UNHCR was responsible for
the delay in publication. Sanda gave a draft copy of the
report to RefCoord with the understanding that it would not
be cited in the TIP report until official publication.

ILO RECEIVES AUTHORIZATION
--------------


3. (SBU) RefCoord met the Head of ILO's Abidjan Office, Ben
Lakp Low, and their Child Trafficking Focal Point, Boua Bi
Semien Honore, on February 22. Honore explained that ILO had
entered into the joint-study with the Protection Unit at
UNHCR in 2004. He said the Protection Officer in charge at
that time, Mr. Van der Castel, was concerned about the
possibility of child exploitation among the refugee
population living in the Refugee Welcome Zone (ZAR)
established by the Government of Cote d'Ivoire along the
western border with Liberia. (Note: the ZAR stretches from
the region west of Guiglo to the south around the city of
Tabou. End note.) Refugees in the ZAR are mostly integrated
into local villages. Current estimates put the Liberian
refugee population in Cote d'Ivoire around 40,000 with a
small percentage living in the Tabou Transit Center
(approximately 2,500 refugees) and in a refugee camp near
Guiglo (approximately 6,000 refugees). ILO and UNHCR agreed
to look at the impact of the Ivoirian crisis on both refugee
and displaced children in the ZAR region for the study.


4. (SBU) Although ILO had the lead role in the study, Honore
explained they could not publish it without UNHCR's approval.
Honore confirmed that UNHCR had changed personnel involved
in the study and that this probably played some role in
UNHCR's delay. However, he also believed the results
revealed what he called "sensitive" issues in refugee child
protection and felt UNHCR was uncomfortable with the results.
Interestingly, Honore said they had just received UNHCR's
authorization and expected their own consultant to prepare a
final version within ten days, after which ILO will move to
publication.

DRAFT STUDY SHOWS REFUGEE CHILDREN IN PRECARIOUS SITUATION
-------------- --------------


5. (SBU) ILO-UNHCR identified labor and sexual exploitation
as the two main forms of exploitation for refugee and
displaced children. Although the study points out that it
can be difficult to distinguish between exploitation refugee
children suffer to that experienced by displaced children, it
concludes that refugee children are vulnerable due to their

ABIDJAN 00000227 002 OF 003


status as refugees (i.e., they are without their normal
social support networks in the host-country),the loss of
wealth as a result of their fleeing to Cote d'Ivoire,
hostilities within the ZAR region itself (33% of refugee
children began working after 2002),and the fact that they
represent a cheap and easily manageable labor force.


6. (SBU) The report shows that refugee children are working
at an increasingly earlier age (35% between the ages of
5-14),they often accept the worst jobs, they are often
injured at work, and they are not guaranteed regular salary
payments. The report concludes that all children in the ZAR
region are increasingly exploited in mining work and on
palm-oil plantations, are susceptible to recruitment into
militia groups, and are increasingly involved in child
prostitution. The report states that female refugee children
are most often found working in prostitution and exposed to a
range of physical violence, an increased potential for
HIV/AIDS infection, and unwanted pregnancies.

IRC UNAWARE OF REPORT'S FINDINGS
--------------


7. (SBU) The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has worked
in Cote d'Ivoire as one of UNHCR's main implementing partners
in the Tabou region. Sanda mentioned that UNHCR worked with
IRC in gender-based violence (GBV) activities in the west but
admitted he had not shared results of the 2004 study with
IRC. Maurizio Crivellaro, Acting Country Director for IRC,
stated IRC was also disappointed with UNHCR's support in
lobbying for recognition of schooling for refugee children in
the ZAR region. Having their school studies officially
recognized would aid refugee children returning to Libeia or
help them integrate into the local school ystem if they
chose to remain in Cote d'Ivoire. The ILO-UNHCR report also
alludes to schooling for children in the ZAR region as one of
the problems in the post-2002 context.


8. (SBU) IRC established a Child Protection Program in 2003
to address child abuse and exploitation and other child
protection concerns in the villages in the Tabou region where
they are present. IRC treated 55 children between July 2003
and December 2005 who were victims of sexual abuse, labor
exploitation on plantations, and refugee children living with
heavily impoverished parents who were subjected to various
forms of abuse and exploitation as a result.

PROTECTION: DID UNHCR DROP THE BALL?
--------------


9. (SBU) Sanda told RefCoord that many of the refugee
children in Cote d'Ivoire received their status at a time
when the government granted refugee status on a prima facie
basis to all Liberians. The report itself mentions that it
was difficult for researchers to determine which Liberian
refugee children were actually holding refugee status and
which were simply Liberians engaged in long-standing
cross-border movements who claimed to be refugees. Although
it is possible that a large number of the refugee children
covered in the study might not have held refugee status, the
study affirms that the exploitation taking place in the ZAR
region was common to all children, regardless of their status
as refugees, displaced, or migrants.


10. (SBU) The report's findings that conflict within the ZAR
region after 2002 led to increased risk of exploitation for
displaced and refugee children would seem to stand in direct
contradiction to Sanda's often stated position that Liberian
refugees are well integrated in local communities. We have
noted that almost all of UNHCR's facilitated returns to
Liberia from Cote d'Ivoire (more than 13,000 officially
assisted) have come from the local communities, not the Nicla
camp or the Tabou Transit Center (TC). UNHCR claims a
further 20,000 have returned on their own from these same
communities.


11. (SBU) At the same time, Liberian refugee camps and
populations continue to be located in areas of extreme
volatility. Recent ethnic clashes near Guiglo and Tabou in
just the last month have resulted in some 20 deaths and the
displacement of hundreds of people (refs. A and B). Violence
against UNHCR's own offices in Guiglo in January has left
them dependent on local Caritas staff who do not even have

ABIDJAN 00000227 003 OF 003


proper equipment to distribute food rations (ref. C).
Against this backdrop, it does appear the study's conclusions
might have pointed to shortcomings in UNHCR's ability to
provide adequate protection to refugee children in Cote
d'Ivoire they would have preferred not to reveal.

Comment
--------------


12. (SBU) If UNHCR has an advocacy role to fill in Cote
d'Ivoire it should be in support of the rights of refugee
children. At a minimum, the study's findings should have
been shared with UNHCR's NGO and UN partners working in the
ZAR region to enable them to prepare some specific activities
in response to information ILO-UNHCR had worked to produce.
The findings of the report would also seem to bolster further
the need for UNHCR to move forward with an active promotional
phase for return to Liberia for both the local and camp-based
refugee populations. Post requests that PRM follow-up on
this issue with UNHCR Geneva to make sure our concerns on the
delay of the report's publication are conveyed and that UNHCR
Abidjan has a clear plan to implement UNHCR's promotion
return phase for Liberian refugees in Cote d'Ivoire.
Hooks