Economic Community Communauté Economique

of West African States des Etats de l’Afrique

de l’Ouest

Twenty-Fifth Ordinary Session of Authority

of Heads of State and Government
Dakar, 20th - 21st December, 2001

Declaration on THE
FIGHT against Trafficking
in Persons
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We, the Heads of States and Government of the Economic Community of

West African States (ECOWAS) solemnly declare as follows:

Deeply Concerned over the suffering caused by the growing incidence of

trafficking in persons within the West African Sub-region and from our Member States to
other parts of the world,

Asserting that it is fully unacceptable that human beings are traded, bought,
sold, placed, or abducted thus being denied their most fundamental human rights;

Condemning trafficking in persons, especially women and children, as a violation

of fundamental human rights, and as a criminal act;

Disturbed by the extensive and growing role in trafficking in persons by

transnational organised criminal networks, whereby our Member States are used as
countries of origin, transit and destination,

Recognizing that poverty, lack of education and lack of equal opportunity make
persons, especially women and children, vulnerable to becoming victims of trafficking;

Deeply concerned that perpetrators of trafficking in persons, using coercion,

abduction, fraud, or deception are taking advantage of the social or economic
vulnerabilities of men, women, and children, in order to exploit them;

Acknowledging that children who become victims of trafficking are particularly

vulnerable and need special measures of protection for their development and well
being;

Recalling the Universal Declaration of Human Rights1, particularly Article 4,

which states that “No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave
trade shall be prohibited in all their forms”;

Recalling further the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the
2
Child , the 1999 International Labour Organization Convention 182 on the Worst Forms
of Child Labour, and the 1999 African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child,
particularly Article 15 (Child Labour); Article 16 (Protection Against Child Abuse and
Torture); and Article 29 (Sale, Trafficking and Abduction);

1 Resolution 217 A (III) of the General Assembly

2 resolution 44/25, Annex of the “ “
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Recalling the ECOWAS Protocol on the Mechanism Relating to Conflict

Prevention, Management, Resolution, Peacekeeping and Security of 10th December
1999 and its provisions on the control of transborder crimes;

Recalling the ECOWAS Convention A/P1/7/92 on Mutual Assistance in Criminal

Matters and ECOWAS Convention A/P1/8/94 on Extradition as well as the fact that a
number of bilateral and multilateral instruments on trafficking in persons and related
matters have been adopted by ECOWAS Member States;

Recalling also the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 55/25 of 15

November 2000, which adopted the United Nations Convention against Transnational
Organized Crime and the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in
Persons, Especially Women and Children, constituting effective tools for international
cooperation in combating such criminal activities and providing an internationally agreed-
upon definition of “trafficking in persons”3;

Aware that the crime of trafficking in persons as defined in the Protocol to

Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children,
addresses the transnational and trans-regional dimension of this type of crime, but that
similar acts can also occur within States;

Recognizing that effective co-operation, intelligence gathering, information

sharing, and training are essential to the prevention and eradication of trafficking in
persons;

Acknowledging the importance of enhanced regional and international co-

operation in the struggle against trafficking in human beings;

Declaring that effective action to prevent and combat trafficking in persons

requires a comprehensive international approach in the countries of origin, transit, and
destination that includes measures to prevent trafficking, to punish traffickers, and to
protect the victims of such trafficking, as well as protecting their internationally
recognised human rights;

3 Trafficking in persons means “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or
other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of
payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall
include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or
practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.” (Article 3, Paragraph a.) of the Protocol on the prevention, repression and
punishment of trafficking in persons, especially women and children, supplementary to the United Nations Convention on organised transborder
crimes (Resolution 55/25, Annex Ii, of the General Assembly).
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Noting the initiatives taken by the international community in support of sub-

regional initiatives on specific aspects of trafficking in persons, in particular by United
Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF), International Labour Organisation (ILO)
and International Organisation on Migration (IOM);

Considering the resolution of the meeting of Ministers Foreign Affairs held in

Dakar on 17th December 2001;

Expressing our gratitude to the Government of Japan and the United Nations
Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention/Centre for International Crime Prevention
(ODCCP/CICP), for their support;

Expressing our appreciation to the Government of Ghana for hosting the

ECOWAS-ODCCP/CICP Meeting of Experts on Trafficking in Human Beings;

Expressing further our appreciation to the Governments of the Republic of

Benin for having initiated action on the matter under consideration and the Togolese
Republic for its pro-active role in our search for practical measures that will address the
problem of human trafficking;

Hereby proclaim our strong commitment to the eradication of the

trafficking in persons, especially women and children, and we:

1. Call upon our Member States who have not yet done so, to ratify forthwith the
ECOWAS Convention A/P1/7/92 on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters and
ECOWAS Convention A/P1/8/94 on Extradition, and the Protocol relating to the
Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management, Resolution, Peacekeeping and
Security;

2. Call upon our Member States who have not yet done so, to take all necessary
steps to sign, ratify and fully implement the African Charter on the Rights and
Welfare of the Child;

3. Commend those Member States which have signed and ratified the United
Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime4 and the UN Protocol
to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and

4 Resolution 55/25, Annex I of the General Assembly

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Children , and recommend that those countries who have not yet done so, to
sign or ratify these instruments at the earliest possible time;

4. Call upon our Member States to adopt a Code of the Child, taking into
consideration the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child6, and
the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child;

We further commit ourselves to:

5. Adopt, as quickly as possible, such legislative and other measures as that are
necessary to establish as criminal offences the trafficking in persons within,
between, or from, their territory; to organize, direct, or participate as an
accomplice, in this trafficking;

6. Take measures, in close consultation with the countries of origin, transit and
destination and with the victims themselves, for the care and repatriation of any
of our citizens who have been victims of trafficking whether within the territory of
Member States, or outside the ECOWAS sub-region;

7. Implement measures to provide for the protection and physical, psychological

and social recovery of victims of trafficking through affording them the full
protection of their physical safety, privacy, and human rights;

8. Establish comprehensive policies, programmes, and other measures to prevent

and combat trafficking in persons, and to protect victims of trafficking from
further victimization;

9. Use of all forms of state and public media to mount public awareness campaigns
to educate potential victims of trafficking, their families, and the general
population;

10. Provide and strengthen sensitization and training for government officials,
particularly law enforcement personnel, customs and immigration officials,
prosecutors and judges, and other relevant officials on the prevention of
trafficking in persons and on the investigation and prosecution of related crimes;

11. Create specialized anti-trafficking units within law enforcement agencies and
within the prosecutorial services, with a special view to fight the involvement of
organized criminal groups;

5 resolution 55/25, Annex II “ “ “

6 resolution 44/25, Annex of the General Assembly
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12. Strengthen border controls, without prejudice to our Protocols and other
international commitments to the free movement of people, as may be necessary
to prevent and control trafficking in persons;

13. Undertake to initiate or expand efforts to gather and analyze data on the
situation, magnitude, nature, and economics of trafficking in persons, particularly
of women and children, and on the means and methods used in the trafficking of
persons;

14. Exchange such information among law enforcement and other agencies of our
Member States, as well as with other countries of origin, transit and destination,
and with the United Nations, and other relevant international organizations;

15. Support and cooperate with national institutions, including local communities,
civil society and relevant non-governmental organizations in their activities
against trafficking in persons;

16. Strengthen preventive measures, including educational and social measures

within each Member State to discourage the demand in trafficked persons,
especially women and children, and to assist countries of destination in the
development and implementation of similar measures;

17. Call upon those States where persons, particularly women and children, have
been trafficked from the ECOWAS sub-region, to make efforts to reduce the
demand in their countries for such persons;

18. Direct the ECOWAS Secretariat to forge close links with the Member States’ task
forces on trafficking in persons, in order to achieve better coordination of the
control of trafficking in persons in the sub-region, and for that purpose to
establish an ECOWAS unit for the coordination of the efforts to combat
trafficking in persons;

19. Direct the ECOWAS Secretariat to take appropriate action for the preparation of
a sub-regional convention against trafficking, with special focus on trafficking in
children and women;

20. Invite States and funding agencies, as well as relevant intergovernmental

organizations and non-governmental organizations, and those international
industrial and commercial organizations who use the human and natural
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resources of our States, to provide financial and material assistance, including the
provision of expertise, to support ECOWAS States in their anti-trafficking efforts;
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Therefore:

21. Adopt the ECOWAS Initial Plan of Action against Trafficking in Persons 2002-
2003 annexed to this Declaration;

22. Declare that we will undertake all necessary efforts to fully implement the
ECOWAS Initial Plan of Action against Trafficking in Persons 2002-2003;

23. Direct the ECOWAS Secretariat to monitor and report to the Ordinary Summits of
Heads of State in 2002 and 2003 respectively, on the progress made in the
implementation of this Declaration and the Initial Plan of Action.

IN FAITH WHEREOF WE, THE HEADS OF STATE AND

GOVERNMENT OF THE ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST
AFRICAN STATES HAVE SIGNED THIS DECLARATION.

DONE AT DAKAR, THIS 21st DAY OF DECEMBER 2001

IN A SINGLE ORIGINAL IN THE ENGLISH, FRENCH AND
PORTUGUESE LANGUAGES, THE THREE TEXTS
BEING EQUALLY AUTHENTIC

……………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………
H. E. Mathieu KEREKOU H. E. Blaise COMPAORE
President of the Republic of BENIN President of Faso
Chairman of the Council of
Ministers

………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………
H. E. Pedro Verona Rodrigues PIRES H. E. Yahya A.J.J. JAMMEH
President of the Republic President of the Republic of THE
of CAPE VERDE GAMBIA
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………………………………………………… …………………………………………………
H. E. John Agyeman KUFUOR H. E. Koumba Yala NHANCA
President of the Republic of GHANA President of the Republic of
GUINEA BISSAU

………………………………………… ……………………………….……..
H. E. Alpha Oumar KONARE H. E. Olusegun OBASANJO
President of the Republic of MALI President and Commander-in-
Chief of the Armed Forces of the
Federal Republic of NIGERIA

…………………………………………… ……………………………………….
H. E. Abdoulaye WADE H.E. Alhaji Dr Ahmad Tejan
President of the Republic of SENEGAL KABBAH
President of the Republic
of SIERRA LEONE

…………………………………………. …………………………………………
H. E Gnassingbé EYADEMA H. E. Lamine SIDIME
President of the TOGOLESE Republic Prime Minister of the Republic of
GUINEA
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………………………………………… ………………………………………
H. E. Abdou Rahmane SANGARE H. E. Captan MONIE
Minister of Foreign Affairs Minister of Foreign Affairs
Republic of COTE D’IVOIRE of the Republic of LIBERIA

…………………………………………………
H. E. Mme MINDAOUDOU Aïchatou
Minister of Foreign Affairs
of the Republic of Niger

Annex: ECOWAS 2001 Initial Plan of Action against Trafficking in Persons