Equatorial Guinea Issues - 2024

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Disputes - international

Equatorial Guinea-Cameroon: in 2002, ICJ ruled on an equidistance settlement of Cameroon-Equatorial Guinea-Nigeria maritime boundary in the Gulf of Guinea, but a dispute between Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon over an island at the mouth of the Ntem River and imprecisely defined maritime coordinates in the ICJ decision delayed final delimitation

Equatorial Guinea-Gabon: dispute over Mbane Island and lesser islands in the Corisco Bay submitted to ICJ in 2016

Trafficking in persons

tier rating:

Tier 3 — Equatorial Guinea does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; therefore, Equatorial Guinea was downgraded to Tier 3; officials took some steps such as training law enforcement officials on trafficking; however, the government did not prosecute any traffickers and has never convicted a trafficker under its 2004 anti-trafficking law; officials did not identify any victims for the second consecutive year nor screen vulnerable populations; the anti-trafficking law did not criminalize all forms of trafficking; allegations of senior government officials’ complicity in trafficking crimes continued to hinder efforts to combat trafficking (2023)

trafficking profile:

human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Equatorial Guinea and Equatoguineans abroad; the majority of trafficking victims are subjected to forced domestic service and sex trafficking in cities, particularly in the hospitality and restaurant sector; local and foreign women are exploited in commercial sex domestically, while some Equatoguineans may face sex trafficking in Spain; some business owners recruit women from Benin, Cameroon, Ethiopia, other African countries, and Latin America for work in Equatorial Guinea and exploit them in forced labor and sex trafficking; some children from rural areas have been exploited in forced labor; traffickers fraudulently recruit Equatoguinean and foreign children to attend school or learn a trade but exploit them in domestic servitude and other forced labor; observers report LGBTQI+ youth are often left homeless and stigmatized by family and society, increasing their vulnerability to trafficking (2023)

NOTE: The information regarding Equatorial Guinea on this page is re-published from the 2024 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Equatorial Guinea 2024 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Equatorial Guinea 2024 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.