Comoros Issues - 2023

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Disputes - international

claims French-administered Mayotte and challenges France's and Madagascar's claims to Banc du Geyser, a drying reef in the Mozambique Channel; in May 2008, African Union forces assisted the Comoros military in recapturing Anjouan Island from rebels who seized it in 2001

Trafficking in persons

tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List — Comoros does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so; officials have made key achievements, and therefore, Comoros was upgraded to Tier 2 Watch List; the government has investigated trafficking crimes for the first time since 2014 and initiated its first trafficking prosecution; authorities have been identifying victims and referring them to protective services; Comoros partnered with an international organization and implemented standard operating procedures for victim identification and provided training for officials; the government also conducted anti-trafficking awareness campaigns; despite these achievements, the government has never reported convicting a trafficker, lacks a national referral mechanism, did not finalize a national action plan to combat trafficking, and did not allocate funds for anti-trafficking efforts (2022)

trafficking profile: human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Comoros and Comorians abroad; some Comorian women and children are subject to forced labor and may be vulnerable to sex trafficking; adults may be forced to work in agriculture, construction, or as domestics on Mayotte, a French department, and continental Africa; children on Anjouan, including some abandoned by parents who left to seek jobs abroad, are vulnerable to exploitation in domestic service, vending, baking, fishing, and agriculture; children from poor families whose parents place them with a relative or acquaintance for educational opportunities are vulnerable to domestic servitude and physical and sexual abuse; some children in Koranic schools may experience forced labor in agriculture or domestic servitude; inadequate border controls; government corruption, and international crime networks leave Comorians vulnerable to international trafficking (2022)

NOTE: The information regarding Comoros on this page is re-published from the 2023 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Comoros 2023 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Comoros 2023 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.