The Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in
Persons (TIP Office) announces an open competition for
projects to combat child trafficking in Benin under a forthcoming Child
Protection Compact (CPC) Partnership (hereinafter the CPC Partnership) to
strengthen the capacity of the Beninese government, as well as civil society
organizations and public international organizations, to address child sex
trafficking and forced child labor.
The CPC will strengthen existing efforts by the Government of
Benin to meet the needs of child victims and at-risk children and eradicate
these crimes.
Prevention
- Goal: Child trafficking prevention efforts and networks
are coordinated and targeted at specific sectors throughout the country
with the greatest prevalence of child trafficking (revealed by the
prevalence study), potentially to include markets and domestic service.
- Objectives:
- With the support of civil
society, the Government of Benin coordinates and implements a harmonized
nationwide child trafficking prevention strategy
- With support from civil
society, the Government of Benin leads targeted child trafficking
prevention campaigns that reduce the prevalence of forced child labor and
child sex trafficking.
- With support from civil
society, the Government of Benin provides at-risk families support to
reduce the prevalence of child trafficking.
Prosecution
- Goal: Justice sector actors, including but not limited to law
enforcement (vice squad, the Central Office for the Protection of Children
and Families and the Punishment of Trafficking in Persons (OCPM), border
patrol, and other relevant entities), prosecutors, and the judiciary,
understand and utilize existing legal and procedural frameworks –
including cross border – to identify child trafficking victims,
investigate cases and networks, prosecute and convict perpetrators of
child trafficking, and sentence traffickers to sufficiently stringent
sentences while respecting due process and applying a victim-centered,
trauma-informed approach.
- Objectives
- Justice sector actors (named above)
understand and use the laws that govern child trafficking, including, but
not limited to, the 2018 Penal Code, the Child Trafficking Act, and other
relevant laws, as well as international legal instruments to which Benin
is a party.
- Benin’s justice sector actors
understand and employ promising practices when investigating and
prosecuting child trafficking cases and enforcing their laws applying a
victim-centered, trauma-informed approach.
- Benin has implemented
mechanisms and decrees for antitrafficking laws.
- Benin’s justice sector actors
understand and follow the implementing mechanisms and decrees for the
anti-trafficking law.
- Benin’s justice sector actors
integrate victim identification SOPs into their daily operations.
- Benin reinforces the legal framework
for anti-trafficking coordination with other countries involved in child
trafficking cases to investigate, prosecute, and convict perpetrators of
transnational child trafficking cases, while respecting due process.
- Benin is able to protect its
child trafficking victims during judicial proceedings to prevent
re-traumatization.
- Benin’s criminal justice
sector actors have secure access to trafficking in persons data,
including victims identified (disaggregated by type of trafficking,
children vs adults, sexual orientation, and region where identified),
criminal cases under investigation (including region, POC), trafficking
cases currently in process in court (including which courts), the outcome
of the cases (including the type of trafficking case, region, and some
non-sensitive information on the case).
Protection
- Goal: The Government of Benin oversees a functioning
system of victim identification and referral to and provision of proactive
trauma-informed, victim centered protection services for child trafficking
victims, including girls, boys, homeless and other vulnerable youth
(including LGBTQI+ youth), in coordination with civil society.
- Objectives
- The government and civil
society improves their ability to identify and refer child trafficking
victims to shelter and services.
- Child trafficking victims have
access to regulated shelters that provide minimum standards of care.
- Child trafficking victims receive
comprehensive, trauma-informed and victim-centered care, from
identification to reintegration.
- The government manages and
guides child trafficking victim protection efforts.
Partnership
- Goal: The Government of Benin prioritizes
anti-trafficking efforts and commits to sustaining the CPC Partnership
impacts beyond the life of the Partnership itself.
- Objectives
- Relevant ministries, in
particular the Ministries of Planning and Development, Justice, Social
Affairs, Foreign Affairs, and Interior, demonstrate their commitment
levels towards anti-trafficking efforts.
- Civil society and the
Government of Benin systematically and regularly collaborate on
anti-child trafficking efforts.
Funding Information
- Funding Floor (lowest $$
value): $1,000,000
- Funding Ceiling (highest $$
value): $10,000,000
Eligibility Criteria
The TIP Office encourages applications from the
following entities:
- U.S.-based and Foreign-based
Non-Profit
- For-Profit Organization
- Institution of Higher Education
- Non-Governmental Organization
(NGO)
- Public International
Organization (PIO)
- Applications submitted by
for-profit entities may be subject to additional review following the
panel selection process. Additionally, the Department of State prohibits
profit to for-profit or commercial organizations under its assistance
awards. Profit is defined as any amount in excess of allowable direct and
indirect costs.
- While foreign governments are
not eligible to apply, governments may be beneficiaries of programs
provided that funding does not pay salaries of government agency personnel
and that such assistance is not restricted by U.S. law or policy.
Post Date - 03-Jun-2021