The country's trafficking problem was primarily internal and frequently involved parents entrusting children to relatives or intermediaries in return for promises of education, apprenticeship, goods, or money; selling or bartering children into involuntary domestic servitude or herding was used as a means of survival by families seeking to reduce the number of mouths to feed.
In past reporting periods, traffickers transported children from Cameroon and the CAR to Chad's oil producing regions for commercial sexual exploitation; it was unknown whether this practice persisted in 2009.
The government failed, however, to enact legislation prohibiting trafficking in persons and undertook minimal anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts and victim protection activities.
The country faces severe constraints including lack of a strong judicial system, destabilizing civil conflicts, and a heavy influx of refugees from neighboring states.
[5] The practice of slavery in Chad, as in the Sahel states in general, is an entrenched phenomenon with a long history, going back to the trans-Saharan slave trade, in the Sahelian kingdoms, and it continues today.
As elsewhere in West Africa, the situation reflects an ethnic, racial and religious rift between black, Christian farmers and lighter-skinned, Muslim herdsmen, occasionally flaring up in eruptions of violence or civil unrest.
Unwilling to expend the resources required for effective administration, the French government responded with sporadic coercion and a growing reliance on indirect rule through the sultanates.
In 2009, the Ministry of Justice, with support from UNICEF, completed drafting revisions to the penal code; several new provisions will prohibit and prescribe punishments for child trafficking and provide protection for victims.
Some cases were dealt with by traditional forms of justice which varied depending on the religion, ethnicity, and clan affiliation of all parties involved in or affected by the exploitation.
The government did not prosecute military officials for conscripting child soldiers, though it notified the ANT during the year that future infractions would be punished with the full weight of the law.
In July 2009, representatives of the Ministries of Social Affairs, Defense, and Foreign Affairs led an inter-ministerial mission to the military camp in Moussoro, accompanied by staff from UNICEF and an international NGO, to identify child soldiers captured from rebel units; of the 88 presumed child soldiers, the team identified 51 as children and succeeded in removing 16 of them to UNICEF's care.
The Ministry of Social Action operated a transit center located in Moussouro to screen and provide shelter to demobilized children after they are first released from armed groups.
These committees - located in N'Djamena, Abeche, and southern towns, with representatives from the Ministries of Justice, Social Affairs and Family, Education, Public Works, Human Rights, and the Judicial Police - encouraged victims to file charges against and assist in the investigation and prosecution of their traffickers.
Due to weak state entities and a lack of capacity, the government did not allocate any resources for training its officials regarding the identification and treatment of trafficking victims during the reporting period.
Throughout 2009, an inter-ministerial team visited southern towns to investigate suspected cases of children forced to herd animals and provided a report with recommendations for future action to the Human Rights Ministry.
Beginning in August 2009, the Ministry of Foreign Affair's Military Coordinator led an awareness raising delegation composed of officers from the ANT, the Nomadic Guard, Directorate General of Security Services for National Institutions, and the Gendarmerie, along with civilian government officials and representatives of UNICEF, UNDP, the UN peacekeeping operation, and diplomatic missions, to the four headquarters locations of the government's armed forces in Abeche, N'Djamena, Moussoro, and Mongo.