In 2008, Togo was a source, transit and, to a lesser extent, a destination country for women and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation.
Togolese girls were trafficked primarily within the country for domestic servitude, as market vendors, produce porters, and for commercial sexual exploitation.
To a lesser extent, girls were also trafficked to other African countries, primarily Benin, Nigeria, Ghana, and Niger for the same purposes listed above.
There have been reports of Togolese women and girls trafficked to Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, likely for domestic servitude and sexual exploitation.
The Government of Togo does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it made significant efforts to do so, despite limited resources.
[2] In 2017, the U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons placed the country in "Tier 2 Watch List" in 2018[3] - a downgrade from the year before.
Togolese law enforcement officials regularly referred trafficking victims to government authorities or NGOs for care.
In 2007, however, the Minister of Child Protection also established a vocational training center for destitute children where the government has placed some trafficking victims before returning them to their families.