Cabo Verde

People

Cabo Verde is mainly a country of origin for children exploited for sex trafficking and a destination country for West African women forced into prostitution. Children victims, including foreign nationals, are subject to sexual exploitation on a number of islands within the archipelago, occasionally in exchange for drugs. Forced labour of children is also often characterised by long hours and physical and sexual abuse. Some Cabo Verdean children, particularly those in disadvantaged or isolated areas and engaged in begging and labour-intensive work, are especially vulnerable to being trafficked.

While human smuggling is limited, the archipelago has been used as a transit country for people from mainland Africa who are smuggled to the Canary Islands. Cases have been recorded of Cabo Verdeans being smuggled to Brazil via boat, but in most cases, they are repatriated.

Trade

Arms trafficking in Cabo Verde is not significant, although crimes involving firearms are becoming more prevalent. In recent years, very few cases involving the illegal trade of firearms have been reported. Of the homicide committed using firearms, most cases appear to be carried outusing homemade weapons.

Environment

Cabo Verde does not have mineral resources and is not a known transit point for the smuggling of non-renewable resources.Flora crimes within Cabo Verde are also low, mainly due to the limited forests. The few cases of environmental damage registered by the Cabo Verde environmental guard, mostly in the form of illegal deforestation, were carried out by private companies developing residential subdivisions and were not linked to criminal groups. Wildlife trafficking, however, is underreported. Local consumption of turtle meat,driven by strenuous financial conditions, appears to be growing and is evidenced by increased street sales. The most prevalent fauna crime, however, is illegal fishing, with large industrial fishing fleets, from countries including Spain, China and Japan, carrying out fishing activities for different species such as tuna and sharks in Cabo Verdean waters.

Drugs

The country's sizeable maritime zone and remote areas make it appealing to traffickers transporting commodities via air and sea routes, and a growth in tourism and business has expanded opportunities for drug trafficking via human couriers. The development of international tourism is also contributing to the growth of a domestic drug market.Cabo Verde has seen growth in heroin and cocaine seizures and is viewed as an easy maritime trans-shipment point for illicit drugs destined for European markets by sea, or via North African departure points. South American cocaine is also smuggled via Cabo Verde directly to European destinations, particularly Spain, or via other North or West African states to Europe, the Middle East or Asia.Trafficking networks attempt to disguise their point of origin by using Cabo Verde as a transit point.Both heroin and cocaine are consumed on the islands to an unknown extent.

Cannabis is the most consumed substance in the archipelago, and the municipal area of Santa Catarina de Santiago is becoming a major centre of production, consumption, and trafficking. The product is produced domestically on farms on the outskirts of Assomada. Cabo Verde is a significant transit country for illicit drugs, like cannabis, trafficked from domestic African production points to markets in Europe. The islands are used by Moroccan traffickers, with their products destined for both Europe and the Americas. Additionally, methamphetamines are one of the most frequently used narcotics, and there are reports of synthetic drugs, including Ecstasy from South America, on the Sal and Boa Vista islands.

Cyber Crimes

*This indicator was first included in the 2023 iteration of the tool

Financial Crimes

*This indicator was first included in the 2023 iteration of the tool

Criminal Actors

Cabo Verde's importance as a transit corridorin the West African cocaine trade and the existence of sizeable Cabo Verdean communities in the United States, the Netherlands, Portugal, France and Switzerland has contributed to the formation of criminal gangs on the islands. Cabo Verdean organized crime is primarily perpetrated by street gangs, which increasingly fight to control trafficking routes and have varying levels of organization and tactics. Such groups with family or community ties on the islands have connections to island-based drug smugglers. Cabo Verdean gangs are one of the most important sources of drugs in Portugal, and Cabo Verdean criminals deported from the Americas or Europe sometimes get involved in drug smuggling as intermediaries between the South American drug cartels and Cabo Verdean criminals overseas.

Members of these criminal gangs include people from Spain, Cuba, Switzerland, Portugal and Brazil, while Irish gangs are also involved in the cocaine trade. Additionally, there are reports of Nigerian mafia-style groups and Chinese criminal actors present in the country. Regarding state embedded criminal actors, several scandals have showcased the criminal interests of some high-ranking officials, and law enforcement officials may also be involved in drug trafficking.

Leadership and governance

The government, with international support, has taken steps to tackle drug trafficking by strengthening its capacity for interdiction and investigation. Drug use is not pervasive enough to cause serious socio-economic problems, and Cabo Verde can be characterized as politically stable, with established democratic institutions and adequate protection of human rights and civic freedoms. Corruption is relatively low, and transparency is considered high, although Cabo Verde lacks an independent anti-corruption body. Several policy measures have been implemented, such as the strengthening of the role of the Court of Auditors and the reinforcement of the Public Acquisition Regulatory Authority.

In order to combat drug trafficking and illegal fishing, and to build the monitoring capacity of international waters, Cabo Verde is reliant on international cooperation with partners including Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, the European Union and the US. The Spanish Marine Corps provides training to the Special Operations Unit of the Cabo Verdean National Guard, and Brazil's Naval Mission helped modernize the national Coast Guard. Cabo Verde is party to international agreements related to organized crime, human trafficking and mutual legal assistance. Additionally, Cabo Verde has extradited criminals wanted in the US despite the absence of an extradition agreement. Cabo Verde also has a legal framework and national strategies in place to combat organized crime, including drug trafficking, financial crimes, human trafficking, and illegal fishing. The legal framework regulates the mechanisms for combating and producing illicit substances, while the Drug Control Coordination Commission is responsible for coordinating drug demand and supply interventions, under the Ministry of Justice and Internal Administration. The UNODC programme in Cabo Verde has also supported local authorities in strengthening the national legal framework.

Criminal justice and security

While Cabo Verde has an independent judiciary, and the criminal justice system has improved it’s ability to prevent, investigate, and prosecute serious organized crime cases, forensic investigation capacity is lacking. Moreover, access to justice services, particularly for vulnerable people,remains a challenge. The trend of increasing violent crime has led to a rise in the prison population. Incarceration rates are relatively high in relation to population size, with prisons suffering from overcrowding and high recidivism rates. In partnership with the US, the national police are improving the management of prisons, adopting community policing strategies, and strengthening the Financial Intelligence Unit's and the Judicial Police's capacity to address transnational organized crime. The Judicial Police havealso reinforced their technical capacity through specialized equipment and maintenance services provided by the EU. The government has provided some financial support to build the capacity and technical training of law enforcement and justice officials, particularly on the issue anti-trafficking, but overall, insufficient staffing and a lack of resources impede the state'sability to identify victims, collect evidence and carry out effective investigations. The strong social cohesion among local communities results in individuals often failing to report crimes or testify, and most islands do not have a police presence.

Cabo Verde's geography and lack of resources make its extensive territorial waters and borders difficult to patrol. Trafficking, of cocaine in particular, has been facilitated by the absence of police on some islands. Cabo Verde has established the Centre for Maritime Operations and Safety to coordinate the exchange of information with other countries to combat illicit acts at sea using radar and satellite images.

Economic and financial environment

To combat financial crime, an EU-supported Financial Intelligence Unit and a national office for asset recovery has been established, and the country is a member of the Egmont Group. Notably however, the country lacks a fully functioning cross-border currency declaration system. Cabo Verde is a member of the Economic Community of West African States, which aims to facilitate the adoption and implementation of Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism in West Africa, and it is one of the only countries in Africa that seizes assets. However, Cabo Verde has played a role in recent financial scandals, demonstrating a weak regulatory banking environment and poorly implemented financial regulations. As a result, the government approved the closure of local offshore banks serving only non-resident customers. Nonetheless, it is likely thatthe most of the risks of money laundering are linked to drug trafficking operations.

A significant portion of the economy is rooted in the informal sector, contributing to a lack of transparency and money laundering risks. Cabo Verde’sservice-oriented economy and high trade deficit is heavily dependent on external dynamics, including foreign aid and investment, remittances, and sectors such as tourism, commerce and transport services.

Civil society and social protection

The government maintains efforts to assist human trafficking victims and has improved reporting on these activities. Officials and NGOs have receivedspecialized training for child victims of sexual and gender-based violence, including sex trafficking. The Ministry of Justice and Labour, in partnership with UNODC, also launched a national plan to target human trafficking, and while no services specifically cater to trafficking victims, state-funded bodies do offer emergency services, including temporary living assistance and psychological treatmentsto crime victims. Currently, the state does not provide awitness protection programme, rather,support is provided by officially recognized local NGOs. The Institute for Children and Adolescents (ICCA) runs shelters on two islands, and staff on all nine inhabited islands provide services for minors that have undergone trauma, including from trafficking. Additionally, the Cabo Verdean Institute for Gender Equality has a shelter for domestic violence victims that trafficking victims can access.

In response to an increase in crime, the government strengthened the operational resources of the National and Judicial police, security apparatus, and prison services and launched a programme focused on prevention and educational measures to reduce crime and violence. The Ministry of Internal Affairs also announced an increase in urban patrolling, improvement of public lighting and interventions in troubled neighbourhoods. In order to address the rise of sex tourism, the Minister of Justice and Labour and the police collaborate with tourism operators in Europe to prevent its facilitation.While the ICCA has been training civil society leaders, judges, and police on victim identification procedures and referrals, many authorities remain unable to distinguish trafficking from abuse and negligence. In partnership with the Community Anti-drug Coalition,in the Ponta D’Água neighbourhood, the Coordination Commission for Alcohol and Other Drugs, has provided training for youth to promote healthy attitudes and behaviour. Press freedom in Cabo Verde is relatively high, and the government has relinquished its power to appoint executives within the main public media group.