Djibouti Issues - 2024

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Disputes - international

Djibouti-Somalia: Djibouti maintains economic ties and border accords with "Somaliland" leadership while maintaining some political ties to various factions in Somalia

Djibouti-Eritrea: in 2008, Eritrean troops moved across the border on Ras Doumera peninsula and occupied Doumera Island with undefined sovereignty in the Red Sea, sparking a brief conflict; Qatar mediated and provided peacekeepers until 2017; Djibouti accused Eritrea of reoccupying the area in 2017 after Qatari troops were withdrawn; Djibouti and Eritrea agreed to normalize relations in 2018

Djibouti-Ethiopia: the Ethiopia-Djibouti relationship has been relatively harmonious, and there have been no major disputes along their shared border

Refugees and internally displaced persons

refugees (country of origin): 6,518 (Yemen) (mid-year 2022); 13,467 (Somalia) (2024)

Trafficking in persons

tier rating: Tier 3 — Djibouti does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; therefore, Djibouti was downgraded to Tier 3; the government took some steps to address trafficking, including partnering with international organizations to establish a shelter and provide services to victims, and directing creation of a national coordinating body to combat trafficking; however, officials did not report investigating or prosecuting any cases and did not convict any traffickers for the sixth consecutive year; prosecutors dropped trafficking charges or reclassified cases as other crimes with lower penalties, and judges did not incorporate provisions from the 2016 anti-trafficking law; no victims were identified for the fourth consecutive year, and protection services remained limited; the government lacked coordinated anti-trafficking efforts and did not draft a new National Action Plan to replace the expired plan; some officials continued to deny the existence of sex and labor trafficking in Djibouti (2023)

trafficking profile: human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Djibouti, and to a lesser extent, traffickers exploit victims from Djibouti abroad; traffickers, including family members, exploit local and migrant children in forced begging; homeless Djiboutian and migrant women and children face exploitation in sex trafficking or forced labor; foreign workers—including Ethiopians, Filipinos, Indians, Pakistanis, and Yemenis—may be exploited in forced labor in domestic servitude, construction, and food service sectors; adults and children, primarily undocumented economic migrants from Ethiopia and Somalia, transit Djibouti en route to Yemen and other locations in the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia; some of these migrants are exploited in forced labor and sex trafficking at their intended destinations; migrants who transit Djibouti to return to their home countries are vulnerable to trafficking, particularly in agricultural labor and sex trafficking; Djibouti hosts approximately 35,000 refugees and asylumseekers, and many of them have endured and remain vulnerable to trafficking; Cuban medical professionals in Djibouti may have been forced to work by the Cuban government (2023)

NOTE: The information regarding Djibouti on this page is re-published from the 2024 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Djibouti 2024 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Djibouti 2024 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.