Disputes - international:
Libya claims about 25,000 sq km in a currently dormant dispute in the Tommo region; location of Benin-Niger-Nigeria tripoint is unresolved; only Nigeria and Cameroon have heeded the Lake Chad Commission's admonition to ratify the delimitation treaty that also includes the Chad-Niger and Niger-Nigeria boundaries; the dispute with Burkina Faso was referred to the ICJ in 2010
Refugees and internally displaced persons:
refugees (country of origin): 52,875 (Mali - 49,748 are Malians, 3,127 are Nigeriens) (2012)
IDPs:
undetermined (unknown how many of the 11,000 people displaced by clashes between government forces and the Tuareg militant group, Niger Movement for Justice, in 2007 are still displaced; inter-communal violence) (2012)
Trafficking in persons:
current situation: Niger is a source, transit, and destination country for children and women trafficked for forced labor and sexual exploitation; caste-based slavery practices, rooted in ancestral master-slave relationships, continue in isolated areas of the country; children are trafficked within Niger for forced begging, forced labor in gold mines, domestic servitude, sexual exploitation, and possibly for forced labor in agriculture and stone quarries; women and children from neighboring states are trafficked to and through Niger for domestic servitude, sexual exploitation, forced labor in mines and on farms, and as mechanics and welders; to a lesser extent, Nigerien women and children are recruited from Niger and transported to Nigeria, North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe for domestic servitude and sex trafficking
tier rating:
Tier 2 Watch List - the Government of Niger does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; the government has not shown evidence of increasing efforts to address human trafficking; however, Niger was granted a waiver from an otherwise required downgrade to Tier 3 because its government has a written plan that, if implemented, would constitute making significant efforts to meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is devoting sufficient resources to that plan; during the year, the government took some steps to finalize a national legal framework to combat trafficking and the president spoke publicly about the government's commitment to pursue vigorous law enforcement action against slavery, child prostitution, exploitive child begging, and other forms of human trafficking (2012)