U.S. Dep't of State, 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report: Seychelles

SEYCHELLES (Tier 1) The Government of Seychelles fully meets the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. The government continued to demonstrate serious and sustained efforts during the reporting period; therefore Seychelles remained on Tier 1. These efforts included providing direct services or referrals to care for all identified victims; renovating its trafficking shelter; and significantly increasing funding for victim services and overall anti-trafficking programming. For the first time in recent years, the government’s inter-ministerial Special Task Force proactively inspected worksites on the islands of Praslin and La Digue to screen for trafficking indicators, which resulted in further investigations and the identification of trafficking victims.

The government also reported inspecting migrant worker conditions in the Seychelles International Trade Zone (SITZ). Although the government meets the minimum standards, it did not convict any traffickers; formally establish or allocate dedicated funds to the Trafficking in Persons Fund; or approve its draft national action plan (NAP). The lack of interpreters available in the country hindered anti-trafficking law enforcement and victim identification efforts in cases involving foreign nationals. Some reports of official complicity in trafficking crimes persisted.

PRIORITIZED RECOMMENDATIONS: Conduct routine inspections in the SITZ to monitor migrant working conditions and screen for trafficking indicators. * Provide specialized anti-trafficking training to labor inspectors to identify and report potential trafficking crimes to appropriate officials. * Consistently enforce strong regulations and oversight of labor recruitment companies, including by increasing efforts to identify fraudulent labor recruiters and hold them criminally accountable. * Vigorously investigate and prosecute trafficking crimes and seek adequate penalties for convicted traffickers, including complicit officials, which should involve significant prison terms. * Allocate adequate funding and resources for victim services, including by formally establishing and allocating funds to the Trafficking in Persons Fund. * Expand the availability of interpretation services, especially for Bengali and Hindi, available to law enforcement, courts, and victim service providers. * Use the victim identification and referral SOPs to systematically and proactively identify trafficking victims, including by screening for trafficking indicators among vulnerable populations, such as individuals in commercial sex, migrant workers, workers in the SITZ, and Cuban medical professionals, and refer all trafficking victims to appropriate services. * Adopt and implement the draft 2022-2025 NAP. * Adopt legislation prohibiting the retention of passports by employers of migrant workers. * Remove the required fee for migrant workers to file a complaint with the labor tribunal.

PROSECUTION

The government maintained anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts. The Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons Act of 2014 criminalized sex trafficking and labor trafficking. The law prescribed penalties of up to 14 years’ imprisonment and a fine up to 500,000 Seychelles rupees (SR) ($37,110) for crimes involving adult victims, and a maximum of 25 years’ imprisonment and a fine up to 800,000 SR ($59,380) for those involving child victims; these penalties were sufficiently stringent and, with respect to sex trafficking, commensurate with those for other grave crimes, such as rape. The government investigated eight trafficking cases – two for sex trafficking, five for labor trafficking, and one for unspecified forms of trafficking – in 2023, compared with 10 investigations in 2022.

The government reported seven investigations initiated in previous reporting periods remained ongoing. The government initiated two sex trafficking prosecutions, the same number as in 2022, and reported six prosecutions – three for sex trafficking and three for labor trafficking – initiated in previous reporting periods remained ongoing. The government did not convict any traffickers, compared with 14 convictions in 2022. Courts upheld four convictions on appeal.

Some reports of low-level official complicity in trafficking crimes persisted. The government investigated potential trafficking crimes, including fraudulent recruitment, involving government employees at a Seychelles honorary consul abroad; the case remained ongoing at the end of the reporting period. The Criminal Investigation Department had six investigators dedicated to trafficking crimes, up from three in 2022, while the Child Protection Unit was mandated to investigate all crimes against children, including child trafficking. All entry-level police officers received basic anti-trafficking training at the Seychelles Police Academy.

The government trained law enforcement officials on victim-centered investigation strategies, child-friendly interviewing techniques, victim identification and referral, and best practices for interagency coordination. Despite training efforts, some officials lacked a clear understanding of the difference between human trafficking and other crimes, such as labor exploitation. The government increasingly sought to utilize plea bargaining in trafficking cases to decrease the length of time to reach case resolution and reduce re-traumatization of victim witnesses; however, the judicial process for cases involving foreign victims and defendants that went to trial continued to be prohibitively long – frequently many years. The government increased funding for and use of interpretation services in court proceedings involving foreign traffickers or foreign victims.

The government reported cooperating with INTERPOL units and police in Cameroon and Kenya on trafficking investigations.

PROTECTION

The government increased victim protection efforts. The government identified 26 trafficking victims, compared with 43 victims identified in 2022. Of the 26 victims identified, traffickers exploited three in sex trafficking and 23 in labor trafficking. All three sex trafficking victims were Seychellois girls, and all 23 labor trafficking victims were men from Bangladesh.

The government maintained formal SOPs to guide officials in the proactive identification of victims and subsequent referral to care and increased their implementation by distributing copies of the SOPs and training government and NGO stakeholders on their use. The government increased proactive screening of vulnerable populations, such as migrant workers or individuals in commercial sex, for trafficking indicators, including by increasing screening of potential victims transiting through the international airport and at worksites employing migrant workers. The government provided various services and referrals to care for all 26 identified victims, including medical care, shelter, and repatriation assistance and interpretation services for foreign victims. The government also continued providing services to victims identified in previous reporting periods.

The government, in partnership with a religious organization, provided services to 46 survivors, all foreign national men, at a shelter dedicated to human trafficking survivors. The government took steps to create an equitable environment for all survivors at the shelter, including by refurbishing the space to include two separate kitchens to accommodate various cultural and religious practices. The government continued to provide alternative accommodations, such as private guesthouses, to identified children and Seychellois victims as needed. The National Coordinating Committee against Trafficking in Persons (NCCTIP) reported spending 825,060 SR ($61,240) on victim care in 2023, a significant increase compared with 248,596 SR ($18,450) in 2022.

Despite these expenditures, the government has never formally established or allotted dedicated funds to the Trafficking in Persons Fund, which is intended to support victim services and compensation for victims as mandated by the 2014 anti-trafficking law. The 2014 anti-trafficking law allowed the government to place witnesses under protection and, if the court found it necessary, to hold trafficking trials in private to protect witness confidentiality and privacy; the law also ensured witnesses could testify through closed circuit television, and courtroom accommodations could be made as needed to support participation. The government reported most victims participating in criminal justice proceedings provided testimony via video, and courts permitted one victim to provide testimony from Bangladesh after his repatriation. The 2014 anti-trafficking law also allowed for limited legal alternatives to victims’ removal to countries in which they would face hardship; the law permitted the Minister of Home Affairs to allow a foreign victim to remain for 30 days or issue a permit allowing the victim to remain for a set period until the completion of legal proceedings.

The government provided 18 victims of labor trafficking with work permits, compared with two in 2022, enabling them to begin working with a new employer. The anti-trafficking secretariat and officials from the Ministry of Employment (MOE) conducted regular follow-ups with survivors reintegrated into the labor market to ensure adequate protection measures were in place to prevent re-trafficking. The anti-trafficking law allowed courts to order restitution to victims from fines imposed on convicted traffickers. The law protected trafficking victims from detention or prosecution for unauthorized entry into Seychelles, but it did not protect victims from prosecution for other unlawful acts committed solely as a direct result of being trafficked.

Observers reported immigration officials did not always use the formal SOPs for victim identification, and a lack of interpretation services prohibited adequate screening at transit points; therefore, authorities likely deported some unidentified victims for immigration crimes. To address previous reports of potential trafficking victims being deported, immigration officials established new procedures to prevent their deportation. These procedures required immigration officials to confiscate the passports of individuals who filed grievances that included indicators of potential trafficking crimes. While officials reported returning the passports following the issuance of a new work permit or provision of other protection services, this practice of passport retention may have adversely increased vulnerabilities to trafficking.

PREVENTION

The government increased efforts to prevent trafficking. The anti-trafficking secretariat, which included a task force of working-level officials, continued to lead anti-trafficking efforts. NCCTIP maintained oversight of the anti-trafficking secretariat and met regularly to direct anti-trafficking efforts across government agencies and coordinate national policy. The government allocated 1.6 million SR ($118,756) for anti-trafficking activities, including NCCTIP operations, victim assistance, and prevention efforts, compared with 1.3 million SR ($96,490) in the previous reporting period.

The government reported its draft 2022-2025 NAP, developed in partnership with an international organization, was pending final approval for the third consecutive year. The government held awareness campaigns targeting front-line officials, journalists, diplomatic missions, and populations vulnerable to trafficking, including migrant workers and individuals from low-income communities. The anti-trafficking secretariat engaged with officials from the Government of the Maldives on best practices on combating trafficking and providing victim assistance. The anti-trafficking secretariat continued to operate a trafficking-specific, toll-free hotline.

The hotline was available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to provide referrals for services; one case reported to the hotline resulted in an investigation. The MOE maintained a hotline to report labor trafficking concerns. The MOE and the inter-ministerial Special Task Force, which had a mandate to address the living and working conditions of migrant workers, regularly inspected worksites for indicators of human trafficking and referred potential labor trafficking cases to law enforcement. For the first time, the Special Task Force traveled outside Mahé to the islands of Praslin and La Digue to conduct ad hoc inspections of worksites employing migrant workers, which resulted in further investigations and the identification of trafficking victims.

The MOE continued to lack jurisdiction in the SITZ as it was considered extraterritorial and managed by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), the government agency mandated for non-bank financial services, which limited the MOE’s ability to screen migrant workers for trafficking indicators; however, for the first time in recent years, MOE inspectors and health inspectors from the Ministry of Health (MOH), accompanied by FSA, conducted labor inspections in the SITZ to assess migrant workers’ working and living conditions. In accordance with the Employment Act, the MOE reviewed all contracts for migrant workers to ensure compliance with its provisions, and the MOH conducted site visits of accommodations; however, these requirements did not apply to the SITZ. The government did not have effective policies or laws regulating or providing oversight for labor recruiters; however, the government reported investigating fraudulent recruiters. Seizure and retention of passports by employers remained legal under Seychellois law, unless proven it was specifically for the purpose of trafficking crimes.

In 2019, the government drafted an amendment to the immigration act that reportedly would prohibit passport retention of foreign workers; however, the government did not report sending the bill to parliament for the fifth consecutive year. The government continued to utilize the labor tribunal for labor-related complaints and required a fee for migrant workers to file a complaint. The MOE continued to allow migrant workers who reported situations indicative of labor trafficking to the anti-trafficking secretariat to obtain new employment after receipt of a written letter from the secretariat. This allowed potential trafficking victims to bypass fees associated with filing a complaint with the labor tribunal and expedite new employment.

The government did not report providing anti-trafficking training to its diplomatic personnel, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs maintained a code of ethics for diplomats and provided diplomats with human rights training. The government did not make efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts. TRAFFICKING PROFILE: As reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Seychelles, and to a lesser extent, traffickers exploit victims from Seychelles abroad. Traffickers exploit Seychellois girls and boys in child sex trafficking; in some cases, peers and family members exploit their children in sex trafficking.

Traffickers fraudulently recruit Seychellois girls from Mahé and Praslin for modeling jobs and exploit them in sex trafficking. Traffickers increasingly use technology to recruit and exploit trafficking victims, including through social media, mobile messaging applications, online job portals, and illegal money transfers via online banking. Traffickers also exploit Seychellois women and men with substance use issues or from low-income households in sex trafficking. LGBTQI+ persons are vulnerable to sex trafficking.

Foreign traffickers, particularly from Iran and often with a local Seychellois accomplice, force Seychellois men with substance use issues to commit criminal offenses, such as distributing or carrying illegal substances across international borders, and commonly use substance addiction to control victims. More than 20,000 migrant workers – primarily individuals from Bangladesh and India, and to a lesser extent the People’s Republic of China, Kenya, Madagascar, the Philippines, and other countries in South Asia – make up approximately 25 percent of the working population in Seychelles and are employed in fishing, farming, construction, security, caregiving, and domestic work; traffickers exploit migrant workers in these sectors. Retail shop owners, primarily from India, often recruit other Indians to travel to Seychelles for work; however, upon their arrival, the business owners force them to work in conditions indicative of labor trafficking. Labor recruitment agents based in Seychelles exploit migrant workers in labor trafficking, often with the assistance of a local Seychellois accomplice.

Migrant workers often sign their employment contracts upon arrival in Seychelles and often cannot read the language, which traffickers exploit by using fraudulent recruitment tactics. Reports indicate employers routinely retain migrant workers’ passports to prevent them from changing jobs prior to the expiration of their contracts, increasing their vulnerability to labor trafficking. Observers report employers in the SITZ may not allow migrant workers to leave their residence outside working hours, creating further vulnerabilities to trafficking. Previous reports indicated migrant workers aboard foreign-flagged fishing vessels in Seychelles’ territorial waters and ports are subject to conditions indicative of labor trafficking, including non-payment of wages and physical abuse.

Cuban medical professionals working in Seychelles may have been forced to work by the Cuban government. On This Page search > < SEYCHELLES (Tier 1) PRIORITIZED RECOMMENDATIONS: PROSECUTION PROTECTION PREVENTION TRAFFICKING PROFILE: Tags Bureau of African Affairs Human Trafficking Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons Reports Seychelles