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

TONGA (Tier 2) The Government of Tonga does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so. The government demonstrated overall increasing efforts compared with the previous reporting period; therefore Tonga remained on Tier 2. These efforts included launching the country’s first NAP, training immigration and customs officials on the NAP in partnership with international organizations, and conducting public awareness campaigns. However, the government did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas.

The government did not identify any trafficking victims, initiate any trafficking investigations or prosecutions, or systematically screen vulnerable populations for trafficking. Tonga has not convicted a trafficker since 2011. PRIORITIZED RECOMMENDATIONS: Fully implement standard operating procedures for law enforcement and front-line workers to proactively identify trafficking victims among vulnerable groups. * Increase efforts to proactively investigate and prosecute trafficking crimes. * Amend trafficking laws to criminalize all forms of trafficking in line with the definition under international law, including trafficking crimes lacking cross-border movement. * Continue to fund and fully implement the NAP. * Provide explicit protections and benefits for trafficking victims, such as restitution, legal and medical benefits, and immigration relief. * Increase efforts to develop and conduct anti-trafficking information and education campaigns. * Accede to the 2000 UN TIP Protocol.

PROSECUTION

The government maintained anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts. The Counter Terrorism and Transnational Organized Crime Act of 2013 did not criminalize all forms of trafficking because it required transnationality to constitute a trafficking offense. In addition, inconsistent with the definition of trafficking under international law, the law did not include force, fraud, or coercion as an essential element of the crime. The law prescribed penalties of up to 15 years’ imprisonment for trafficking offenses involving adult victims and 20 years’ imprisonment for offenses involving children; these penalties were sufficiently stringent and, with respect to sex trafficking, commensurate with penalties for other grave crimes, such as rape.

The government did not investigate any potential trafficking cases, compared with investigating one potential labor trafficking case in the previous reporting period. Since convicting its first trafficker in April 2011, the government has not prosecuted or convicted any traffickers. In March 2023, the Office of the Commissioner of Police issued instructions to all police officers to cooperate with other agencies to investigate trafficking and provide guidance on officers’ responsibilities in investigating potential trafficking crimes. The Serious Organized Transnational Crimes Unit of the Police Force was responsible for investigating trafficking crimes.

Law enforcement reported language barriers and resource limitations sometimes impeded their ability to investigate trafficking. In addition, law enforcement did not consistently prioritize anti-trafficking efforts and assumed trafficking was not present in the country. The government trained frontline immigration and customs officials on the newly adapted NAP in partnership with international organizations and provided online trafficking-awareness training to police recruits located in remote areas, compared with no reported anti-trafficking training for law enforcement personnel the prior year. The government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees complicit in trafficking crimes.

PROTECTION

The government maintained victim protection efforts. Since the government’s identification of four potential trafficking victims in 2015, the government has not identified any confirmed trafficking victims. Through the instructions issued by the police commissioner, the government developed and issued screening guidelines for police officers to identify trafficking victims and refer them to services. The government had procedures to refer victims of crime, including potential trafficking victims, to an NGO but did not use these procedures during the year.

Due to a lack of formal victim identification procedures, authorities possibly detained, arrested, or deported some unidentified trafficking victims. The public’s distrust of the court system, as well as low levels of understanding of human trafficking, likely contributed to the absence of identified victims. The government continued to provide an unknown amount of funding to an NGO for operations to assist adult female and child victims of crime, including shelter, counseling, and legal services. Although authorities did not identify any victims during the year, adult female and child victims of trafficking were eligible for these services.

Additionally, the government reported forming a partnership with a civil society organization to provide housing and counseling services to male trafficking victims, compared with the prior year where shelter facilities were not available to male victims older than 12 years; however, no victims received care through the agreement in 2023. Under the immigration act, the principal immigration officer had broad discretionary authority to grant victims permits to stay in the country for any length of time necessary for their protection. The government could grant asylum to victims if they feared retribution or hardship in their country of origin, although no trafficking victim has ever benefited from this assistance.

PREVENTION

The government increased efforts to prevent trafficking. It adopted its 2023-2027 NAP to Counter Trafficking in Persons and Protect Vulnerable Migrants in November 2023, which it drafted in partnership with international donors. A task force chaired by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) continued to oversee national anti-trafficking efforts and was responsible for implementing the NAP. The government allocated $353,500 for the five-year implementation of the NAP.

The government reported $1,500 budgeted towards prevention efforts, compared with no reported funding towards prevention efforts the prior year. In partnership with international organizations, the Ministry of Police held awareness-raising events for the 2023 World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, compared with no public awareness events conducted the prior year. The MFA conducted a media campaign including television programs and radio spots to increase trafficking awareness and educate the public on trafficking indicators. The government did not maintain a hotline to report trafficking crimes.

As part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Seasonal Workers Program, authorities provided briefings to Tongans participating in seasonal worker programs overseas, which included information on workers’ rights. The government instituted a new requirement in 2023 that foreign worker contracts include a clause prohibiting employers from holding employees’ passports. Under Tongan labor law, recruiters and brokers who used fraudulent recruitment methods were liable to up to 10 years’ imprisonment, but the government did not report if it monitored or held any recruiters and brokers liable for fraudulent recruitment during the reporting year. The government did not make efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts.

The government did not provide anti-trafficking training to its diplomatic personnel. Tonga is not a party to the 2000 UN TIP Protocol. TRAFFICKING PROFILE: As reported over the past five years, some Tongan and foreign individuals are vulnerable to trafficking in Tonga, and some Tongans are vulnerable to trafficking abroad. Natural disasters and climate-induced displacement significantly increases Tongans’ vulnerability to trafficking due to a loss of livelihood, shelter, or family stability.

Entry into Tonga was severely restricted during peak parts of the pandemic. East Asian women, especially those from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), who are recruited from their home countries for legitimate work in Tonga and often pay recruitment fees are vulnerable to sex trafficking in clandestine establishments operating as legitimate businesses. However, border closures implemented in 2021 decreased the number of migrants arriving in Tonga. Some Tongan women and children are vulnerable to forced labor in domestic work.

Tongan children were vulnerable to sex trafficking. Reports indicate Fijians working in the domestic service industry in Tonga experience mistreatment indicative of labor trafficking. PRC nationals working in construction on government infrastructure projects in Tonga were vulnerable to labor trafficking. Tongan adults working overseas, including in Australia and New Zealand, are vulnerable to labor trafficking, including withholding of wages and excessive work hours.

Some Tongan seasonal workers unable to leave Australia because of pandemic-related border closures subsequently become vulnerable to exploitation. Employers rush some workers to sign employment contracts they may not fully understand, and others are unable to retain copies of their contracts, exacerbating the potential for employers to exploit these workers in labor trafficking. On This Page search > < TONGA (Tier 2) PRIORITIZED RECOMMENDATIONS: PROSECUTION PROTECTION PREVENTION TRAFFICKING PROFILE: Tags Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Human Trafficking Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons Reports Tonga