U.S. Dep't of State, 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report: Chad

CHAD (Tier 3) The Government of Chad does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so. Chad was downgraded to Tier 3. Despite the lack of significant efforts, the government took some steps to address trafficking, including identifying a trafficking victim for the first time in three years and establishing a bilateral agreement to strengthen protections for workers and reduce trafficking vulnerabilities. The government also enacted an ordinance to combat all forms of violence against women and girls, including trafficking, and initiated plans to open two new transit centers to accommodate, assist, and screen vulnerable populations, including trafficking victims.

However, the government did not report any prosecutions or convictions of traffickers. The government did not fully operationalize its National Committee to Combat Trafficking in Persons (NCCTIP) for the second consecutive year, hindering overall anti-trafficking efforts. Efforts to identify and protect victims remained limited. Official complicity in trafficking crimes remained a concern.

PRIORITIZED RECOMMENDATIONS: Formally operationalize, staff, and regularly convene the NCCTIP to coordinate government efforts and include civil society in its activities. Investigate and prosecute trafficking crimes, including official complicity, and seek adequate penalties for convicted traffickers, which should involve significant prison terms. Adopt, disseminate, and train frontline officials to use the SOPs for victim identification and NRM for referral to care to proactively identify and refer trafficking victims to services, including among vulnerable populations such as children, refugees and IDPs, and Chinese nationals employed at Chinese state-affiliated worksites with China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Increase efforts to train judicial and law enforcement officials on the anti-trafficking law, including case investigation and the distinctions between human trafficking and migrant smuggling.

Increase the availability of protection services for all trafficking victims, including by partnering with civil society service providers. Adopt and implement the draft 2023-2025 anti-trafficking NAP and dedicate resources to its implementation. Increase efforts to raise awareness on all forms of human trafficking, particularly among vulnerable populations. Establish a specialized anti-trafficking unit in the Judicial Police to ensure officers effectively investigate suspected trafficking crimes.

Include anti-trafficking training for all new magistrates and prosecutors attending the Ministry of Justice’s training college in N’Djamena. Create a mechanism to proactively screen for trafficking indicators in the labor recruitment process, consistently enforce strong regulations and oversight of labor recruitment companies, and hold fraudulent labor recruiters criminally accountable. Develop a national-level database to collect information on trafficking crimes and track statistics related to government anti-trafficking efforts.

PROSECUTION

The government decreased law enforcement efforts. The 2018 law on Combating Trafficking in Persons criminalized sex trafficking and labor trafficking. Article seven prescribed penalties of four to 30 years’ imprisonment and a fine of 250,000 to five million Central African francs (CFA) ($3,960 to $7,930); these penalties were sufficiently stringent and, with regard to sex trafficking, commensurate with penalties prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape. The government did not systematically collect data on law enforcement efforts, including on cases of human trafficking, which likely resulted in underreporting of trafficking cases.

The government reported investigating one trafficking case compared with none in the previous reporting period. The government did not report initiating any prosecutions or convictions during the reporting period, a decrease compared with prosecuting and convicting two traffickers in the previous reporting period. The government did not report providing anti-trafficking training to law enforcement officials. Observers reported judges, prosecutors, police, and gendarmerie lacked knowledge of trafficking laws and resources to effectively investigate and prosecute crimes, including trafficking.

Additionally, most trafficking victims had to present at the Court of First Instance in N’Djamena to initiate investigations, creating barriers to reporting trafficking crimes for victims in other parts of the country. NGOs noted magistrates were underfunded and often did not have access to the internet or electricity. The government did not have any specialized trafficking courts; observers reported limited capacity within the justice sector contributed to significant delays in court sessions outside of the capital region. Corruption and official complicity in trafficking crimes remained significant concerns, hindering law enforcement efforts.

Although the government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees complicit in human trafficking crimes, an NGO reported a court convicted and sentenced an official for their involvement in trafficking crimes with five years’ imprisonment and ordered 15 million ($23,789) in restitution to the victim. Authorities dismissed a prosecution reported by an international organization and initiated in the previous reporting period of an official allegedly complicit in trafficking. Observers reported some government officials and security forces, including high-ranking military officials, cover up allegations of trafficking crimes, intimidate prosecutors, or willfully do not pursue cases to protect suspected traffickers; further reports indicated officials intimidated and threatened victims and NGO staff from pursuing criminal cases. Observers reported customs and law enforcement officials allegedly accepted bribes from traffickers.

Prior reports indicated officials subjected prisoners to forced labor on private projects outside of prisons. The government, in partnership with the Governments of Niger and Sudan, supported efforts to dismantle a cross-border criminal syndicate resulting in the arrest of suspected sex traffickers and identification of potential child trafficking victims.

PROTECTION

The government made mixed protection efforts. For the first time in three years, the government reported identifying one labor trafficking victim. An international organization reported identifying an additional five trafficking victims. The government did not report referring or providing services to the victim.

The government’s previous SOPs for victim identification and NRM to refer victims to care were pending re-approval by presidential decree at the end of the reporting period. The Multisectoral Technical Committee (MTC), in partnership with an international organization, held a workshop to validate updates to the draft SOPs and NRM; however, agencies were unable to use, disseminate, or train officials on implementation while they remained pending approval. Observers reported a lack of resources, weak interagency coordination, and a general lack of understanding of human trafficking impeded overall protection efforts. The Ministry of Women, Family, and National Solidarity (MWFNS), in partnership with an international organization and local NGOs, operated nine transit centers – four in N’Djamena and five in different provinces, used as temporary shelters throughout the country.

These transit centers offered temporary housing, food, and education to vulnerable populations, including potential trafficking victims. MWFNS, in partnership with an international organization, initiated plans to open two new transit centers – including one in Abéché. Observers reported the transit centers lacked necessary resources and training to effectively operate and assist trafficking victims. An anti-trafficking NGO operated a trafficking shelter in southern Chad with capacity to assist 40 victims and offered medical care, psycho-social services, and job training.

Due to limited government-provided victim services, local NGOs and international organizations provided most protection services to trafficking victims, including health care, counselling, and reintegration assistance. The government provided some in-kind assistance, including vocational training, to vulnerable children in domestic work. The government had negligible victim-witness assistance available to support victims’ participation in investigations and prosecutions. The law allowed victims to obtain restitution, but the government did not report awarding restitution during the reporting period.

NGOs reported two cases where convicted traffickers were ordered to pay restitution. Victims could file civil suits against their traffickers; however, no victims reportedly did so. The government did not have a formal policy to offer temporary or permanent residency for foreign trafficking victims. Authorities did not consistently screen for indicators of trafficking among vulnerable groups, including migrants.

Due to a lack of formal victim identification procedures, the government did not take effective measures to prevent the inappropriate penalization of potential victims solely for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked.

PREVENTION

The government maintained efforts to prevent trafficking. The government’s 2018 anti-trafficking law established the NCCTIP to coordinate inter-ministerial anti-trafficking efforts. However, the government has not yet fully operationalized the NCCTIP, hindering overall anti-trafficking efforts. The MTC, launched in 2021 and intended to guide the government’s anti-trafficking activities only met on an ad hoc basis, was limited in its role, and lacked a coordinator.

The government previously drafted a 2023-2025 anti-trafficking NAP, but it remained pending approval. During the reporting period, the government, in partnership with an international organization, held a workshop to discuss the NAP activities. The government signed a national roadmap aimed at preventing child marriage, which includes children who may be subjected to domestic servitude or sex trafficking. The government disseminated information on trafficking crimes using radio and telephone public service announcements.

The MWFNS operated hotlines to report violence against women and girls and child abuse, including potential trafficking cases. The government enacted an ordinance to prevent violence against women and girls, including trafficking. The government partnered with international organizations, law enforcement officials, and the National Institute of Statistics, Economic and Demographic Studies (INSEED) to conduct a baseline pilot study to collect trafficking data. The government had laws and regulations on labor recruitment; however, it did not conduct inspections of recruitment agencies or screen labor migrants for trafficking indicators in the labor recruitment process.

The government previously drafted legislation to protect migrant workers; however, it remained pending for the second consecutive year. The government’s efforts to hold businesses in the informal mining sector criminally accountable remained inadequate and it did not consistently investigate reports of potential labor trafficking referred by NGOs. Authorities reported a limited number of labor inspectors hindered proactive identification of trafficking victims; labor inspectors did not report identifying any trafficking victims, and could not access all regions and provinces of the country due to insecurity. The government did not train labor inspectors on child labor.

Lack of government funding and official awareness of applicable laws also impeded child labor enforcement efforts. The government signed a bilateral labor agreement with the Government of Libya to increase protections for workers and began similar discussions to establish an agreement with the Government of Qatar. The government did not make efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts. The government did not report providing anti-trafficking training to its troops prior to their deployment as peacekeepers, or anti-trafficking training for its diplomatic personnel.

Although not explicitly reported as human trafficking, there was continued investigation on one open case of alleged sexual exploitation with trafficking indicators by Chadian peacekeepers deployed to the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali in 2022. TRAFFICKING PROFILE: Trafficking affects all communities. This section summarizes government and civil society reporting on the nature and scope of trafficking as reported over the past five years. Human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Chad, and traffickers exploit Chadian victims abroad.

Chad is also a transit country for illegal migration; individuals including refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants from Sudan, Cameroon, the Central African Republic (CAR), Niger, and Nigeria are vulnerable to trafficking. Poverty remains a driving factor of human trafficking, and observers report children from low-income families are most at risk of forced labor or sex trafficking. Families frequently entrust their children to relatives or intermediaries to receive education, apprenticeship, goods, or money; some relatives or intermediaries subsequently force or coerce children to work in domestic service or cattle herding. Individuals associated with small- and medium-scale enterprises force children to beg in urban areas and exploit them as agricultural laborers on farms; in northern gold mines and charcoal production; and in domestic servitude across the country.

Observers reported child labor trafficking in Chad is most serious in the mining sector, due to the distance of the mines from major cities, limited government presence, and the harsh climates of northern Chad. In the Lake Chad region, community members exploit some children in catching, smoking, and selling fish. Some traditional Quranic school elders, known as mouhadjirin, coerce children from small rural villages into begging, street vending, or other forms of labor trafficking throughout the country. Child marriage remains prevalent nationwide, especially in the northern areas; some girls are sold or forced into marriages and exploited in forced labor, including in domestic servitude and agriculture.

Natural disasters, including drought, and forced displacement by government-affiliated herders increases vulnerabilities to trafficking for some southern agricultural communities. Cattle herders force some children to work along traditional routes for grazing cattle and, at times, cross ill-defined international borders into Cameroon, CAR, Sudan, Niger, and Nigeria. Observers previously reported traffickers in rural areas sell children in markets for use in cattle or camel herding. In some cases, military or local government officials exploit with impunity child herders in forced labor.

Additionally, prior reports allege officials forced prisoners to work on private enterprises separate from their legal sentences. Observers report traffickers potentially use platforms such as WhatsApp and social media to lure, recruit, and exploit potential trafficking victims. According to observers, Chadian mercenaries – often operating in Libya – facilitate human trafficking. In northern Chad, migrants are recruited by smugglers and later face indentured labor in gold mines.

Chad hosts more than 1,353,237 million refugees as of March 2025, which includes 1,181,142 Sudanese refugees since the conflict in Sudan began in April 2023. Observers reported Sudanese refugees, which are predominantly women and girls, are particularly vulnerable to trafficking. More than 94,536 Chadian returnees from CAR and the Lake Chad Basin region are vulnerable to trafficking based on their economic instability and lack of access to support systems. Traffickers exploit some individuals migrating into Libya for economic reasons in sex or labor trafficking.

Experts report victims of trafficking are vulnerable to recruitment by terrorist and armed groups. Sources report non-state armed groups, including Boko Haram, forcibly conscripted children to serve in combat and support roles. Media and NGOs report unscrupulous actors, including Russian officials, and illicit recruiters, fraudulently recruited women ages 18-22 from Africa – including Chad – South Asia, and South America for vocational training programs and subsequently placed them in military drone production sites. Media report workers at these sites are subjected to hazardous conditions, surveillance, hour and wage violations, contract switching, and worker-paid recruitment fees, all of which are indicators of human trafficking.

Chinese nationals employed in Chad at Chinese state-affiliated worksites with BRI may have been vulnerable to labor trafficking. A report noted vulnerable populations, particularly refugees, asylum-seekers, and migrants working in the gold belt regions bordering Libya, are vulnerable to trafficking. In 2025, an NGO reported there were 44 Cuban regime-affiliated healthcare workers in Chad; however, government authorities confirmed there weren’t any Cuban regime-affiliated workers in the country. The Cuban regime may have forced Cuban regime-affiliated medical workers who were previously present in Chad to work.

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