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

ESWATINI (Tier 2) The Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini 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, Eswatini remained on Tier 2. These efforts included increasing investigations of trafficking crimes, including potential cases involving soccer recruiters, and training front-line officials on victim identification and referral to care. The government also identified significantly more potential trafficking victims.

However, the government did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas. The government did not report initiating new prosecutions or convicting any traffickers for the second consecutive year. The government’s Protection Officer position in the Prevention of People Trafficking and Smuggling Secretariat (Secretariat) remained vacant, hindering the government’s anti-trafficking efforts. PRIORITIZED RECOMMENDATIONS: Increase efforts to investigate, prosecute, and convict traffickers, including allegedly complicit officials.

Appoint a new Protection Officer in the Secretariat to ensure trafficking victims including Cuban regime-affiliated medical professionals, are appropriately identified and referred to services. Hire permanent staff for the shelter for victims of trafficking and violence against women, and continue to provide care for victims, including by allocating sufficient government resources to ensure sustainability of operations. Create strong regulations and oversight mechanisms of labor recruitment companies, including eliminating recruitment fees charged to migrant workers and holding fraudulent labor recruiters criminally accountable. Eliminate the requirement for victims to participate in investigations and prosecutions to receive protection services.

Institutionalize training for law enforcement, social workers, prosecutors, magistrates, immigration officers, and other front-line officials to proactively identify trafficking victims and refer all identified trafficking victims to appropriate protection services. Improve data collection and analysis of anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts. Continue conducting anti-trafficking public awareness campaigns. Adopt a new comprehensive national action plan and dedicate resources to its implementation.

PROSECUTION

The government maintained anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts. The 2009 People Trafficking and People Smuggling (Prohibition) Act criminalized sex trafficking and labor trafficking and prescribed penalties of up to 20 years’ imprisonment for offenses involving an adult victim and up to 25 years’ imprisonment for those involving a child victim. These penalties were sufficiently stringent and, with regard to sex trafficking, commensurate with those prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape. The Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Act prescribed penalties of up to 20 years’ imprisonment, a fine of up to 100,000 emalangeni ($5,300), or both for the commercial sexual exploitation of an adult and up to 25 years’ imprisonment with no option of a fine if the offense involved a child.

The government initiated seven investigations and continued one investigation from a previous reporting period, compared with four investigations initiated in the previous reporting period. The government did not report initiating any prosecutions for the second consecutive year and reported continuing prosecutions of two suspects from the previous reporting period. The government did not convict any traffickers for the second consecutive year. The government reported investigating potential forced labor cases involving recruiters bringing foreign soccer players to play professionally in Eswatini.

The government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees complicit in human trafficking crimes; however, concerns of corruption and official complicity in trafficking crimes remained, inhibiting law enforcement efforts. Reports indicated immigration officials sometimes solicit bribes to issue government documents, such as visas. In recent years, senior government officials were investigated, prosecuted, and convicted for trafficking crimes or the abuse of trafficking victims under the care of the government. Significant judicial delays continued, and in some instances, cases have remained pending for years.

Systemic judicial issues, including a weak case management and coordination system; a shortage of judges, magistrates, prosecutors, and courtrooms; and lack of access to legal representation for crime victims contributed to delays in all cases, including trafficking cases. Rural women often faced substantial obstacles obtaining relief for various crimes, potentially including human trafficking, because communities pursued family intervention outside of the courts or used traditional courts, which often stigmatized female victims due to social norms. Observers reported inadequate data collection and a lack of prosecutors and judges specialized in trafficking cases limited investigations and prosecutions of trafficking cases. The government, in coordination with an international organization, provided anti-trafficking training to a significant number of officials, including police officers, prosecutors, immigration officers, social workers, military personnel, and diplomatic officials.

The government cooperated with South African and Mozambican authorities on trafficking investigations.

PROTECTION

The government slightly increased victim protection efforts. The government identified and referred to services one trafficking victim and 56 potential victims, compared with six victims identified and referred to services during the previous reporting period. The government had an NRM and reported using it to identify and refer victims to services. The NRM required front-line officials to report all victim identifications to the Secretariat to consult with victims during screening and coordinate services.

The Secretariat’s Protection Officer position remained vacant for a fourth consecutive reporting period; however, other Secretariat officials assumed protection duties to engage with victims. Magistrates were responsible for issuing victim protection orders required for victim certification and hearing cases against traffickers, requiring victims to cooperate with law enforcement to receive care. The government continued its inter-agency emergency response teams composed of front-line officials in all four regions to coordinate emergency services, including health care and counseling, and facilitate victim certification. For both foreign and Swati victims, the government and NGOs could provide shelter, basic necessities, counseling, and medical care.

The government assisted the one identified victim by providing care in the government-operated shelter. The government continued to allocate 100,000 emalangeni ($5,300) annually to a victim protection fund for services. The government spent 777,000 emalangeni ($41,200), compared with an unknown amount the previous year, to operate its shelter, which could accommodate up to 10 victims. However, observers noted with concern that all shelter staff positions remained vacant by the end of the reporting period, hindering the sustainability of shelter operations.

The government had means to assist victim-witnesses during the court process, including court preparation, victim witness advocates, translation services, counseling, and use of recorded video testimony. Secretariat staff regularly transported victims across the country to participate in investigations and prosecutions. On an ad hoc basis, the government could grant residency to foreign trafficking victims. Victims could file a civil lawsuit against traffickers, but none did.

PREVENTION

The government maintained efforts to prevent trafficking. The Interagency Taskforce, composed of government ministries and international organizations, coordinated the government’s anti-trafficking efforts. The Secretariat, housed within the Prime Minister’s office, was mandated to lead the Taskforce’s efforts and convened the Taskforce nine times in the reporting period. Bureaucratic delays and communication gaps continued to hamper coordination efforts, particularly on longer-term and policy issues.

In addition, although Taskforce member agencies had individual mandates to address trafficking, they did not receive sufficient funding to implement such efforts. The Secretariat had an allocated budget and five staff positions implementing the government’s anti-trafficking efforts. The Secretariat continued implementing its 2019-2023 National Action Plan, which was previously extended through 2025. The government, in partnership with NGOs, conducted awareness activities, including at border posts and public events such as a music festival.

The government reported operating a trafficking-specific hotline, which can only receive calls from landline phones. The government did not have policies and procedures to regulate labor recruiters and brokers. The government permitted charging recruitment fees to workers. The government reported training labor inspectors on identifying cases of forced labor and increased funding for inspections.

The government did not make efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts. The government made efforts to reduce the demand for sexual exploitation and abuse by foreign nationals, including by raising awareness. The government reported providing anti-trafficking training to its diplomatic personnel. TRAFFICKING PROFILE: Trafficking affects all communities.

This section summarizes government and civil society reporting on the nature and scope of trafficking over the past five years. Human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Eswatini, and traffickers exploit victims from Eswatini abroad. Traffickers target vulnerable communities, particularly those with high HIV/AIDS prevalence rates. Traffickers use social media to recruit victims, and reports indicate an increase in online child exploitation, including trafficking.

Traffickers exploit Swati girls, particularly orphans, in sex trafficking and domestic servitude, primarily in Eswatini and South Africa. Traffickers exploit Swati boys and foreign children in forced labor in agriculture, including cattle herding and market vending. Traffickers abroad lure Emaswati through dubious employment offers. Swati boys who work on small marijuana farms are vulnerable to exploitative employers.

Swati children face potential difficulties in accessing government assistance due to the lack of citizenship documentation. Some women and girls forced into marriages may then be subjected to trafficking. Some Mozambican boys migrate to Eswatini for work washing cars, herding livestock, and portering; traffickers exploit some of these boys in forced labor. Mozambican business owners sometimes exploit other Mozambicans in forced labor in small retail businesses in Manzini.

The Cuban regime may have forced 35 Cuban regime-affiliated medical professionals in Eswatini to work; according to media sources, the Eswatini government pays the Cuban regime €15,000 ($15,610) per worker per month, of which each worker receives only 10,000 lilangeni ($530) and has no contract. Traffickers use Eswatini as a transit country to transport foreign victims, primarily Mozambicans, to South Africa for forced labor. Traffickers force Mozambican women into sex trafficking in Eswatini, or transport them through Eswatini to South Africa. Traffickers entrap Emaswati victims with promises of economic opportunities in Eswatini or abroad, particularly South Africa.

Some traffickers exploit Emaswati who voluntarily migrate in search of work in sex trafficking, particularly in South Africa. Reports suggest labor brokers fraudulently recruit and charge fees to Emaswati to work in South African mines. Traffickers recruit Swati men in border communities for forced labor in South Africa’s timber industry. On This Page search > < ESWATINI (Tier 2) PRIORITIZED RECOMMENDATIONS: PROSECUTION PROTECTION PREVENTION TRAFFICKING PROFILE: Tags Bureau of African Affairs Eswatini Human Trafficking Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons Reports