U.S. Dep't of State, 2025 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 identifying and providing services to a victim for the first time since 2015 and prosecuting a suspected trafficker for the first time since 2011. The government also cooperated with foreign law enforcement, which resulted in the arrest of a suspected trafficker.

However, the government did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas. The government did not criminalize all forms of trafficking, systematically screen vulnerable populations for trafficking, or provide funding for victim protection services. Tonga has not convicted a trafficker since 2011. PRIORITIZED RECOMMENDATIONS: Fully implement standard operating procedures for proactive identification of trafficking victims among vulnerable groups and train all law enforcement and front-line workers on their use.

Increase efforts to proactively investigate and prosecute trafficking crimes. Amend trafficking laws to criminalize all forms of trafficking in persons in line with the definition under international law, including trafficking crimes lacking cross-border movement. Continue to fund and fully implement the National Action Plan (NAP). Fund and proactively provide 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 increased 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 investigated one potential labor trafficking case during the reporting period, compared with investigating no trafficking cases in the previous reporting period. The government initiated the prosecution of one trafficker, the first since 2011. Since convicting its first trafficker in April 2011, the government has not convicted any traffickers. 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. Authorities cooperated with Fiji law enforcement to investigate and arrest one trafficker in Tonga in 2024. The government trained front-line law enforcement and immigration and customs officials on the NAP in partnership with international organizations and provided online trafficking-awareness training to police recruits located in remote areas.

The government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees complicit in human trafficking crimes.

PROTECTION

The government increased victim protection efforts. The government identified and referred one woman labor trafficking victim to services provided by a civil society organization, the first identified since 2015. Through instructions issued by the police commissioner in 2023, the government issued and provided training on screening guidelines for police officers, government officials, and other front-line workers 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, and police used these procedures to refer one victim during the year.

Due to a lack of formal victim identification procedures, authorities did not take effective measures to prevent the inappropriate penalization of some unidentified trafficking victims solely for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked. The public’s distrust of the court system, as well as low levels of understanding of human trafficking, contributed to the absence of identified victims. Unlike previous years, the government did not provide funding to civil society organizations for operations to provide services to victims of crime. One civil society shelter provided services to women and children, while a second was available to provide services to all victims; the government referred one trafficking victim during the reporting period to one of these organizations for shelter, medical care, and repatriation assistance.

Officials did not require victims to speak with law enforcement or cooperate with authorities’ investigation or prosecution efforts to access services, and victims could receive counseling services if they declined shelter services. Because shelters broadly served victims of crime and other people in need, victims could receive services from shelters upon request; however, the government did not refer victims to trafficking-specific services until they were formally identified as trafficking victims. The law enabled victims to obtain restitution from defendants in criminal cases, and victims could file civil suits against traffickers for damages; no victims sought restitution or filed civil suits during the year. 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 maintained efforts to prevent trafficking. It continued to implement the 2023-2027 NAP to Counter Trafficking in Persons and Protect Vulnerable Migrants. 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 previously allocated and continued to utilize $353,500 for the five-year implementation of the NAP.

Similar to the prior year, the government budgeted $1,500 towards prevention efforts. In partnership with international organizations, the Ministry of Police held awareness-raising events for the 2024 World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. The MFA continued to conduct 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 trafficking-specific hotline but did operate a national emergency police hotline and directed the public to use it 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 required foreign worker contracts include a clause prohibiting employers from holding employees’ passports, and passport retention carried a potential punishment of imprisonment up to 10 years. 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. In partnership with an international organization and in collaboration with stakeholders from government agencies, trade unions, the private sector, civil society and academia, the Ministry of Trade and Economic Development developed – but had not yet finalized – Tonga’s first national employment policy, which included measures to regulate recruitment practices for recruitment agencies, individual recruiters, and sub-brokers.

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: 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 some Tongan and foreign individuals in 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. East Asian and Pacific Island women, especially those from China, Vietnam, and Fiji, 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.

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. Chinese 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. 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