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

CURAÇAO (Tier 2 Watch List)* The Government of Curaçao does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so. The government made key achievements during the reporting period; therefore Curaçao was upgraded to Tier 2 Watch List. These achievements included appointing a dedicated prosecutor to oversee trafficking cases, establishing and funding a new anti-trafficking coordination office, significantly increasing funding for prevention efforts, and negotiating an informal arrangement with an international organization to refer identified victims, including adult men, to a specialized shelter. Despite these achievements, the government did not prosecute or convict any traffickers, did not provide meaningful support to the two victims identified during the reporting period, and continued to condition assistance to foreign victims, including residency, on cooperation with law enforcement in cases against traffickers.

Officials demonstrated limited familiarity with human trafficking and conflated the crime with migrant smuggling, hindering the effectiveness of prosecution, prevention, and protection efforts. PRIORITIZED RECOMMENDATIONS: Increase efforts to identify victims, including through proactively screening vulnerable populations, such as detained migrants and individuals in commercial sex. * Provide potential victims, including those who choose not to cooperate with law enforcement in cases against traffickers, with services. * Vigorously investigate and prosecute trafficking crimes and convict traffickers, including complicit officials, and seek adequate penalties for convicted traffickers, which should involve significant prison terms. * Improve coordination and information-sharing with anti-trafficking stakeholders within the government, across the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and civil society. * Fully implement the SOP for victim identification and referral and train officials on its use. * Increase funding for victim services, including staffing, specialized care for trafficking victims, and services accessible to male victims. * Allocate and disburse sufficient resources for anti-trafficking efforts. * Fully implement the current NAP and expand it to include objectives for victim protection and prevention of trafficking.

PROSECUTION

The government slightly increased prosecution efforts. Article 2:239 of the penal code criminalized sex trafficking and labor trafficking and prescribed penalties of up to nine years’ imprisonment or a fifth category fine of up to 100,000 Antillean guilder ($56,180) for crimes involving a victim 16 years of age or older, and up to 12 years in prison or a fine for those involving a victim younger than 16. These penalties were sufficiently stringent and, with respect to sex trafficking, commensurate with those prescribed for other grave crimes, such as kidnapping. The Curaçao Police Force’s (KPC) organized crime unit (DGC) was the law enforcement entity responsible for anti-trafficking efforts; DGC worked closely with the public prosecutor’s office to investigate trafficking crimes.

Authorities initiated two investigations in 2023, compared with one in 2022 and one in 2021. The government did not report any ongoing investigations from previous years. The government did not initiate any prosecutions in 2023, compared with prosecuting two suspected labor traffickers in 2022 and one alleged trafficker for sex and labor trafficking in 2021. Judges did not convict any traffickers in 2023, compared with zero convictions in 2022 and 2021.

The courts ruled to acquit two alleged traffickers, which public prosecutors filed to appeal after initially charging the defendants with committing forced labor in the agricultural sector in 2022; by comparison, there was one acquittal in 2022 and six in 2021. The government reported prosecutors filed to appeal these two acquittals, compared with filing no appeals in 2022. Courts often convicted suspected traffickers of related crimes – such as migrant smuggling and labor code violations – in lieu of trafficking, even when prosecutors levied trafficking charges; observers indicated the judiciary’s limited familiarity with trafficking led prosecutors to charge traffickers with these related crimes to secure conviction. Prosecutors struggled to build cases without victim testimony.

The government did not report any new investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees complicit in human trafficking crimes. The DGC funded anti-trafficking activities under its transnational crime budget but, like most KPC units, operated with resource and personnel shortages. Some officials reported lack of funding and limited government resources disincentivized investigation of trafficking crimes. Observers expressed concern nonspecialized law enforcement officials, such as patrol officers, had a limited understanding of trafficking and did not use a victim-centered approach.

The government trained law enforcement officers, including its new airport border security squad, on trafficking indicators, modalities of labor trafficking, and victim identification procedures in 2022. The public prosecutor’s office appointed several new prosecutors in 2023 to alleviate staffing shortages, including a dedicated human trafficking prosecutor assigned to oversee all trafficking cases, support proactive investigation, and coordinate with law enforcement. Officials often conflated human trafficking with migrant smuggling, and frequently charged alleged traffickers with migrant smuggling crimes.

PROTECTION

The government maintained protection efforts, which remained inadequate. Authorities reported identifying two sex trafficking victims in 2023, both Colombian women, compared with identifying two trafficking victims in 2022 and zero in 2021. The government reported the two victims departed Curaçao and returned home with support from their consulate immediately following their identification as trafficking victims. The DGC was responsible for conducting assessments to confirm trafficking victims’ status as such.

Officials did not regularly perform proactive screenings among vulnerable groups, such as migrants or individuals in commercial sex, construction, supermarkets, and catering, despite a Kingdom-wide requirement to do so. The government had a standard victim screening form, which officials utilized when interviewing potential trafficking victims, including detained migrants. The government reported providing limited services to two victims for fewer than 24 hours, compared with providing shelter, medical care, and psychological support to two trafficking victims in 2022. Neither victim consented to supporting law enforcement proceedings to investigate alleged traffickers associated with their exploitation.

In practice, assistance for victims was contingent upon cooperation with law enforcement efforts to prosecute traffickers. The government’s procedures outlined services for trafficking victims, including shelter, meals, medical attention, and psychological services, and assigned an agency to provide each service. The agencies responsible lacked dedicated funds to furnish these services; consequently, service provision was inconsistent and costs often fell to the DGC or international organizations. Civil society service providers administered most of the services, such as housing and medical care, available to victims.

Trafficking victims willing to participate in trials against traffickers could apply for a temporary residence permit valid for six months. Officials could renew the permit, up to 18 months, if the criminal investigation or prosecution of the trafficker continued; however, authorities canceled residence permits upon the conclusion or dismissal of these criminal proceedings. In practice, funding shortfalls delayed processing of permit applications, creating uncertainty for foreign trafficking victims otherwise vulnerable to deportation. Foreign victims who did not participate in investigations against traffickers were not eligible for temporary residence permits and could not legally remain in Curaçao; due to inconsistent application of victim identification protocols and conflation between trafficking and migrant smuggling, authorities likely deported some misidentified or unidentified trafficking victims, including Venezuelan nationals.

Observers suggested the government’s infrequent issuance of residence permits and the absence of a long-term residency option discouraged victims and civil society organizations from reporting possible trafficking cases to government officials. Through a separate administrative process, victims were eligible to apply for temporary work permits; however, the costs associated with the application rendered these permits inaccessible to most victims. Observers reported victims’ inability to work legally caused them hardship and hampered efforts to hold traffickers accountable; without a work permit, some victims receiving government services sought informal work or withdrew their support for ongoing investigations and prosecutions to depart Curaçao. The law stipulated trafficking victims could receive up to 50,000 guilder ($28,090) in restitution from traffickers.

The government could advance victims 5,000 guilder ($2,810) to facilitate timely access to court-ordered restitution; however, officials reported significant delays and a multi-year backlog in restitution payments for victims of all crimes. Courts did not order restitution for any trafficking victims in 2023. The government had an SOP for identifying trafficking victims and referring them to services; however, stakeholders’ use of the SOP was inconsistent. The SOP stipulated officials should refer all potential trafficking victims, male and female, to the DGC and a victim services provider; in 2023, the government made minor changes to the SOP to identify the new Judicial Care Organization (UOJZ) as the primary service provider following its absorption of the victim support bureau (SSHC).

The government did not operate any specialized shelters for trafficking victims; however, the government reported establishing an informal arrangement to refer trafficking victims to international organizations for housing and basic care. These organizations could support men, women, and children, including families. The government could also house trafficking victims – adult women and their children up to 12 years of age – in civil society-managed domestic violence shelters, depending on availability. High rates of domestic violence meant these facilities had limited capacity for trafficking victims.

Observers previously expressed concern local domestic violence shelters, designed to protect victims at risk of partner violence, followed protocols that were overly restrictive and inappropriate for trafficking victims; in some cases, shelter protocols required victims to check in with staff before leaving the facility. The government could also refer child trafficking victims to guardianship councils for placement in boarding school or foster care. If existing shelter facilities reached maximum capacity, the government could place victims in short-term government-funded accommodations. The government’s victim identification SOP stipulated victims were entitled to up to 15 days’ reflection period, while receiving services, before deciding to file a police report or participate in the trial against the trafficker; however, the government had not reported implementing a reflection period for any victims identified since 2019.

The government reported allocating approximately 1.5 million guilder ($842,700) to fund victim protection and assistance, compared with not reporting any assistance spending in 2022. Similarly, the government did not report the operating budget for the UOJZ, which supported victims of all crimes; in 2020, the UOJZ predecessor, SSHC, operated with a budget of 307,000 guilder ($172,470). Observers reported victims service providers were understaffed and relied on volunteer workers to provide support, including psychological services, to victims. Foreign victims participating in trials were entitled to similar care as domestic victims.

The government could provide no-cost medical insurance, funded by the Ministry of Social Services and Labor, to foreign trafficking victims. Kingdom evaluators determined officials inconsistently informed victims of their rights as trafficking victims, especially foreign victims; however, the government produced new resources in Spanish, Creole, and English.

PREVENTION

The government increased prevention efforts. The national coordinator led the interagency anti-trafficking task force and oversaw the government’s efforts to combat trafficking. In November 2023, the government reclassified the national coordinator’s position as a full-time role, relieving the coordinator of competing responsibilities which previously limited his capacity. The Ministry of Justice established a new anti-trafficking and anti-smuggling coordination office (PATH) in December 2023, and allocated funding for a second-full time official to support the coordinator, although this position had not been filled by the end of the reporting period.

The national coordinator managed a dedicated anti-trafficking budget of 200,000 guilder ($112,360), the same as in 2022, alongside additional financial contributions from the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The task force met nine times in 2023 to coordinate anti-trafficking efforts across the government. Observers indicated neither the task force nor other government entities coordinated substantively with civil society organizations; they also noted the government’s interagency coordination on anti-trafficking efforts appeared inconsistent, despite the task force’s regular meetings. The government continued to rely on its 2022-2026 NAP to guide anti-trafficking efforts.

However, the NAP was not comprehensive; it outlined efforts to hold traffickers criminally accountable but did not include objectives to protect victims or prevent the crime. The government continued to rely on a multi-year allocation of 250,000 guilder ($140,450) for training under the NAP. The government continued to conduct awareness campaigns in partnership with the Kingdom. The government reported spending approximately 186,000 guilder ($104,490), including 54,596 guilder ($30,670) from the Kingdom, on awareness campaigns and other prevention efforts in 2023, compared with 76,000 guilder ($42,696) in 2022.

The UOJZ continued to operate the government’s victim assistance hotline, which did not receive any trafficking-related calls in 2022, compared with one in 2021; calls to the hotline were not toll-free. The national coordinator collaborated monthly, virtually and in-person, with national anti-trafficking coordinators from Aruba, the Netherlands, and Sint Maarten, including to revise the MOU outlining coordinated anti-trafficking efforts across the Kingdom of the Netherlands; the governments adopted the revised MOU in July 2023. On November 16, 2023, the Kingdom of the Netherlands notified the depositary to the UN TIP Protocol of the extension of that Protocol to Curaçao; it also initiated, but had not finalized, measures to join the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. The government did not make efforts to reduce demand for commercial sex.

Government officials coordinated with airport administration to monitor ticketing and passenger logs for patterns indicative of human trafficking. TRAFFICKING PROFILE: As reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Curaçao. Undocumented migrants in Curaçao, especially the substantial population of Venezuelan nationals, are vulnerable to both sex and labor trafficking. Traffickers exploit women and girls from Curaçao, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela, among other countries, in sex trafficking.

Women and girls working in Curaçao’s “snack bars” are vulnerable to sex trafficking; bar owners recruit victims with offers of work as waitresses or “trago girls” and subsequently force them into commercial sex. Traffickers exploit migrant workers from other Caribbean countries, South America, the People’s Republic of China, and India in domestic servitude, as well as forced labor in construction, landscaping, minimarkets, retail, and restaurants. Venezuelan migrants are vulnerable to exploitation by Spanish-speaking traffickers, who may purport to offer employment assistance in Curaçao. Research suggests traffickers in Curaçao may exploit more Curaçaoan and more male victims than previously understood.

In 2020, COVID-19 pandemic-related movement restrictions prevented migrants from departing Curaçao, creating new trafficking risks for migrants who lost work during the economic downturn associated with the pandemic; traffickers may have exploited some of these individuals, taking advantage of their vulnerable position. Officials reported traffickers’ activity increased during the pandemic, especially individual traffickers acting independently. * Curaçao is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. For the purpose of this report, Curaçao is not a “country” to which the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act apply. This narrative reflects how Curaçao would be assessed if it were a separate, independent country.

However, the Kingdom is an important contributor to the Government of Curaçao’s anti-trafficking efforts. On This Page search > < CURAÇAO (Tier 2 Watch List)* PRIORITIZED RECOMMENDATIONS: PROSECUTION PROTECTION PREVENTION TRAFFICKING PROFILE: Tags Curacao Human Trafficking Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons Reports