U.S. Dep't of State, 2024 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 was upgraded to Tier 2. These efforts included opening its shelter for victims of trafficking and GBV, assisting victims at the shelter, and finalizing and distributing shelter guidelines. The government increased investigations of trafficking crimes and trained police on victim identification.

The government extended its 2019-2023 National Action Plan (NSFAP) through 2025 and allocated a budget for efforts to combat human trafficking and migrant smuggling. However, the government did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas. The government did not report initiating any new prosecutions of traffickers. Lack of government coordination and effective leadership of the Prevention of People Trafficking and Smuggling Secretariat (Secretariat) continued to hinder the government’s anti-trafficking efforts.

Official complicity in trafficking crimes remained a concern. The government did not formally appoint a new Protection Officer in the Secretariat, hindering overall victim identification efforts. PRIORITIZED RECOMMENDATIONS: Increase efforts to investigate, prosecute, and convict traffickers, including allegedly complicit officials. * Hire permanent staff for the shelter for victims of trafficking and GBV, and continue to provide care for victims, including by allocating sufficient government resources to ensure sustainability of operations. * Appoint a new Protection Officer in the Secretariat to ensure trafficking victims are appropriately identified and referred to services. * Train law enforcement, social workers, prosecutors, magistrates, immigration officers, and other front-line officials to proactively identify trafficking victims among vulnerable populations, including at-risk children, migrants, and Cuban medical workers, and refer all identified trafficking victims to appropriate protection services. * Increase coordination and adequately fund mandated activities of the Secretariat and the Taskforce to enable the Taskforce to fulfill its statutory responsibilities. * Eliminate the requirement for victims to participate in investigations and prosecutions in order to receive protection services. * Strengthen coordination with civil society on victim protection, including by partnering with local NGOs. * Improve data collection and analysis of anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts. * Continue conducting anti-trafficking public awareness campaigns. * Amend the Employment Act to create strong regulations and oversight mechanisms of labor recruitment companies, including by eliminating recruitment fees charged to migrant workers and holding fraudulent labor recruiters criminally accountable.

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 ($5,430), 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 four investigations and continued eight investigations from previous reporting periods, compared with one investigation initiated in the previous reporting period. The government did not report initiating any prosecutions and reported continuing prosecutions of five suspects from the previous reporting period. This compared with initiating prosecution of two suspects in the previous reporting period. The government did not convict any traffickers under the People Trafficking and People Smuggling (Prohibition) Act, compared with three convictions in the previous reporting period.

The government convicted one complicit official, who was the government’s senior protection officer employed in the Secretariat; the courts acquitted the official of trafficking charges, but convicted him under lesser charges of assault and criminal injury and sentenced him to five months’ imprisonment. The officer was suspended with full pay at the end of the reporting period. Following four years of prosecution, the former Director of the National Children’s Coordination Unit in the Deputy Prime Minister’s office was acquitted of charges including kidnapping, trafficking, and sexually assaulting a child from 2017 through 2019. Additionally, reports indicated immigration officials solicit bribes to issue government documents, such as visas.

Corruption and official complicity in trafficking crimes remained significant concerns, inhibiting law enforcement efforts. 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; however, these cases faced significant delays due to a backlog of court cases. Significant delays in the judicial process continued. 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 first and then used traditional courts, which often stigmatized female victims due to social norms. Observers continued to report the lack of collaboration between the Head of the Secretariat and other Taskforce leaders impeded anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts, resulting in some officials circumventing the Secretariat to facilitate initiatives and communication between members of the Taskforce. The government, in coordination with an international organization, provided anti-trafficking training to police officers. Previously, the Prime Minister’s office provided ad hoc workshops for immigration officers to raise awareness of human trafficking, but officers did not receive formalized training.

The police cooperated with Mozambican authorities on trafficking investigations. NGOs reported some regional police screened for trafficking indicators among migrants arriving at the border from Mozambique.

PROTECTION

The government increased victim protection efforts. The government identified and referred to services six trafficking victims, all labor trafficking victims from Mozambique. This compared with seven victims identified and referred to services during the previous reporting period. Of the six victims identified, the government referred four victims to NGO-operated shelters and two victims to the government-operated shelter for assistance.

The government coordinated with the Government of Mozambique to repatriate all six victims. The government had an NRM and reported using it to identify and refer victims to services; however, observers reported front-line officials lacked basic awareness of human trafficking and victim identification and referral procedures. Government officials reported proactively screening for trafficking indicators at the airport, although they did not identify any victims. The government’s centralized response to human trafficking and staffing gaps limited its capacity to identify victims.

The NRM required front-line officials to report all victim identifications to the Secretariat’s protection officer to consult with victims during screening and coordinate services. However, during the previous three reporting periods, the protection officer position remained vacant; in response, other members of the Secretariat, some of whom lacked sufficient training, assumed these duties to engage directly 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 did not report if magistrates received training on victim identification.

The government continued its multi-agency emergency response teams (ERTs), composed of front-line government officials, in all four regions to coordinate emergency services, including health care and counseling, and facilitate victim certification; however, the government did not report how many victims were served. Government-provided victim protection services were concentrated in Manzini and Mbabane, limiting victims’ access to services and stretching government resources, particularly when court proceedings were in different provinces. The government and NGOs provided care for both foreign and Swati victims, including shelter, basic necessities, counseling, and medical care. Trafficking victims could access services available to GBV and other crime victims.

The government continued to allocate 100,000 emalangeni ($5,430) annually to a victim protection fund used for victim services. Through a multi-stakeholder approach, an international organization previously assisted the government to refurbish a shelter to house victims of trafficking and GBV with funding from a foreign donor. During the previous reporting period, the government assumed responsibility to operationalize the shelter. In 2023, the government finalized and distributed shelter guidelines and formally opened the 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. With support from the Secretariat due to a lack of shelter staff, the government reported assisting two victims at the shelter before their repatriation. The government continued to allocate an unknown amount of funding for the shelter’s utilities, water, and security. The government also operated a shelter that could provide short-term care for up to 24 crime victims; however, observers reported conditions at the shelter were inadequate to house victims, particularly for longer stays.

The government did not provide any financial or in-kind support to three other NGO-operated shelters. Government officials reported difficulties in obtaining shelter for male trafficking victims. 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, but did not report how many victims received such assistance. The Secretariat’s staff regularly transported victims across the country to participate in investigations and prosecutions.

The government did not have formal procedures to provide residency to foreign trafficking victims but could do so on an ad hoc basis. Victims could file a civil lawsuit against traffickers, but none did so.

PREVENTION

The government slightly increased efforts to prevent trafficking. The Interagency Taskforce, composed of government ministries and international organizations, coordinated the government’s anti-trafficking efforts and met monthly. The Secretariat, housed within the Prime Minister’s office, was mandated to lead the Taskforce’s efforts and convened the Taskforce 10 times in 2023; however, the Secretariat did not always participate in Taskforce coordination efforts. Long-standing bureaucratic delays and communication gaps between the Secretariat and Taskforce continued to hamper coordination efforts, particularly on longer-term and policy issues.

In addition, while 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 dedicated staff focused on implementing the government’s anti-trafficking efforts. The government extended the 2019-2023 NSFAP through 2025 and dedicated resources for its implementation. For the first time, the government specifically allocated funding in the budget for preventing human trafficking and migrant smuggling nationally at 3,511,811 emalangeni ($190,580).

Observers previously reported the government’s limited partnership with local NGOs, including a lack of NGO representation on the Taskforce and outreach to district stakeholders, hindered overall anti-trafficking efforts. The government, in partnership with an international organization, conducted awareness activities, including radio programming. Government officials participated in multiple trainings, including a training on countering online child sexual exploitation and trafficking for police, prosecutors, and Secretariat staff, and another on the use of data in the prevention of sex trafficking, in partnership with a foreign government. While the government reported operating a trafficking-specific hotline, several observers reported it was not operational.

The government reported contributing information to a regional centralized anti-trafficking database. The government did not have policies and procedures to regulate labor recruiters and brokers. The government permitted charging recruitment fees to workers. The government did not report training labor inspectors on identifying cases of forced labor and did not have any funds dedicated for inspections.

The government did not make efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts. The government made some efforts to reduce the demand for participation in extraterritorial sexual exploitation and abuse by its citizens, including by raising awareness. The government reported providing anti-trafficking training to its diplomatic personnel. TRAFFICKING PROFILE: As reported 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. Sex traffickers exploit orphaned Swati girls in exchange for food and money.

Traffickers exploit Swati boys and foreign children in forced labor in agriculture, including cattle herding and market vending within the country. Swati boys, particularly in rural areas, who work on small marijuana (“Dagga”) farms, are vulnerable to exploitative employers. Swati children may face difficulties in accessing government assistance due to the lack of citizenship documentation. 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 exploit other Mozambicans in forced labor in small retail businesses in Manzini. According to reports, there were 35 government-affiliated Cuban medical workers in Eswatini in 2023. Cuban nationals working on medical missions in Eswatini may have been forced to work by the Cuban government. Traffickers use Eswatini as a transit country to transport foreign victims, primarily Mozambicans, to South Africa for forced labor.

Traffickers reportedly force Mozambican women into sex trafficking in Eswatini or transport them through Eswatini to South Africa. Traffickers entrap Swati victims with promises of economic opportunities in Eswatini or abroad, particularly South Africa. Some traffickers exploit Emaswati in sex trafficking who voluntarily migrate in search of work, particularly in South Africa. Reports suggest labor brokers fraudulently recruit and charge fees to Emaswati for work in South African mines, which are common tactics used by traffickers.

Traffickers recruit Swati men in border communities for forced labor in South Africa’s timber industry. Previous reports indicate Swati students were fraudulently recruited for educational opportunities in Taiwan and coerced to work in exploitative conditions in chicken factories. 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