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

COMOROS (Tier 2) The Government of Comoros 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, Comoros remained on Tier 2. These efforts included convicting traffickers for the first time in history, adopting its first stand-alone anti-trafficking law, and increasing investigations and prosecutions of trafficking crimes. However, the government did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas.

The lack of shelter services continued to adversely affect the government’s ability to adequately protect trafficking victims. Anti-trafficking efforts on Anjouan and Moheli remained minimal. PRIORITIZED RECOMMENDATIONS: Expand NRM implementation to Anjouan and Moheli. Institutionalize anti-trafficking training for law enforcement, prosecutors, judges, social workers, and health-care workers.

Partner with civil society to establish shelters and provide shelter services for trafficking victims. Implement and consistently enforce strong regulations and oversight of labor recruitment companies, including holding fraudulent labor recruiters criminally accountable. Proactively identify trafficking victims by systematically screening for indicators among vulnerable populations across Comoros – including children in domestic work, children attending Quranic schools, and individuals deported from Mayotte (France) – and refer all victims to appropriate services. Conduct anti-trafficking public awareness throughout the country, specifically targeting vulnerable populations on Anjouan and Moheli.

Develop a national data collection system on trafficking crimes, anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts, and victims identified.

PROSECUTION

The government increased anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts. A 2021 amendment to the criminal code criminalized sex trafficking and labor trafficking. After consulting with NGOs and an international organization, the government adopted its first stand-alone anti-trafficking law in June 2024. The new law prescribed penalties of seven to 20 years’ imprisonment and a one million to 30 million Comorian franc ($2,100-63,400) fine for trafficking an adult and the maximum imprisonment and fine for trafficking a minor.

These penalties were sufficiently stringent and, with respect to sex trafficking, commensurate with those prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape. In 2024, the government initiated investigations of 13 trafficking cases — 10 for sex trafficking, two for labor trafficking, and one for an unspecified form of trafficking — compared with initiating four investigations in 2023. The government initiated 20 prosecutions compared with three in 2023. The government convicted four traffickers — its first-ever reported trafficking convictions — for whom it did not provide sentencing information.

The government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees complicit in human trafficking crimes. Police continued to lack basic resources — including vehicles, fuel, and equipment — which limited their ability to investigate trafficking cases. In addition, the country’s few prosecutors — one per island — resulted in backlogs in cases, including trafficking cases referred for prosecution. Some families or village elders settled allegations of violence, possibly including sex trafficking and child domestic servitude, informally through traditional means outside the court system.

The National Brigade for the Repression of Illegal Migrant Smuggling and Trafficking in Persons — a unit of 16 police, gendarmerie, and civil security officers on Grande Comore and Anjouan — investigated human trafficking and migrant smuggling. The government did not report providing anti-trafficking training to law enforcement officials. The government collaborated with the Omani government by arresting in Comoros an alleged trafficker who exploited a victim in Oman.

PROTECTION

The government made mixed protection efforts. The government identified and referred to care 10 trafficking victims in 2024 — nine labor trafficking victims and one victim of an unspecified form of trafficking — compared with 30 victims identified and referred to care in 2023. All 10 victims were foreign nationals. In 2024, the government collaborated with foreign governments to repatriate their citizens exploited in Comoros, and it collaborated with the governments of Oman and Cote d’Ivoire to repatriate Comorian trafficking victims.

The government provided reintegration support to Comorians exploited in Oman. Using its SOPs, the government continued to screen for trafficking indicators among vulnerable populations, including foreign migrants and victims of abuse, and refer victims to protection services. The government continued to implement its victim identification SOPs and NRM; the NRM was only operational on Grande Comore. Unlike the previous year, the government did not report training officials on the SOPs.

The government partnered with an international organization to provide urgent care and reintegration assistance to all 10 identified victims. The quality of care and availability of services remained limited, especially on Anjouan and Moheli. The government operated 10 Listening Centers, which offered medical and psycho-social care to women and children who were victims of violence, including potential trafficking victims. There were no government or NGO shelters available to assist trafficking victims, which resulted in officials or private citizens sometimes providing temporary shelter in their personal homes to victims.

The government did not have a systematic victim-witness assistance program, but victims could provide recorded testimony without disclosing their identities. The government did not provide legal alternatives to deporting foreign trafficking victims to countries where they might face hardship or retribution; however, in practice, the government provided foreign victims the same benefits as Comorian nationals. The law allowed trafficking victims to obtain restitution from or file civil suits against their traffickers, however, the government did not report victims filing civil suits or courts awarding restitution.

PREVENTION

The government maintained efforts to prevent trafficking. The National Committee for Preventing and Fighting Trafficking in Persons (NCTIP), comprised of government, Listening Center, and civil society representatives, led the government’s anti-trafficking efforts and met twice. The NCTIP continued to implement the 2024-2026 NAP. The government did not report how much it allocated to anti-trafficking efforts, compared to 514 million Comorian francs ($1.09 million) in 2023 for implementation of the NAP.

The government did not report conducting awareness campaigns. The government continued to fund two toll-free crime reporting hotlines; however, the government did not track call data related to potential trafficking cases. The Labor Ministry employed three labor inspectors, who did not receive anti-trafficking training or sufficient resources. Informal recruitment agencies continued to operate; some used predatory tactics, including fraudulent job advertising.

The government remained without effective policies or laws to monitor labor migration. The government did not prohibit worker-paid recruitment fees. A government ban on working in some countries restricted Comorians’ access to safe and legal migration, increasing their vulnerability to trafficking. The government did not provide anti-trafficking training to its diplomats, nor did it report making efforts to reduce demand for commercial sex acts.

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 Comoros, and traffickers exploit Comorian victims abroad. Traffickers exploit women and children, particularly from rural areas, in domestic servitude and sex trafficking on Grande Comore and Anjouan.

Traffickers on Anjouan may subject children, some of whom were left behind by parents in pursuit of economic opportunities in other countries, to forced labor in domestic service, roadside and market vending, baking, fishing, and agriculture. Some rural families, particularly on Anjouan and Moheli, send their children to live with wealthier relatives or acquaintances in urban areas or on Grande Comore for access to schooling and other socio-economic benefits; these children are vulnerable to domestic servitude and sex trafficking. Most Comorian children ages 3-7 (and some as old as 14) study at informal, private, neighborhood Quranic schools where they may be vulnerable to labor trafficking as fieldhands or domestic servants to supplement payment for instruction. The 3,000-4,000 unaccompanied Comorian children on Mayotte are especially vulnerable to domestic servitude and sex trafficking.

Traffickers exploit Comorian adults in forced labor in agriculture, construction, and domestic work on Mayotte and continental Africa. The 25,000 Comorians the French government deports from Mayotte on average per year are vulnerable to trafficking. Traffickers exploit Comorian women in domestic servitude in Gulf states, particularly Oman. Traffickers exploit Malagasy women and girls in domestic servitude and sex trafficking in Comoros.

Traffickers exploit in labor or sex trafficking some migrants and asylum-seekers from other African countries — including Burundi, Cameroon, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, Tanzania, and Uganda — transiting Comoros en route to Mayotte. The October 2024 – March 2025 closure of the maritime border with Madagascar increased the possibility of more Malagasies migrating to or through Comoros, potentially increasing their vulnerability to trafficking. On This Page search > < COMOROS (Tier 2) PRIORITIZED RECOMMENDATIONS: PROSECUTION PROTECTION PREVENTION TRAFFICKING PROFILE: Tags Bureau of African Affairs Comoros Human Trafficking Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons Reports