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

LESOTHO (Tier 2) The Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho does not fully meet the minimum standards for eliminating trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so. The government demonstrated overall increasing efforts compared with the previous reporting period; therefore, Lesotho remained on Tier 2. These efforts included increasing investigations and prosecutions of alleged traffickers and funding for anti-trafficking law enforcement and protection efforts. The government identified significantly more trafficking victims and increased efforts to raise awareness of trafficking.

However, the government did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas. Shelter and services for victims, especially male victims, remained limited. The government did not prohibit worker-paid recruitment fees, increasing vulnerabilities to trafficking. PRIORITIZED RECOMMENDATIONS: Institutionalize annual anti-trafficking training for front-line officials, including police, immigration officers, and labor inspectors, on the indicators of trafficking, victim-centered and trauma-informed trafficking investigations, and the use of SOPs and NRM for the identification and referral of victims to services.

Implement the NRM to refer all victims to services. Increase efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking crimes, and seek adequate penalties for convicted traffickers, including complicit officials, which should involve significant prison terms. Increase the availability of protection services for all trafficking victims – especially male victims – including by partnering with civil society service providers. Institutionalize and consistently enforce strong regulations and oversight of labor recruitment companies, including by eliminating worker-paid recruitment fees and holding fraudulent labor recruiters criminally accountable.

Systematically collect and analyze anti-trafficking law enforcement and victim protection data.

PROSECUTION

The government slightly increased anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts. The 2011 Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act, as amended, criminalized labor trafficking and sex trafficking. The law prescribed penalties of up to 25 years’ imprisonment for the trafficking of adults and up to life imprisonment for the trafficking of children. These penalties were sufficiently stringent and, with regard to sex trafficking, commensurate with penalties prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape.

The government initiated 13 investigations — 12 for sex trafficking and one for labor trafficking — and continued 20 investigations from previous reporting periods. This compared with six investigations initiated during the previous reporting period. The government initiated five prosecutions involving five alleged traffickers, compared with four prosecutions involving four alleged traffickers in the previous reporting period, and continued 12 prosecutions from the previous reporting period. A court convicted and sentenced one trafficker to 15 years’ imprisonment, the same as in the previous reporting period.

The government continued to increase funding for the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS) Anti-Trafficking and Migrant Control Unit (ATMCU) from 135,000 maloti ($7,160) in 2023 to 435,000 maloti ($23,080) in 2024. ATMCU expanded its offices from five to six, in Butha-Buthe, Mafeteng, Maseru, Mohale’s Hoek, Mokhotlong, and Qacha’s Nek. ATMCU officers received anti-trafficking training in all 10 districts. The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions employed in each district at least one prosecutor trained to prosecute trafficking cases, and the judiciary expanded the number of magistrates hearing trafficking cases from three to seven.

LMPS operationalized its cybercrime office to investigate cyber-related crimes, including online trafficking crimes and fraudulent recruitment. Observers reported LMPS’s lack of interpreters to assist with cases involving foreign victims hindered investigations. Through its Bi-National Commission of Cooperation with South Africa, the government began developing a pan-African migration model to prevent trafficking. The government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees complicit in human trafficking crimes; however, corruption and official complicity in trafficking crimes remained concerns.

The government continued implementing a rotational system for immigration officials to deter participation in illicit activities, including human trafficking. However, observers reported frequent staffing rotations of immigration officials without adequate training hindered anti-trafficking efforts.

PROTECTION

The government increased overall protection efforts. The government identified 84 trafficking victims — two sex trafficking victims and 82 victims of unspecified forms of trafficking. The government did not report how many victims were referred to care, compared with nine victims identified and referred to care in the previous reporting period. The government, with support from an international organization, continued training for officials and implementation of its victim identification SOPs and NRM to refer victims to services.

The government provided trafficking victims assistance in accessing medical care and sponsored school fees for trafficking victims. The government operated one shelter for victims of violence against women, which could also assist trafficking victims, and it had an MOU with one NGO to operate a specialized trafficking shelter. The NGO provided short-term housing, medical care, counseling, job skills training, and legal assistance to 16 trafficking victims. Victims had a choice to reside at the NGO shelter while receiving services.

The NGO provided support services to male trafficking victims; however, no shelters could accommodate male victims. The government reported providing in-kind support to the NGO and funding 300,000 maloti ($15,900) for victim services and anti-trafficking protection efforts, compared with no funding reported in the last period. Victims were not required to participate in investigations to access services. The government provided lodging, transportation, and allowances to victim-witnesses participating in criminal justice proceedings.

The government generally required victims who agreed to participate in criminal proceedings to be physically present in a courtroom with the perpetrator; however, courts allowed children to testify against traffickers via video in all 10 districts. Courts could order restitution in trafficking cases; however, the government did not report awarding restitution to any victims during the reporting period. The Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act and its implementing regulations prohibited the prosecution of victims for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked and allowed foreign victims to elect permanent residency as a legal alternative to their removal. For foreign victims, provision of care beyond a 60-day reflection period was dependent on their cooperation with law enforcement; authorities repatriated victims who did not cooperate with law enforcement after the reflection period.

If a foreign national victim cooperated with law enforcement, they could remain in Lesotho for the duration of the criminal case; however, barring safety concerns or qualifications of other immigration benefits, the victim had to return to their home country following the conclusion of any criminal proceedings.

PREVENTION

The government maintained anti-trafficking prevention efforts. The Anti-Trafficking Multi-Sectoral Committee (MSC), which coordinated anti-trafficking efforts, met nine times during the reporting period. The 2021-2026 National Strategic Framework and Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Persons provided a roadmap for anti-trafficking efforts that delineated responsibilities among government ministries. The government dedicated resources to continue its implementation during the reporting period.

The government allocated 200,000 maloti ($10,600) for trafficking awareness activities in the 202-2025 budget. The government conducted activities to raise awareness of human trafficking, including outreach to vulnerable communities, and continued its participation in NGO-led activities. Law enforcement operated a hotline for reporting all crimes, including human trafficking. The Labour Act of 2024 established government committees to oversee compliance with labor and employment laws, required licensing of recruitment agencies, allowed labor inspections within households where domestic labor takes place, and criminalized fraudulent recruitment practices.

In collaboration with an international organization, the government conducted 369 labor inspections across all 10 districts. Labor inspectors received some anti-trafficking training, but officials reported insufficient training hindered overall inspection efforts. The government developed new guidelines for migrant recruitment from Lesotho to foreign countries to enhance protections for migrant workers; however, neither the Labour Act of 2024 nor the guidelines eliminated worker-paid recruitment fees. The government continued to implement its labor migration policy focused on recruitment malpractice and incorporated screening for trafficking indicators into labor inspectors’ interviews with migrants.

In collaboration with NGOs, the government conducted awareness activities on ethical recruitment. The government also continued to discuss trafficking in persons in migrant workers’ pre-departure sessions and conducted inspections to confirm recruitment agencies’ licenses and compliance with the labor code. The government did not report making efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts. The government trained diplomats deploying to its 20 embassies and consulates to respond to cases of human trafficking of its citizens identified abroad, and it continued disseminating a diplomats’ anti-trafficking handbook.

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 Lesotho, and traffickers exploit victims from Lesotho abroad. Limited economic opportunities resulted in vulnerable populations — including women and orphaned children — enticed by traffickers with false promises of legitimate employment or educational opportunities to migrate from rural to urban areas, South Africa, or the Middle East.

Traffickers, including in religious institutions, fraudulently advertise scholarships or lucrative jobs in hospitality on social media to recruit victims into forced labor and sex trafficking, especially in the Middle East. In Lesotho, traffickers exploit Basotho children — especially orphans — in forced labor in domestic servitude and animal herding and in sex trafficking. Girls employed in domestic work are vulnerable to forced labor and abuse. Basotho women and girls seeking work migrate to South Africa, where traffickers detain some in prison-like conditions and exploit others in sex trafficking, notably in Welkom and Klerksdorp.

Some parents send children to work as domestic workers in South Africa, where they are exploited in forced labor. Basotho traffickers target Maseru factory workers with offers of lucrative employment in South Africa, where they force them to work in Newcastle and Mandeni factories. Traffickers exploit in forced labor some Basotho men in South Africa illegally who work in agriculture and mining; many of them work for weeks or months before their employers report them to South African authorities for deportation on immigration violations to avoid paying wages. Traffickers connected to organized crime syndicates in South Africa exploit Basotho men in derelict mines.

Traffickers also compel Basotho to commit crimes in South Africa, including theft, drug trafficking, and smuggling under threat of violence. Operators of some initiation schools in Lesotho, which are secretive cultural institutions, lure South African children without parental consent under the false pretense of a better education or lucrative jobs but then force them into the initiation schools, extort money from their parents, and in some instances, exploit the children in forced labor. Flooding and droughts impact agricultural production and food security, increasing vulnerabilities to trafficking. Increased unemployment due to factory closures drives some Basotho to migrate to South Africa in search of work, which increases their vulnerability to trafficking.

Some foreign nationals — including Chinese, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans, and Indians — subject their compatriots to labor or sex trafficking in Lesotho. Chinese state-owned construction companies in Lesotho may employ practices indicative of forced labor, including withholding of travel documents. Media and NGOs report unscrupulous actors, including Russian officials and illicit recruiters, fraudulently recruit women ages 18-22 from Africa — including Lesotho — South Asia, and South America for vocational training programs and subsequently place them in military drone production sites. Media report workers at these sites are subjected to hazardous conditions, surveillance, hour and wage violations, contract switching, and worker-paid recruitment fees, which are trafficking indicators.

The Cuban regime may have forced Cuban medical professionals in Lesotho to work. On This Page search > < LESOTHO (Tier 2) PRIORITIZED RECOMMENDATIONS: PROSECUTION PROTECTION PREVENTION TRAFFICKING PROFILE: Tags Bureau of African Affairs Human Trafficking Lesotho Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons Reports