Increase efforts to proactively investigate and prosecute trafficking crimes, and seek adequate penalties for convicted traffickers, including complicit officials, which should involve significant prison terms. * Increase efforts to proactively identify trafficking victims, including among vulnerable groups such as foreign workers and undocumented migrants, through consistent use of the victim identification SOP, and ensure victims are not inappropriately penalized solely for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked. * Significantly increase oversight of labor recruitment agencies and employers and refer cases involving trafficking indicators, such as non-payment of wages and passport retention, to police for criminal investigation. * Increase the availability of protection services – including shelter services that are victim-centered and trauma-informed, counseling, and medical care – for all trafficking victims, and partner with civil society service providers. * Finalize, formally adopt, and consistently implement SOPs on shelter operations and provision of victim services. * Ensure anti-trafficking materials are available in appropriate languages for migrant workers and provide access to adequate interpretation and translation services for trafficking victims. * Increase cooperation with migrant source-country governments, including through MOUs and other measures, to improve labor conditions for migrant workers. * Allocate resources for proactive monitoring of resorts and guest homes for human trafficking. * Adopt a comprehensive national action plan and dedicate resources to its implementation. * Increase anti-trafficking training for officials, including law enforcement, prosecutors, judges, labor inspectors, and immigration officials, to consistently respond to human trafficking crimes in a trauma informed and victim-centered manner. * Institute reforms to the visa employment system to allow foreign workers to change employers without requiring employer approval.

The government decreased anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts. The Prevention of Human Trafficking Act (PHTA) criminalized sex trafficking and labor trafficking and prescribed penalties of up to 10 years’ imprisonment for trafficking offenses involving an adult victim and up to 15 years’ imprisonment for those involving a child victim. These penalties were sufficiently stringent and, with respect to sex trafficking, commensurate with those prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape.

The government investigated five potential trafficking cases – two for forced labor, one for sex trafficking, one child sex trafficking case, and one for an unspecified form of trafficking; this compared with two trafficking cases involving three suspects during the previous year. The government did not initiate any prosecutions, compared with prosecuting four alleged traffickers for sex trafficking in the previous reporting period. The government continued to prosecute nine suspects from a previous reporting period. The government did not convict any traffickers, compared with convicting two sex traffickers during the previous reporting period. The Ministry of Social and Family Development did not report investigation of any cases of child sex trafficking during the reporting period while MPS reportedly investigated one child sex trafficking case and referred a child sex trafficking case from the previous reporting period for prosecution. MPS and the Anti-Corruption Commission continued investigations – initiated in 2019 – against 27 labor recruitment agencies and several current or former Maldives Immigration (MI) officers for collusion in allegedly manipulating the foreign worker recruitment quota system in a way that may have facilitated fraudulent recruitment practices and potentially human trafficking; the government closed its investigations against five agencies due to insufficient evidence.

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 significant concerns, inhibiting law enforcement action. Officials did not report any action following the arrest by Sri Lankan police of a former senior Maldivian government official in July 2021 for alleged involvement in a child sex trafficking ring in Sri Lanka. Officials allegedly accepted bribes to overlook labor violations or dismiss cases, including potential labor violations involving construction companies, and observers reported some officials warned businesses in advance of planned law enforcement operations.

While the MPS Anti-Human Trafficking Department employed dedicated anti-trafficking staff, the unit was severely understaffed, hindering overall efforts. There were no specialized judges dedicated to hearing trafficking cases. The government conducted anti-trafficking trainings for MPS, MI, and other frontline agencies, and MI continued to implement a mandatory trafficking training for new recruits; however, observers noted investigative officers and frontline agents required additional training to effectively identify and investigate trafficking crimes. Officials sometimes conflated human trafficking with related crimes, such as sexual abuse or migrant smuggling, especially in cases involving children; this made it difficult to determine which law enforcement actions involved human trafficking as defined by international law. Although MPS, in collaboration with an international organization, previously developed an online case management system to allow online case submission by potential victims to the police, the platform remained nonoperational. The absence of dedicated foreign language interpreters for victims and witnesses among law enforcement and social service providers continued to hamper law enforcement and victim protection efforts. The government did not report cooperating with foreign officials on any trafficking cases despite hosting a large migrant worker population.

The government maintained inadequate protection efforts. Officials identified two trafficking victims, the same number identified during the previous reporting period. Both victims were from India and exploited in forced labor. Officials also identified two potential sex trafficking victims. The government provided temporary shelter in guesthouses to the two victims and two potential victims, in addition to food and medical care, and issued a work permit to one survivor. The government utilized its 2016 guidelines which provided basic instructions for identifying potential victims and referring victims for care. Although MPS previously disseminated the 2016 victim identification SOPs to its officers, government agencies did not uniformly employ them. For the third consecutive year, the government continued to revise its draft victim assistance and shelter service regulation to establish SOPs on shelter operations and provision of victim services. Observers reported the lack of cohesive victim identification and referral SOPs describing specific roles for agencies may have resulted in a lack of referrals and the possibility victims were not identified, including among potential forced labor victims. While all agencies could screen for trafficking, only the Anti-Human Trafficking Department could officially declare an individual a trafficking victim, which provided victims with access to services and ensured cases would be investigated under the PHTA.

The government did not have a shelter available to assist trafficking victims and provided temporary accommodation at guesthouses without any support services. The government reported plans to provide temporary shelter for trafficking victims at a detention facility operated by the Ministry of Homeland Security while it sought to establish a permanent shelter. Article 32 of the PHTA provided a 90-day reflection period during which victims could receive services while deciding whether to assist authorities in a criminal case. The Prosecutor General’s Office could provide victim-witness assistance to trafficking victims if their cases went to prosecution, and the government could provide legal assistance to trafficking victims if their cases went to trial. In addition, the government could make special arrangements to protect trafficking survivors during trials, including by providing testimony in writing or via video. Although the amended PHTA allowed the state to seize assets used in trafficking or gained through trafficking profits, there were no reports of prosecutors filing requests for restitution in criminal cases, nor courts awarding such restitution during the reporting period. There were also no reports of victims filing civil suits against traffickers for damages. The government did not maintain a victim compensation fund for trafficking survivors.

Foreign national trafficking victims could receive a special visa allowing them to remain in Maldives and work during the investigation and prosecution of a case, or subject to evidence of forced labor with a previous employer. However, the PHTA permitted the deportation of trafficking victims who entered Maldives without authorization. The government’s immigration task force detained undocumented workers without proactively screening migrant workers for human trafficking indicators or providing access to legal services prior to deportation, and as in previous reporting periods, the government did not adequately screen migrant workers for trafficking despite instances of unpaid wages, confiscated passports, and other indicators of labor trafficking. Observers reported the government’s screening processes may be inadequate given the limited number of trafficking victims identified in recent years, particularly given the significant proportion of undocumented workers among the large migrant laborer population in the country. Officials more commonly referred potential trafficking cases to the Labor Relations Authority than to law enforcement. Observers reported some victims, such as undocumented Bangladeshi migrant workers in the construction industry and female foreign domestic workers, were less likely to be identified. The government continued its re-registration and regularization program, initiated in September 2019, which aimed to provide temporary documentation and legalize undocumented foreign migrant workers and repatriate both documented and undocumented workers wishing to return to their home country. The government reported registering 5,658 undocumented workers compared with 1,700 workers in 2021, the most recent year with available data.

The government significantly increased enforcement operations against spas in Malé and venues suspected of facilitating commercial sex, but officials did not report screening for trafficking among vulnerable groups such as female migrant workers. Due to a renewed police focus, authorities pledged to immediately deport any undocumented foreign nationals found at these venues and, due to inconsistent use of formal identification procedures, may have arrested and deported some unidentified trafficking victims, including foreign sex trafficking victims.

The government decreased prevention efforts. The National Anti-Human Trafficking Steering Committee, composed of senior government officials and overseen by the ATO, remained the lead in coordinating the government’s efforts to combat human trafficking, but did not meet during the reporting period. In November 2023, the Ministry of Homeland Security and Technology assumed oversight of the ATO from the Ministry of Defense; however, the ATO remained severely understaffed and largely non-operational, which impeded its role overseeing national anti-trafficking efforts. The ATO previously drafted a one-year NAP from March 2023 to March 2024, which remained awaiting final approval at the end of the reporting period without implementation. The 2024 State Budget allocated 900,000 Maldivian rufiyaa (MVR) ($58,370), a slight decrease compared with 1.16 million MVR ($75,230) from the 2023 budget, to fund the work of the ATO, including MVR 282,002 ($18,290) dedicated to ATO operating costs, training officials and civil society organizations, and providing shelter for trafficking victims. The ATO partnered with the Government of Seychelles to train officials on best practices to combat trafficking and provide victim assistance. The government lacked a centralized system to collect trafficking data across agencies. The government previously partnered with an international organization and local university to conduct a baseline study and collect data throughout the country’s atolls to inform anti-trafficking priorities; however, officials did not report progress on this initiative.

The sixth amendment to the Employment Act regulated the presence of foreign workers. The act set a quota limiting the number of foreign workers that could enter Maldives from any single country at 100,000 and included provisions for prioritizing Maldivians for employment. The quota was intended to help the government better track the number of current migrant workers and reduce opportunities to manipulate the recruitment system. In December 2023, the government overturned a 2019 ban on recruiting unskilled workers from Bangladesh and resumed recruitment; however, the government did not introduce any new measures to address risks of exploitation and trafficking. In May 2023, the government repealed previous regulations for foreign workers and introduced a new expatriate employment regulation outlining updated policies and procedures on recruitment, employment, and management of foreign workers in Maldives. The new regulations required employers to register with the government’s online platform and complete an employment course; however, the government did not report whether the course was active or included labor rights issues. The regulations also introduced a conditional work permit for foreign workers who were undocumented or seeking to change employers; however, the regulations required the original employer’s permission and authorization from the government, except when the employee presented evidence of forced labor. If the Labor Relations Authority or the Employment Tribunal substantiated evidence of forced labor or negligence, a new employer could initiate a new work permit through the Xpat system without securing the consent of the previous employer. Observers noted employers could report migrant workers missing to invalidate the worker’s request, and some employers reportedly abused this system to gain additional foreign workers. The Labor Relations Authority had responsibility to investigate reports of missing workers, although the government did not report the outcome of investigations under the new regulations. The new expatriate employment regulation prohibited charging workers any recruitment fees, similar to previous regulations. Preexisting regulations outlined the role of employment agencies in recruiting foreign workers, agency registration and licensing procedures, and prohibiting recruitment fees to workers or withholding passports; agencies in violation of these regulations would face penalties of 5,000 MVR to 50,000 MVR ($320 to 3,240). These regulations also required registered agencies and new agencies seeking registration to undergo training on government processes related to expatriate employment, although there were no reports such trainings were conducted during the reporting period. The government reported individuals and companies involved in forced labor were blacklisted from the country’s online employer system and ineligible for government contracts, although officials did not report whether any entities were banned according to these rules. The Labor Relations Authority (LRA) could request MED to blacklist foreign recruitment agencies and employers with repeated or serious labor violations, but MED did not always implement LRA’s recommendations, and those agencies and employers continued to operate. For the sixth consecutive year, the government reported no progress to enact a proposed MOU with Bangladesh regarding Bangladeshi migrant workers in Maldives. In addition, the government did not report progress on efforts to negotiate labor agreements with India or the Philippines.

The LRA had the authority to inspect all worksites, including private homes, and it carried out 928 inspections, compared with 656 inspections during the previous reporting period. LRA identified 21 potential cases of child labor in 2023, compared with 24 potential child labor cases in 2022, although it did not report any cases of forced child labor or child sex trafficking during the reporting period. LRA lacked the resources, staff, and training necessary to fulfill its mandate and adequately monitor each atoll, resulting in a largely reactive inspection strategy focused on tourist areas and the most populated islands. LRA did not report conducting human trafficking training for child labor inspectors during the reporting period, although refresher trainings may have been available to some employees. LRA generally received numerous complaints of non-payment of wages and mediated such claims with the employer or issued fines if mediation failed or the employer committed repeated violations. LRA, the Ministry of Social and Family Development, and the employment tribunal could refer labor violations to police for criminal investigation but did not report doing so during the reporting period. Observers reported employment tribunal delays resulted in some labor trafficking victims being pressured to settle out of court rather than pursuing charges before a tribunal. LRA continued to use an online portal for island councils to report the number of individuals, including migrant workers, on each island, however implementation was inconsistent as some councils did not push businesses to register their employees with the portal.

The government conducted some public awareness activities, although observers reported a continued lack of significant efforts to raise awareness of trafficking among the most vulnerable groups. The government had anti-trafficking awareness materials in Dhivehi and English. The government did not make efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts or extraterritorial child sexual exploitation and abuse. The government previously reported concerns traffickers could use resorts and guesthouses to facilitate extraterritorial child sexual exploitation and abuse, in part because no government agency had the authority or resources to monitor these establishments for such crimes. The government’s trafficking in persons hotline remained suspended during the reporting period due to a lack of dedicated staff, although the MPS Anti-Human Trafficking Department operated a 24-hour hotline and a toll-free child helpline could receive reports about child labor cases; the government conducted some investigations as a result of hotline calls. Observers reported the lack of Bengali-speaking hotline operators could have been a barrier to the large number of suspected Bangladeshi trafficking victims. The government did not report providing anti-trafficking training to its diplomatic personnel.

As reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Maldives. There have been no recent reports of traffickers exploiting victims from Maldives abroad. Foreign migrants, especially from Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, are particularly vulnerable to labor and sex trafficking. Foreign migrant workers comprise approximately one-third of the population of Maldives, including at least 60,000 undocumented workers. Traffickers subject an unknown number of foreign workers – primarily Bangladeshi and Indian men in the construction and service sectors – to practices indicative of forced labor, including fraudulent recruitment, confiscation of identity and travel documents, withholding or non-payment of wages, and debt-based coercion. The government reported that withholding passports and non-payment or under-payment of wages to migrant workers remained the most common trafficking indicators in Maldives, and a study found 47 percent of Bangladeshi migrant workers do not received their promised wages. Despite prohibitions on worker-paid recruitment fees, migrant workers may pay thousands of dollars in recruitment fees to work in Maldives, contributing to their risk of debt-based coercion upon arrival. Recruitment agents in source countries collude with employers and agents in Maldives to facilitate fraudulent recruitment and forced labor of migrant workers.

Traffickers may have targeted migrant workers on fishing and cargo boats in Maldivian waters for forced labor. South Asian women may be victims of forced labor in domestic service in Maldives. Observers report traffickers may also target Bangladeshi children who enter the country on work visas and falsified passports for labor trafficking. Traffickers use Maldivian children in forced criminality, including the transportation of drugs for criminal gangs. Some workers from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) likely experienced conditions indicative of forced labor while working with a PRC-affiliated company on government-related projects. There have been recent reports of Cuban government-affiliated workers, including medical professionals, in Maldives, some of whom may be forced to work by the Cuban government. Maldivian Health Ministry officials previously retained some foreign passports which could have increased the vulnerability of these workers, and some Cuban workers reportedly fled health care facilities without notice, which raised administrative concerns for the government. Authorities did not report screening these vulnerable workers for indicators of human trafficking.

Sex traffickers exploit women and girls from Maldives and other South Asian countries and – to a lesser extent – women from Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe in Maldives. Some traffickers transport women from South and Southeast Asia under the guise of tourism or under the pretext of employment as massage therapists and exploit them in sex trafficking. Traffickers use social media to recruit victims with job advertisements at spas and other businesses and then exploit them in sex trafficking. Police reported misuse of tourist or work visas to bring foreign nationals into Maldives for exploitation in sex trafficking at spas or guesthouses. Some impoverished parents enable sex traffickers to exploit their children in exchange for financial assistance. Some employers transport Maldivian children to the capital from other islands for domestic work, where employers sexually abuse some, and others are vulnerable to labor traffickers. Traffickers have previously exploited Maldivian children in extraterritorial child sexual exploitation and abuse.