Vigorously investigate and prosecute trafficking crimes, including those involving complicit officials, and seek adequate penalties for convicted traffickers, which should involve significant prison terms. * Proactively identify trafficking victims by screening for trafficking indicators among vulnerable populations, including individuals in commercial sex, foreigners in detention, individuals facing deportation, domestic workers, and migrant workers on fishing vessels, and refer all victims to appropriate services. * Train or fund training for officials on the use of established SOPs for the proactive identification of trafficking victims among vulnerable populations and for the referral of victims to care services. * Expand efforts to raise awareness on all forms of human trafficking, particularly among rural and vulnerable populations. * Delineate among law enforcement responsibilities for trafficking investigations. * Increase funding and resources for protection services, including for victims who do not participate in criminal investigations, and increase availability of services for male victims. * Provide judges and prosecutors with copies of the anti-trafficking law in their primary language. * Permit victims freedom to choose whether to stay in government- or NGO-provided shelters and permit foreign victims to choose when to be repatriated. * Proactively inform trafficking victims of available legal services, including assistance in seeking compensation. * Provide sufficient funding and dedicated resources to KLATU to finalize and implement the draft 2024-2029 NAP and ensure inclusion of the Labor Inspectorate Office in their efforts. * Develop and maintain a comprehensive and centralized database to accurately track and report the government’s anti-trafficking statistics and improve information sharing and targeted anti-trafficking approaches among relevant government agencies. * Take steps to eliminate recruitment or placement fees charged to workers by labor recruiters and ensure any recruitment fees are paid by employers. * Screen government-affiliated Cuban workers, including medical professionals for trafficking indicators. * Eliminate recruitment or placement fees charged to workers by labor recruiters and ensure any recruitment fees are paid by employers.

The government demonstrated mixed law enforcement efforts. Articles 163 and 164 of the criminal code criminalized all forms of labor and sex trafficking and prescribed penalties of eight to 20 years’ imprisonment, which were sufficiently stringent, and, with respect to sex trafficking, commensurate with those prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape. Despite the existence of a trafficking law, some law enforcement and judicial officials continued to treat trafficking crimes as lesser offenses, such as immigration or labor violations. In addition, many judges and prosecutors lacked an accessible copy of anti-trafficking laws because Timorese law required publication of laws in Portuguese, a language in which not all judges and prosecutors were fully fluent.

The government investigated two trafficking cases – one for sex trafficking and one for labor trafficking – involving 12 suspected traffickers, compared with eight trafficking investigations in the previous reporting period. The government continued two trafficking case investigations initiated in prior years – one for sex trafficking and one for labor trafficking. The government prosecuted seven alleged traffickers, compared with not prosecuting any traffickers in the previous reporting period. For the second consecutive year, the government did not convict any traffickers. 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 during the year. In 2018, the government reported referring a case of an immigration official who allegedly facilitated labor trafficking of Bangladeshi workers to the Office of the Prosecutor General (OPG); for the sixth consecutive year, the government did not report an update to the case.

The Timor-Leste National Police’s Vulnerable Persons Unit (VPU) was the lead agency for trafficking investigations. The VPU jointly investigated transnational trafficking crimes with the Ministry of Justice’s Forensic Investigative Police. However, the government’s lack of a plan for collaboration and information sharing between the two agencies, limited personnel, and insufficient resources may have hindered the government’s ability to investigate trafficking crimes. The government reported a lack of prosecutorial resources contributed to a significant backlog in all cases. The government, in partnership with an international organization, trained front-line responders, including law enforcement officials, health care workers, educators, and service providers, on various anti-trafficking topics, including victim identification and referral SOPs and the anti-trafficking law. Law enforcement lacked adequate training, data management systems, and information technology infrastructure to conduct investigative research in trafficking cases. Border officials lacked training on how to identify trafficking crimes and where to refer suspected cases. In the past, the government acknowledged possible trafficking crimes in the fishing industry in Timor-Leste’s coastal waters and exclusive economic zone to the south, but it lacked the vessels, training, and human resources to patrol, inspect, and interdict vessels in its waters and investigate possible trafficking crimes. The government did not have mutual legal assistance agreements with countries in which Timorese were exploited abroad, hampering investigation and prosecution of transnational trafficking.

The government increased efforts to identify and protect victims. The government identified six adult male labor trafficking victims and one potential adult female labor trafficking victim, compared with identifying 10 trafficking victims and 32 potential trafficking victims in the previous reporting period. Additionally, an NGO identified one adult female sex trafficking victim. The government reported its implementation of victim identification and referral SOPs developed in a prior reporting period. The government, in partnership with an international organization, trained law enforcement officials on these SOPs. The SOPs allowed multiple government and NGO front-line responders to refer potential trafficking victims for care, and, upon referral, an interagency group of police, immigration officers, prosecutors, Ministry of Social Services (MSSI) officials, and NGOs would coordinate their care.

The government required victims to participate in investigations to receive protection services. MSSI officers in all 13 districts worked with an NGO to provide medical and psychological care, security, and legal assistance to gender-based violence (GBV) and trafficking victims. The government, in partnership with NGOs, provided services to eight trafficking victims – one sex trafficking victim and seven labor trafficking victims – and three child sex trafficking victims identified in the previous reporting period; MSSI and NGOs provided psycho-social, medical, and reintegration support to these victims. MSSI did not report allocating or, for the third consecutive year, using funds to support GBV and trafficking victims, compared with allocating $2,500 in the previous reporting period. VPU had $8,000 it could use to provide emergency assistance to trafficking or GBV victims; it did not report using any funds. OPG required trafficking victims to stay in shelters until police and prosecutors secured evidence for law enforcement proceedings. The government did not operate a shelter dedicated to trafficking victims; however, it provided limited funding to NGOs that cared for GBV and trafficking victims, including specifically for shelters. Two NGOs operated five shelters for predominantly GBV victims, but could accommodate victims of other crimes, including trafficking; another NGO had previously operated a dedicated trafficking shelter for males and females, but ended operations in 2022 due to a lack of funding. One NGO reported the shelters for predominately GBV victims were not designed for trafficking victims and had limited capacity; these GBV shelters also could not accommodate males, although the NGO stated they could find other lodging if they identified male victims. The quality and availability of victim care in rural areas remained inadequate as shelters and services were primarily located in Dili and other urban areas.

Article 9 of the anti-trafficking law permitted victims to seek compensation for losses and damages incurred through trafficking, courts could order restitution in trafficking cases, the government had a compensation fund that could assist trafficking victims, and Timorese laws authorized the government to provide legal assistance to trafficking victims seeking compensation. However, the government did not assist any victims through these mechanisms for the third consecutive year. The government reported eight victims participated in investigations and 30 victims participated in prosecutions. NGOs noted despite protections available for victim-witnesses, judges often did not apply them.

In the previous reporting period, the government allocated $3 million to fund temporary housing for approximately 5,000 Timorese stranded in Portugal after being recruited by scammers with false promises of employment but abandoned upon arrival. The government ended support for those stranded individuals, but, in collaboration with an international organization, repatriated 21 people, including those at risk of trafficking. Foreign trafficking victims identified in Timor-Leste could not be repatriated without OPG approval. The government’s policies allowed foreign victims alternatives to their removal to countries where they may face hardship or retribution, but it did not provide such assistance.

Regulations and guidance accompanying the 2017 anti-trafficking law stated trafficking victims may not be detained, accused, or judged for having entered or resided illegally in Timor-Leste nor for having perpetrated crimes as a direct result of being trafficked. Neither the government nor civil society partners reported specific cases in which authorities penalized trafficking victims solely for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked. However, due to a lack of training and inadequate screening for trafficking indicators, authorities may have detained or deported some unidentified trafficking victims. In prior years, police and NGOs reported traffickers coached victims to state they were voluntarily in commercial sex, which officials reported made it difficult for them to identify victims during law enforcement actions. Immigration officials reported screening individuals prior to deportation for trafficking indicators; however, observers reported such screening as inadequate since immigration officials did not conduct victim-centered interviews by sometimes questioning suspected trafficking victims in the presence of alleged traffickers and as many lacked a general understanding of trafficking. Immigration officials deported approximately 74 foreign nationals for visa violations, including six People’s Republic of China (PRC) nationals identified as potential trafficking victims and screened for trafficking indicators by immigration officials at the international airport.

The government maintained efforts to prevent trafficking. KLATU, which coordinated interagency anti-trafficking efforts, met four times. The government allocated $475,000 to KLATU for 2023, the same as the previous reporting period. KLATU continued to draft a five-year anti-trafficking NAP for 2024-2029; the NAP remained pending at the end of the reporting period. For the second year, KLATU lacked sufficient funding to establish a secretariat or complete, approve, and disseminate the draft NAP. In addition, some observers reported that although KLATU’s mandate centered on interagency coordination and strategic planning, KLATU focused on responding to individual trafficking cases. The government, in partnership with an international organization and an NGO, conducted awareness campaigns in 13 out of 14 municipalities, targeting government officials, police, teachers, and students. The public lacked general understanding of trafficking, and civil society reported awareness of safe and legal migration channels and trafficking was low among Timorese living in rural areas, who were the most likely to migrate abroad for work or education.

The Labor Inspector Office, which had the authority to monitor workplaces for labor violations, did not identify any labor trafficking cases; authorities acknowledged labor officials lacked knowledge of labor trafficking and the identification and referral SOPs, and the office was not a member of KLATU. The government did not prohibit all worker-paid recruitment fees; however, it did prohibit recruitment fees for government-managed recruitment agencies who coordinated Timorese labor in the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Australia. Immigration officials lacked the manpower, resources, and legal authority to proactively investigate tourist or work visa violations as potential trafficking cases, such as by requesting wage or staff information from businesses employing foreign workers, and the SOPs did not include guidance on referring suspected trafficking cases from immigration and labor inspectors to police.

The government funded an international organization to conduct research on human trafficking in the country. In October 2023, the government signed an agreement with Government of Portugal to guarantee labor rights and social protections for Timorese workers in Portugal. In November 2023, the government signed an agreement with the Government of Brunei to centralize the process for hiring Timorese migrant workers, align wages with local regulations, and cap remittance fees. The government had labor attachés in the ROK and Australia to assist Timorese with labor disputes; they did not receive any reports of trafficking. The government did not operate an anti-trafficking hotline, but VPU had a phone number to report criminal complaints and request assistance; the government did not report any trafficking investigations or victim identifications resulting from calls to the VPU number. The government did not make efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts. The government did not provide anti-trafficking training to its diplomatic personnel.

As reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Timor-Leste, and traffickers exploit victims from Timor-Leste abroad. Poor economic conditions, limited educational opportunities, and high unemployment create trafficking vulnerabilities for Timorese, in particular women and girls from rural areas; limited economic opportunities also create increased trafficking vulnerabilities for LGBTQI+ individuals. Floods and droughts worsened by climate change negatively impact Timor-Leste’s food systems and compound vulnerabilities experienced by poor and rural communities. Traffickers lead Timorese women, girls, and occasionally young men and boys from rural areas to the capital with the promise of employment or education and exploit them in sex trafficking or domestic servitude. Some rural Timorese families send children to live with relatives in the capital, where some are exploited in labor and sex trafficking. Traffickers exploit Timorese men in forced labor in agriculture, construction, and mining. Some Timorese families exploit children in bonded labor, including domestic and agricultural labor, primarily in domestic rural areas but also abroad, to pay off family debts. Traffickers exploit Timorese in forced labor in manufacturing and street vending and in restaurants and storefronts. Communities affected by HIV/AIDS are believed to be vulnerable to trafficking. In 2022, allegations resurfaced that a former Timorese independence figure, bishop, and Nobel Prize laureate perpetrated child sex trafficking against multiple boys, including those orphaned during the Indonesian occupation and Timor-Leste’s fight for independence; the alleged sex trafficking occurred in the late 1990s and early 2000s, prior to Timor-Leste’s independence.

Traffickers deceive women and teenagers with promises of scholarship opportunities or employment in Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, the PRC, other countries in the region, and the United Arab Emirates; often, traffickers take victims to a different country than promised, withhold their passports, pay them little to nothing, and force them into labor, including domestic servitude. In 2022, reports emerged that scammers recruited thousands of Timorese youth for non-existent jobs in Portugal; upon arrival in Portugal, they were vulnerable to trafficking. Over the past few years, thousands of Timorese migrant workers in the ROK and Australia left their employers or did not return to Timor-Leste at the conclusion of their contracts; undocumented workers are vulnerable to trafficking. Traffickers recruit Timorese women, send them to the PRC, Indonesia, or Malaysia, and force them into commercial sex. Frequently, Timorese victims overseas first transit through the porous border with Indonesia; some remain and are exploited in Indonesia. Some routes used by smugglers along the Indonesia–Timor-Leste border are also possible routes used by traffickers. Sex traffickers in Timor-Leste target foreign women from East and Southeast Asia. Transnational traffickers may be members of Indonesian or PRC national organized crime syndicates, which rotate foreign victims of sex trafficking in and out of Timor-Leste for the length of a 30-day tourist visa to avoid raising suspicions of law enforcement officers through visa overstay violations. Government officials and civil society acknowledged reports of exploitation and abuse, including potential labor trafficking of construction workers from the PRC in Dili, often as part of Belt and Road Initiative projects. Some police accept bribes from establishments involved in trafficking or from traffickers attempting to cross borders illegally. Traffickers exploit foreign fishing crews in forced labor on foreign-flagged vessels that transit Timor-Leste waters. There were approximately 160 Cuban medical workers in Timor-Leste in 2023 who may have been forced to work by the Cuban government. Traffickers use technology to recruit and exploit victims; authorities reported Facebook, WhatsApp, and online job advertisements were used to identify, groom, and recruit potential trafficking victims. Some of these victims are exploited for forced labor in online scam operations in Burma, Cambodia, and Laos. Authorities lacked the training to effectively counter traffickers’ increased use of technology to target victims.