• Investigate all credible allegations of official complicity in human trafficking and hold complicit officials criminally accountable through prosecution and conviction.
• Increase efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking crimes, and seek adequate penalties for convicted traffickers, which should involve significant prison terms.
• Implement SOPs to identify trafficking victims and refer them to care, train stakeholders on the use of SOPs, and proactively increase victim identification by screening for trafficking indicators among vulnerable populations, including child laborers in markets; women in commercial sex; domestic and construction workers; migrants; and Chinese national workers.
• To prevent forced labor among Cuban workers in Equatorial Guinea, hire any Cuban workers directly and utilize hiring practices that are in line with domestic and international law, and provide adequate protection to Cuban victims of human trafficking.
• Increase the availability of protection services for all trafficking victims, including by partnering with civil society or international organizations.
• Ensure the safe and, to the greatest extent possible, voluntary repatriation of foreign victims, including through collaboration with relevant organizations and source country embassies, and provide foreign victims with long-term legal alternatives to their removal to countries where they may face retribution or hardship.
• Amend the penal code to remove the requirement of a demonstration of force, fraud, or coercion in child sex trafficking cases.
• Implement the 2022-2024 anti-trafficking NAP and develop a new or updated comprehensive NAP and allocate dedicated resources to its implementation.
• Re-establish the government’s web-based reporting platform and hotline for the public to report potential trafficking cases.
• Screen any North Korean workers for signs of trafficking and refer them to appropriate services, in a manner consistent with obligations under United Nations Security Council resolution 2397.

The government increased anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts.

The 2004 Law on the Smuggling of Migrants and Trafficking in Persons, as amended, criminalized some forms of sex trafficking and all forms of labor trafficking and prescribed penalties of 10 to 15 years’ imprisonment and a fine of at least 50 million Central African francs (CFA) ($79,296) for offenses involving adult victims; an additional five years would be added to the principal penalty for those involving child victims. These penalties were sufficiently stringent and, with respect to sex trafficking, commensurate with those prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape. Inconsistent with the international law definition, Equatorial Guinea’s legal framework required a demonstration of force, fraud, or coercion to constitute a child sex trafficking offense, and therefore, it did not criminalize all forms of child sex trafficking. Additionally, the law defined trafficking broadly to include illegal adoption without the purpose of exploitation.

The government reported investigating 24 potential trafficking cases and continuing 15 ongoing investigations, an increase compared with the investigation of four cases in the previous reporting period. The government reported prosecuting 20 suspects, an increase compared with prosecution of four suspects in the previous reporting period. The government reported convicting five traffickers under its 2004 anti-trafficking law with sentences ranging from 14 to 20 years’ imprisonment. This compared with three trafficking convictions in the previous reporting period.

The government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government officials complicit in human trafficking crimes; however, corruption and official complicity in trafficking crimes remained significant concerns, inhibiting law enforcement efforts. Multiple credible sources alleged senior officials were involved in human trafficking crimes, particularly by exploiting women and girls in domestic servitude in their own households or in sex trafficking. Lower-level officials reportedly took bribes from undocumented foreign nationals and judges were accused of taking bribes and accepting goods in exchange for favorable rulings. Some law enforcement and state employees allegedly solicited bribes to facilitate trafficking.

The government collaborated with officials in Benin to investigate a trafficking case. The government did not report providing anti-trafficking training for law enforcement officials. The government, in partnership with an international organization, initiated efforts to digitize Equatorial Guinea’s judicial system to improve case processing, including trafficking cases. Many officials continued to lack understanding of human trafficking, hindering the government’s ability to investigate and prosecute trafficking crimes, while limited capacity impeded the judiciary.

The government increased efforts to protect victims.

The government reported identifying and referring to care 12 victims, an increase compared with five victims identified and one victim referred to care in the previous reporting period. NGOs reported identifying 13 trafficking victims (one man, 11 women, and one child). The government collaborated with the Nigerian government to repatriate three potential child trafficking victims. The government did not have victim identification SOPs. Two SOPs for victim protection and care – one for government agencies and the other for consular officers to use abroad – remained pending implementation. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Gender Equality trained new social workers on identifying trafficking victims and referring them to services. In November 2024, the government issued a decree to strengthen child protection, including protecting children from trafficking.

The government relied on two NGO-run shelters to provide shelter and care with the capacity to assist 16 adult and child victims. In the previous reporting period, the government initiated plans to open a shelter for trafficking victims; however, no progress to operationalize the shelter was reported during the reporting period. Observers reported additional NGO-run shelters and orphanages were available to assist victims of crime, including trafficking victims. The government did not report whether any funding was disbursed for anti-trafficking protection activities; in the previous reporting period the government reported it would allocate 2.25 billion CFA ($3.8 million) per year to the Ministry of Social Affairs. The government provided victim-witness assistance to support victim participation in criminal justice proceedings, including support accessing shelter services and personal security. The government reported victims participated in investigations for seven cases. Victims could provide testimony via video or written statements. The government had no formal policies to provide foreign trafficking victims legal alternatives to their removal to countries where they might face retribution or hardship. Due to a lack of widely used formal victim identification procedures, the government did not take effective measures to prevent the inappropriate penalization of potential victims solely for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked.

The government made mixed efforts to prevent trafficking.

The anti-trafficking Interagency Coordinating Committee, which included representatives from government and civil society, convened twice during the reporting period. While the government had a 2022-2024 NAP, it did not dedicate resources to support implementation, relying on ministries to implement NAP activities through existing budgets, and did not report plans to update it. However, the government reported allocating 10 million CFA ($15,859) for prevention activities. This was a significant reduction compared to allocating 300 million CFA ($457,775) in the previous reporting period for anti-trafficking activities. The Office of the Public Prosecutor in Litoral held a workshop with key stakeholders to develop strategies to combat trafficking in schools. The government’s general hotline could receive calls on potential trafficking cases along with other ministry hotlines. The government did not report identifying victims as a result of hotline calls.

The government made awareness-raising materials available to the public, including through audiovisual campaigns and free informative leaflets. The Ministry of Labor, Employment, and Social Security continued to implement regulations requiring all companies to sign formal labor contracts with their employees; however, observers previously reported limited enforcement by the government. A new decree to increase transparency and prevent forced labor obligated individuals and companies to disclose the beneficial owners of government contracts; failure to comply would lead to administrative or criminal sanctions. The government reported it provided anti-trafficking training to its diplomatic personnel. The government made efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts.

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 Equatorial Guinea, and traffickers exploit victims from Equatorial Guinea abroad. Traffickers exploit victims in domestic servitude and sex trafficking in the cities of Malabo, Bata, Mongomo, and Ebebiyin, where relative wealth and security attracts Central and West African migrant workers. Observers report traffickers use online platforms to recruit and exploit victims. Observers report women and girls are particularly vulnerable to trafficking. Additionally, in some instances, the practice of “bride price,” where a man gives a certain amount of money to a woman’s family to marry her, is misused, increasing vulnerabilities to trafficking.

Drought has led more rural families to rely on child labor due to livelihood loss, increasing trafficking risks. Some business owners involved in the hospitality and restaurant sectors exploit hotel and bar workers in forced labor and sex trafficking in urban centers. Observers report youth who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual often are homeless and stigmatized by their families and society, increasing vulnerabilities to trafficking. Traffickers fraudulently recruit Equatoguinean and foreign national children to attend school or learn a trade and instead exploit them in domestic servitude. Young men and girls participating in employment mentorship programs are vulnerable to trafficking due a lack of formal contracts. Equatoguinean and foreign business owners reportedly exploit children from nearby countries – primarily Benin, Togo, Ghana, and Cameroon – in forced labor as domestic workers, market laborers, and street vendors. Observers reported Equatoguinean traffickers – some of whom are allegedly associated with the country’s elites – potentially exploit some women from Brazil, China, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Paraguay, and Venezuela in sex trafficking at nightclubs, bars, and brothels in the country.

Foreign national men are vulnerable to deceptive employment offers and forced labor in construction, agriculture, domestic work (informal security guards), and other jobs with limited formal training. Some business owners recruit women from Benin, Cameroon, Ethiopia, other African countries, and Latin America for work in Equatorial Guinea and exploit them in forced labor in markets and hair salons or in sex trafficking. Sources reported the lack of birth certificates and legal documents to establish proof of individuals’ age, particularly children and women, make them vulnerable to sex and labor trafficking. Authorities reported some Equatoguineans hire domestic workers from Cameroon, Nigeria, Gabon, Paraguay and other South American countries to exploit them in domestic servitude in their homes. Chinese national-owned firms recruit Chinese nationals to migrate to Equatorial Guinea for work; some of these businesses then confiscate workers’ passports, which increases their vulnerability to forced labor or sex trafficking. A small number of Chinese nationals may have been forced to work on Equatorial Guinea government-funded projects.

According to reports, there were between 100 and 200 Cuban regime-affiliated workers in Equatorial Guinea. Cuban regime-affiliated workers in Equatorial Guinea may have been forced to work by the Cuban regime. North Korean nationals working in Equatorial Guinea may be operating under exploitative working conditions and display multiple indicators of forced labor. Observers reported some corrupt and complicit government workers – including senior officials – participate in trafficking-related crimes. Authorities asserted some foreign diplomats accredited to Malabo are allegedly involved in child trafficking and migrant smuggling. Observers stated government officials often blame foreigners for human trafficking crimes committed by Equatoguineans in Equatorial Guinea. Sources alleged members of the Equatoguinean military previously falsified identity documents to facilitate a sex trafficking ring in Menorca, Spain, involving women and girls.