• 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, migrant workers facing deportation, domestic workers, migrant workers on fishing vessels in Timor-Leste waters, and Chinese national overseas workers, and refer all victims to appropriate services.
• To prevent forced labor among Cuban workers in Timor-Leste, 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.
• Provide sufficient funding and dedicated resources to KLATU, including to finalize and implement the draft NAP and ensure inclusion of the Office of the Labor Inspector General (IGT) in their efforts.
• 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 the freedom to choose whether to stay in shelters and permit foreign victims to choose when to be repatriated.
• Proactively inform and provide trafficking victims legal services, including assistance in seeking compensation.
• Take steps to eliminate recruitment or placement fees charged to workers by labor recruiters and ensure any recruitment fees are paid by employers.

The government decreased 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 offenses with lesser penalties, 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.

During the reporting period, the government investigated three trafficking cases – one for sex trafficking, one for labor trafficking, and one for an unspecified form of exploitation – involving six suspected traffickers, compared with investigating two cases involving 12 suspected traffickers in the previous reporting period. The government continued investigating two cases initiated in prior years – one for sex trafficking and one for labor trafficking. The government did not initiate any prosecutions, compared with prosecuting seven alleged traffickers in the previous reporting period. For the third 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. Observers reported an interruption in the Anti-Corruption Commission’s leadership hindered the government’s investigation and prosecution of suspected cases of corruption; the government installed a new commissioner in July 2024.

The Ministry of Justice’s Forensic Investigative Police was the lead agency for trafficking investigations and jointly investigated transnational cases with the Timor-Leste National Police’s Vulnerable Person Unit (VPU). However, the government’s lack of guidance for collaboration and information sharing between the two agencies, and insufficient resources and personnel impacted its ability to investigate trafficking crimes. A lack of prosecutorial resources also contributed to a significant backlog in all cases. Moreover, observers noted investigators and prosecutors often had varying interpretations and understandings of the anti-trafficking laws, likely resulting in the dismissal of some trafficking cases. The government reduced training efforts compared with the previous reporting period reportedly due to, in part, a reduction in KLATU’s budget; however, in partnership with an international organization, the government trained front-line officials, including law enforcement 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, especially those in which traffickers used digital means of targeting victims. Border officials lacked training on how to identify trafficking crimes and where to refer suspected cases. Immigration officials lacked the manpower, resources, and legal authority to proactively investigate tourist or work visa violations as potential trafficking 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 resources to investigate possible trafficking crimes on vessels in its waters.

The government increased efforts to identify and protect victims.

The government identified 16 victims, including nine adult male labor trafficking victims and seven adult female labor trafficking victims, compared with identifying six adult male labor trafficking victims and one potential adult female labor trafficking victim in the previous reporting period. The government implemented victim identification and referral SOPs that enabled multiple government and NGO officials to refer potential trafficking victims for care and coordinate services. The SOPs did not include guidance on referring suspected trafficking cases from labor inspectors to police.

Ministry of Social Services officers in all 13 districts worked with an NGO and faith-based organization to provide medical and psychological care, security, and legal assistance to victims of violence against women and girls and trafficking victims. The government, in partnership with NGOs, provided services, including psycho-social, medical, and repatriation or reintegration support to nine adult male trafficking victims. VPU used $4,000 of $8,000 available funding to provide emergency assistance to trafficking victims or victims of violence against women and girls. The government required victims to participate in investigations to receive protection services; the Office of the Prosecutor General (OPG) required trafficking victims to stay in shelters until police and prosecutors secured evidence for law enforcement proceedings, and the government required OPG to approve the repatriation of foreign trafficking victims identified in Timor-Leste. The government did not operate a shelter dedicated to trafficking victims; however, it provided limited funding to NGOs that cared for victims of violence against women and girls and trafficking victims, including for shelters. The government allocated $186,935 to NGOs for victim assistance and shelter operations, compared with $221,000 the previous reporting period. Two NGOs operated five shelters for predominantly victims of violence against women and girls, but could accommodate victims of other crimes, including trafficking. One NGO noted shelters lacked services designed for trafficking victims and had limited capacity; these shelters for victims of violence against women and girls also could not accommodate male victims, although observers noted the NGO or authorities could find other lodging if necessary. Due to resource and infrastructure constraints, the quality and availability of victim care in rural areas remained inadequate; 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. The government reported 16 victims participated in investigations. NGOs noted despite protections available for victim-witnesses, judges often did not apply them. 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 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. Immigration officials reported screening individuals prior to deportation for trafficking indicators; however, observers reported such screening as inadequate since immigration officials often lacked a general understanding of trafficking and sometimes questioned potential trafficking victims in the presence of alleged traffickers.

The government decreased efforts to prevent trafficking.

KLATU, which coordinated interagency anti-trafficking efforts, met eight times. KLATU continued to draft, but did not finalize, a five-year anti-trafficking NAP in partnership with an international organization but lacked sufficient funding to establish a secretariat or complete the draft NAP. The government continued implementation of a Women, Peace, and Security NAP, which tangentially included some anti-trafficking efforts. Officials noted KLATU’s budget was significantly reduced – from $475,000 allocated in 2023 to $68,000 in 2024 – in part, due to its failure to finalize the five-year NAP in 2024; this budget reduction exacerbated ongoing coordination challenges and hindered prevention efforts. Observers also reported leadership transition in KLATU in 2023, and subsequent loss of subject matter expertise, impacting the commission’s coordination efforts. 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, conducted awareness campaigns in two 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 immigration channels and trafficking risks was low among Timorese living in rural areas, who were the most likely to migrate abroad for work or education.

IGT did not train labor inspectors who conducted routine inspections of worksites on identifying trafficking or reporting potential cases to law enforcement. Authorities acknowledged labor officials lacked knowledge of trafficking and the identification and referral SOPs, and IGT 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 that coordinated Timorese labor in the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Australia.

The government did not report funding or conducting any research on human trafficking in the country. 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.

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 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 individuals discriminated against on the basis of their sexual orientation or identity. Floods and droughts negatively impact Timor-Leste’s food systems and compound vulnerabilities experienced by poor and rural communities. Traffickers exploit Timorese women, girls, and occasionally young men and boys from rural areas in the capital in sex trafficking or domestic servitude, often through false promise of employment or education. 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.

Sex traffickers in Timor-Leste target foreign women from East and Southeast Asia. Transnational traffickers may be members of Indonesian or Chinese 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 China in Dili, often as part of Chinese government-affiliated Belt and Road Initiative projects. 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 2024. Cuban regime-affiliated workers in Timor-Leste were forced to work by the Cuban regime. Cuban survivors who served in Timor-Leste reported Cuban regime authorities confiscated their passports upon arrival, kept 80 percent of their wages, and subjected workers to hardship, arbitrary restrictions, surveillance, excessive work hours, and threats. According to an NGO, at least eight medical workers escaped the mission in 2024.

Traffickers deceive Timorese women and teenagers with promises of scholarship opportunities or employment in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, 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. Timorese migrant workers in the ROK and Australia face trafficking risks. Traffickers exploit Timorese women in sex trafficking in China, Indonesia, or Malaysia. Frequently, Timorese victims overseas first transit through the porous border with Indonesia; some remain and are exploited in Indonesia. Some police accept bribes from establishments involved in trafficking or from traffickers attempting to cross borders illegally. Traffickers use technology to recruit and exploit victims; authorities reported social media and online job advertisements are used to identify, groom, and recruit potential trafficking victims. Increasingly, these victims are exploited for forced labor in online scam operations in Burma, Cambodia, and Laos.