• Approve and implement formal SOPs for victim identification and referral to care and train stakeholders on their use.
• Proactively identify trafficking victims by screening for trafficking indicators among vulnerable populations – including individuals in commercial sex, Chinese national workers, child laborers, and migrant workers – including at initial visa application and recruitment.
• Increase efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking crimes, including those involving complicit officials and individuals facilitating child sex trafficking on private yachts and in hotels, and seek adequate penalties for convicted traffickers, which should involve significant prison terms.
• Finalize and implement the 2026 national action plan and dedicate resources to its implementation.
• Institutionalize and expand comprehensive anti-trafficking training for front-line officials, including in the basic recruit training, at local police stations, and for officers assigned to the Fiji Police Force’s Human Trafficking Unit (HTU), on the indicators of trafficking, victim-centered and trauma-informed trafficking investigations, available victim protection services, and investigative techniques.
• Amend trafficking-related provisions of the 2009 Crimes Act to criminalize all forms of trafficking.
• Enable identified foreign victims to work and earn income while assisting with investigations.
• Provide a legal alternative to victims’ removal to countries where they may face retribution or hardship.
• Continue to increase efforts to work with civil society, the private sector, and religious and community leaders to develop public awareness campaigns, including in iTaukei and Hindi, to raise awareness on all forms of human trafficking and the anti-trafficking laws, particularly among employers, foreign tourists, residents in outer island communities, and vulnerable populations, including individuals in commercial sex, persons displaced by natural disasters, foreign migrant workers, and female victims of violence.
• Increase the availability and quality of protection services – including completing renovation of the Fiji Immigration Department’s (FID) safehouses and providing short-term shelter, long-term housing, counseling, and medical care – for all trafficking victims, including by collaborating with civil society service providers.
• Train prosecutors and judicial officials on the application of trafficking laws, elements of trafficking, investigative techniques, evidence collection specific to trafficking cases, and alternatives to victim testimony.
• Improve collaboration and communication between police and prosecutors, including by assigning a prosecutor to work directly with the police and FID on trafficking cases.
• Increase oversight of working conditions for foreign construction workers and increase investigation of labor violations involving children and migrant workers for forced labor.

The government slightly decreased law enforcement efforts.

The 2009 Crimes Act criminalized some forms of labor trafficking and all forms of sex trafficking. Sections 112-117 criminalized trafficking in persons but, inconsistent with the international law definition, required either transnational or domestic movement to constitute a trafficking crime. These articles prescribed penalties of up to 20 years’ imprisonment for movement-based trafficking crimes involving adult victims, and up to 25 years’ imprisonment for those involving child victims; these penalties were sufficiently stringent and, with respect to sex trafficking, commensurate with other grave crimes, such as kidnapping. Sex trafficking crimes that did not involve movement could be prosecuted under Sections 106, 107, 226, and 227 of the Crimes Act. Section 106 criminalized sexual servitude by means of force or threat and prescribed penalties of up to 15 years’ imprisonment if the crime involved an adult victim and up to 20 years’ imprisonment if the crime involved a child victim. Section 107 criminalized “deceptive recruiting for sexual services,” including inducing and maintaining individuals in prostitution through deceptive means, and prescribed penalties of up to seven years’ imprisonment if the crime involved an adult victim and up to nine years’ imprisonment if the crime involved a child victim. Sections 226 and 227 criminalized the buying or selling of children for “immoral purposes,” which included prostitution, and prescribed penalties of up to 12 years’ imprisonment. The penalties prescribed under these sections were sufficiently stringent and commensurate with the penalties prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape. While Sections 103 and 118 criminalized slavery and debt bondage respectively, all forms of labor trafficking were not criminalized under the Crimes Act. The law prescribed penalties of up to 25 years’ imprisonment for slavery, and it prescribed penalties of up to one years’ imprisonment for debt bondage involving an adult victim, and up to two years’ imprisonment for those involving a child victim; the penalties for slavery were sufficiently stringent, while the penalties for debt bondage were not. The government, in partnership with an international organization, continued a desk review of its anti-trafficking laws it initiated in 2023; the review remained ongoing at the end of the reporting period.

Authorities initiated investigations of five cases (three for labor trafficking, one for sex trafficking, and one for unspecified forms of exploitation), compared with two labor trafficking investigations in the previous reporting period. Four investigations initiated in previous reporting periods remained ongoing. The government did not initiate any new trafficking prosecutions, compared with initiating one trafficking prosecution in the previous reporting period. The government reported continuing two previously initiated trafficking prosecutions. Courts did not convict any traffickers for the second consecutive year. The government did not report any prosecutions or convictions of government employees complicit in trafficking crimes, but did report investigating immigration officials allegedly complicit in facilitating improper visa issuance. Authorities continued to investigate two senior government officials who allegedly engaged in misconduct regarding issuance of work permits for foreign nationals in the previous reporting period, but did not initiate any prosecutions or disciplinary actions during the reporting period. The government collaborated with foreign counterparts on two international trafficking investigations; one case led to the recovery and repatriation of a trafficking victim.

HTU opened an investigation into trafficking allegations involving members of a religious organization affiliated with multiple businesses, the Grace Road Group, who experienced indicators of forced labor, and authorities inspected associated worksites. HTU also cooperated with authorities from the country of one foreign victim in the investigation. Additionally, authorities investigated the improper issuance of a Fijian passport to the child of a leader of the organization, who subsequently left the country with the child, suggesting potential official complicity in the organization’s allegedly illicit activities; these allegations led to the Minister of Home Affairs and Immigration to temporarily step aside from his position and to the suspension of the Director of FID. The government has not appropriately responded to INTERPOL Red Notices for four leaders of the organization associated with related allegations, leading to further allegations of official complicity. Despite public reporting on suspected forced labor in this organization since at least 2018, the government has never prosecuted or convicted any offenders associated with the allegations.

The Fiji Police Force’s HTU led the government’s anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts. The HTU worked with the FID Compliance and Investigation Unit and the Labor Division of the Ministry of Employment, Productivity, and Industrial Relations (MEPIR) on cases related to human trafficking with transnational elements and labor exploitation. However, a lack of dedicated resources and funding to combat human trafficking hindered authorities’ ability to investigate trafficking crimes. Authorities reported a lack of interpretation resources inhibited their ability to investigate trafficking cases involving foreign nationals. Authorities did not proactively investigate trafficking cases consistently, and the government has only successfully prosecuted three traffickers since 2014. Authorities investigated a construction company after receiving reports of employment violations with indicators of forced labor from 34 Bangladeshi migrant workers. The government did not report efforts to investigate perpetrators of commercial child sexual exploitation and abuse in the tourism industry or facilitators who transported child sex trafficking victims to hotels or private yachts, despite reporting this practice increased in prior reporting periods. The government previously reported that, under Fiji’s legal system, the prosecutor’s office acted independently from law enforcement investigations, including in cases involving human trafficking; however, insufficient communication and coordination between police and prosecutors impaired the government’s pursuit of trafficking cases. Officials reported inadequate victim and witness support resources weakened prosecutorial success as prosecutors relied heavily on victim testimony; the length of judicial proceedings also hindered cooperation from victims. The government provided anti-trafficking training – specifically on trafficking indicators and victim identification screening – to its police recruits, prosecutors, and immigration officials. Observers noted uneven improvement of law enforcement’s understanding of human trafficking; however, efforts to proactively identify victims and awareness of procedures for interviewing victims among law enforcement remained inadequate. The HTU did not complete SOPs for investigating trafficking cases it began drafting in a previous reporting period. In partnership with an international organization, the Fiji Police Force initiated development of an online reporting tool intended to strengthen data collection and streamline case management efforts; development remained ongoing through the end of the reporting period.

The government slightly increased efforts to identify and protect victims.

The government reported identifying 61 trafficking victims – one sex trafficking victim, 59 labor trafficking victims, and one victim of unspecified exploitation – compared with identifying eight labor trafficking victims in the previous reporting period. The government, in partnership with an international organization, completed development of victim identification SOPs; however, the SOPs were not implemented during the reporting period, pending final ministerial approval. The government reported relevant agencies used pre-existing agency-specific identification guidelines; the HTU used a guide to identify trafficking victims, and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the police’s Child Sexual Services Unit used an identification checklist. Officials did not proactively screen vulnerable populations, including individuals in commercial sex and individuals without valid immigration documentation, for trafficking indicators. Due to a lack of proactive victim identification and inconsistent screening among vulnerable populations, 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 did not draft or finalize an NRM it began developing in 2022. Ministry of Immigration, the new head of the Human Trafficking Interagency Group, officially endorsed the Case Management Coordinator office (CMC) and a case management mechanism with formal procedures for officials to refer victims to the CMC. The CMC coordinated victim support and oversaw the progression of investigations and prosecutions; however, it did not report overseeing any trafficking cases during the reporting period.

The government reported referring all 61 identified victims to services – 56 received safe housing, one received mental health support, one received community integration support, two received legal support, and at least one received unspecified services – as well as two adult male victims referred for services in the previous reporting period. The government could provide shelter, legal assistance, repatriation assistance, medical care, interpretation, funding for basic necessities to victims, and counseling, including support for substance use disorders. The government reported allocating 294,000 Fijian dollars ($128,440) for victim care services, including 197,020 Fijian dollars ($197,020) for safe house renovations; however, victims often relied on NGOs, with whom the government had informal partnerships, for the vast majority of services and support. The government could shelter victims younger than 21 under the custody of the Department of Social Welfare, which operated four children’s homes in Suva and Lautoka. The government also reported providing financial and in-kind support to faith-based organizations to provide shelter to some adult trafficking victims. FID repurposed two safehouses, previously used to shelter foreign individuals awaiting deportation, to provide shelter to foreign and Fijian national trafficking victims; however, these safehouses were undergoing renovations and unusable during the reporting period. The government reported adult victims could choose which shelter to enter. Observers reported the government could not provide adequate housing for victims with disabilities and adult male victims. In addition, a lack of resources dedicated to interpretation services for foreign victims impeded their access to psychosocial care. The government reported supporting the repatriation of one trafficking victim.

The government allowed all trafficking victims to access protection services regardless of participation in an investigation; 20 victims reportedly cooperated with authorities on trafficking investigations or prosecutions. The government permitted victims to provide testimony via video or written statements, albeit there were limited facilities within courts and law enforcement agencies available to facilitate such services; one victim reportedly provided a written statement in lieu of testifying in court. Courts did not order any restitution for trafficking victims. Trafficking victims could file civil suits against their traffickers, but this was uncommon in practice, and no civil suits were filed in 2024. The government could not offer permanent legal alternatives to foreign victims’ removal to countries in which they would face retribution or hardship but could issue renewable, six-month work visas to victims assisting with investigations. The government did not report an update to proposed amendments, drafted in a previous reporting period, to the immigration law to incorporate provisions allowing foreign victims to stay and work for up to three years. The Immigration Act protected victims of international trafficking from being penalized for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked; however, the law did not protect victims of domestic trafficking from being penalized for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked.

The government maintained mixed efforts to prevent trafficking.

The Interagency National Trafficking Committee, which was led by FID, coordinated the government’s anti-trafficking efforts and included government officials from 11 agencies, international organizations, and civil society organizations. In partnership with an NGO, the government held workshops to review and update the 2021-2026 anti-trafficking NAP. The government conducted awareness raising activities targeting the public and anti-trafficking materials developed in prior reporting periods remained available. The awareness raising materials were translated into Hindi, English, Thai, Chinese, and local languages. MEPIR continued development of a trafficking awareness toolkit – initiated during the previous reporting period – for seasonal workers who migrate to Australia and New Zealand as part of seasonal worker schemes; the toolkit was not finalized at the end of the reporting period.

MEPIR, in partnership with an international organization, finalized a gap analysis study focused on identifying worker recruitment and protection issues in the fishing industry; the results were not published by the end of the reporting period. The government established and mandated a monitoring task force, which included officials from an international organization and MEPIR, to conduct inspections of fishing vessels in the country’s ports; the government did not report conducting any inspections on fishing vessels by the end of the reporting period. As previously reported, authorities did not adequately report the labor conditions of worksites, including construction sites, of companies with foreign owners or that had connections to foreign investors and employed migrant workers. The Department of Labor – within MEPIR – reported identifying potential cases of forced labor in response to workers lodging complaints, but did not report identifying any child labor violations. The MEPIR reported employing 48 labor inspectors dedicated to identifying labor law violations, including wage violations. The government reported providing new training to labor inspectors on victim identification. In the past, observers reported inspectors did not have an adequate understanding of forced labor or how to enforce the laws related to child labor. The Permanent Secretary for Labor issued certificates of authorization for employment agencies, which required agencies meet standards under the Employment Relations Regulations of 2008; agencies convicted of operating without authorization could be fined 20,000 Fijian dollars ($8,738), have their supervising officials imprisoned for up to four years, or both. However, authorities did not prosecute or convict any agencies during the reporting period. The government fined a construction company 10,000 Fijian dollars ($4,369) for violating employee regulations, following reports of unsafe housing and working conditions, while a trafficking investigation remained ongoing.

The government lacked a dedicated anti-trafficking hotline and relied on an NGO hotline, available at all times and in four languages, for victims of domestic violence and child abuse, which victims could use to report trafficking crimes and seek services; authorities did not report receiving any trafficking information from the hotline. The government did not prohibit worker-paid recruitment fees. The government did not report efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts. The government did not report providing 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 Fiji, and traffickers exploit victims from Fiji abroad. Approximately 20 percent of respondents to a 2023 prevalence study identified either experiencing themselves or knowing someone who experienced trafficking indicators in the hospitality, retail, wholesale, food service, vehicle maintenance, storage, transportation, construction, agriculture, fisheries, and/or forestry sectors. Traffickers, including family members, taxi drivers, foreign tourists, businessmen, religious organizations, and crewmembers on foreign fishing vessels, among others, exploit foreign victims, including from Thailand and China, as well as Fijian women and children in sex trafficking. Traffickers exploit victims in commercial sex establishments, hotels, private homes, and massage parlors, and sometimes utilize websites and cell phone applications to facilitate the exploitation of sex trafficking victims. Increasingly, fraudulent websites are used to recruit and exploit victims in labor trafficking. Traffickers exploit Fijian and Chinese national women and children in massage parlors and commercial sex establishments operated by Chinese nationals, particularly in Suva. In some cases, massage parlor owners arrange for female Fijian employees to engage in commercial sex acts with clients in hotels or commercial sex establishments. Some Fijian children are at risk of sex and labor trafficking, including domestic servitude, as families follow a traditional practice of sending them to live with relatives or families in larger cities, where they are vulnerable to exploitation in domestic servitude or sex trafficking in exchange for food, clothing, shelter, or school fees. Foreign yacht owners and foreigners hiring locally owned yachts dock in rural Fijian islands and seek young women, usually children, for marriage; some of these women and children subsequently become exploited in forced labor or sex trafficking. Taxi drivers or other facilitators transport Fijian child sex trafficking victims to hotels in popular tourist areas or to private yachts at the request of foreign tourists seeking commercial sex acts.

Fijian children are at risk of forced labor in agriculture, retail, or other sectors. Rising levels of poverty, often resulting in increased school drop-out rates, also contribute to increased risks of perpetrators exploiting Fijian children in commercial sex and forced labor. Natural disasters and climate-induced displacement significantly increase Fijians’ vulnerability to trafficking because of loss of livelihood and shelter. The economic crisis related to the pandemic, as well as recent natural disasters, increased the number of children who were driven to use the streets as a source of livelihood or compelled to seek incomes to sustain their families; these children are at risk of being exploited in sex trafficking or forced labor. Children as young as 12 are exploited in sex trafficking, sometimes by family members to purchase food and other essentials for their families. Media reports indicate an increase in online child sexual exploitation, some of which may involve child sex trafficking. Family members and domestic partners exploit women in forced criminality to sell illicit drugs or participate in drug trafficking through threat of violence, abuse, and psychological coercion. Children are also increasingly at risk of exploitation in forced criminality to sell illicit drugs.

Labor traffickers exploit workers from South and East Asian countries, including Bangladesh, India, and the Philippines, in small, informal farms and factories, as well as in the construction and timber sectors. Chinese nationals may have been forced to work in Fiji at projects run by Chinese government-affiliated companies. Chinese nationals employed in Fiji affiliated with China’s Belt and Road Initiative are vulnerable to forced labor, particularly in construction. Foreign nationals, including from the Republic of Korea and the United States, who are members of a foreign-based religious organization, the Grace Road Group, experience conditions indicative of human trafficking, including in businesses owned and operated by the organization in the agriculture, retail, construction, and service industries. Victims associated with the organization report being forced to work excessive hours with no rest days, physical violence, passport confiscation, and unpaid wages. Recruitment agencies operating in victims’ home countries, vessel owners, and other crewmembers exploit migrant fisherman from Southeast Asian countries, especially Indonesia, in forced labor on Fijian-flagged fishing vessels, or foreign-flagged fishing vessels (mainly China). Forced labor victims experience threats of violence, passport confiscation, contract switching, debt-based coercion, excessive working hours, and abusive living and working conditions. Traffickers exploit Fijians in labor trafficking abroad in Australia, New Zealand, and Egypt.