• Increase efforts to proactively identify adult and child trafficking victims and refer trafficking victims to care.
• Amend the penal code to define human trafficking in line with the international definition and ensure penalties for adult sex trafficking are commensurate with penalties for other grave crimes, such as rape.
• Increase the availability of protection services for all trafficking victims.
• Train stakeholders to consistently implement SOPs for victim identification and referral of trafficking victims.
• Increase efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking crimes, including complicit officials, and seek adequate penalties for convicted traffickers, which should involve significant prison terms.
• Adequately train and resource labor inspectors to screen and identify victims of forced labor.
• Strengthen the capacity of Libreville’s Court of First Instance to regularly convene and prosecute human trafficking cases.
• Implement and consistently enforce strong regulations and oversight of labor recruitment companies, including training labor inspectors to identify and report trafficking crimes and holding fraudulent labor recruiters criminally accountable.
• Develop an information management system to capture nationwide trafficking investigation and victim identification data in partnership with international organizations.
• Proactively screen Cuban regime-affiliated workers for trafficking indicators and refer identified victims to services.

The government increased law enforcement efforts.

Articles 225 to 225-7 of the 2020 revised penal code criminalized sex trafficking and labor trafficking, prescribing penalties of up to seven years’ imprisonment and a fine of 100 million Central African francs (CFA) ($158,591) for trafficking crimes involving adult victims, and up to 15 years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to 100 million CFA ($158,591) for those involving child victims. These penalties were sufficiently stringent, but with respect to adult sex trafficking, not commensurate with penalties prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape. Inconsistent with the definition of trafficking under international law, the penal code established the use of force, fraud, or coercion as aggravating factors rather than essential elements of the crime; penalties were increased to up to 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine of 100 million CFA ($158,591) if such factors were involved. Finally, the penal code conflated the crimes of migrant smuggling and trafficking in persons. The government updated its draft legislation to amend the penal code, which reportedly included provisions to ensure trafficking victims are not inappropriately penalized for unlawful acts committed due to being trafficked; the draft legislation remained pending by the end of the reporting period.

In 2024, the government investigated 13 trafficking cases – 10 for sex trafficking, two for labor trafficking, and one for an unspecified form of trafficking – compared with three investigations in 2023. The government prosecuted 20 alleged traffickers – 10 for sex trafficking, five for labor trafficking, and five for unspecified forms of trafficking – compared with three in 2023. Courts convicted four traffickers – three for sex trafficking under the anti-trafficking penal code provision and one for labor trafficking under a non-trafficking law – compared with three in 2023. The government did not provide sentencing data for the convicted traffickers. The Libreville Special Criminal Session court, responsible for prosecuting trafficking cases, convened twice. Inadequate judicial training and awareness of the anti-trafficking law, as well as a lack of personnel and resources, hindered overall efforts to prosecute trafficking crimes. The government did not have a case management system to track human trafficking cases; therefore, overall law enforcement data was likely incomplete. The government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees allegedly complicit in human trafficking crimes; however, corruption and official complicity in trafficking crimes remained significant concerns, inhibiting law enforcement action.

The government reported cooperating with INTERPOL and AFRIPOL to investigate trafficking crimes. The government organized anti-trafficking training and workshops for judicial officials, law enforcement officials, the Ministry of Interior, and other relevant departments on techniques for investigating and prosecuting trafficking crimes, and victim protection. The government conducted anti-trafficking operations at Port-Gentil and Oyem with 82 law enforcement officials, resulting in the identification of several potential trafficking victims. The government partnered with international organizations and the Government of Togo to hold a workshop to strengthen cooperation on transnational crimes, including human trafficking, and improve protection services for migrants. The government signed an MOU with the Government of Morocco to enhance cooperation, including for trafficking cases.

The government increased protection efforts.

The government identified 129 trafficking victims and referred 60 victims to services. This was a significant increase compared with 16 trafficking victims identified and referred in the previous reporting period. The government reported implementing SOPs for identification and referral to care for child trafficking victims. The Ministry of Health and Social Affairs continued to have a referral process to transfer child trafficking victims to government and NGO-run shelters for assistance. The government continued to lack robust SOPs for the identification and referral to care of adult trafficking victims. In partnership with an international organization, the government implemented and distributed SOPs on provision of care for vulnerable migrants, including trafficking victims, developed in the previous reporting period. The government partially funded the voluntary repatriation of 80 potential Gabonese trafficking victims and referred them to NGO-run shelters for services.

The government reported allocating at least 1 billion CFA ($2 million) in its annual budget for victim protection services, including services for trafficking victims, compared to an unspecified amount the previous year. The government continued to fund and provide in-kind support to two shelters offering holistic services, which included funding for designated social workers and psychologists, medical support, psychological services, legal assistance, and education. One shelter was NGO-run and assisted adult and child trafficking victims among other populations. The other shelter was specifically designated for child trafficking victims, with the capacity to assist 96 children, and operated by the government in partnership with an NGO. The government refurbished the child shelter facilities, which maintained separate accommodations for boys and girls. Observers reported an additional NGO-run shelter and Port-Gentil city’s shelter were available to assist trafficking victims. The government did not report how many victims received services at any of the shelters. Observers reported foreign victims were eligible for the same services as Gabonese victims.

The government could provide legal support, witness protection, and shelter to victims participating in criminal justice proceedings; 10 victims voluntarily participated in investigations or prosecutions. Foreign victims were also eligible for immigration relief if they faced threats to their safety in their country of origin. The government allowed restitution for trafficking victims; however, the government did not report if courts ordered any restitution or if victims received restitution. Victims could file civil suits against their traffickers, but there were no known cases of such action, in part due to lack of awareness of the option.

The government increased prevention efforts.

The National Commission for the Prevention and Fight Against Human Trafficking (the Commission), coordinated the government’s anti-trafficking efforts and convened several times during the reporting period. In June 2024, the government, with input from civil society and anti-trafficking experts, adopted a revised 2024-2028 NAP. The government reported it allocated approximately 300 million CFA ($475,775) for prevention efforts. The government had a fully operational hotline for victims of crime, staffed with trained personnel and operated in partnership with an international organization; authorities reported calls to the hotline led to investigation of 10 potential trafficking cases. The government, in partnership with an international organization, conducted a public awareness raising campaign, including posters, videos, and television, radio and newspaper advertisements. The Ministry of Justice also trained the Commission on anti-trafficking laws. Observers reported labor inspectors identified victims in the informal sector but failed to hold informal sector labor traffickers accountable.

Officials maintained bilateral agreements with the Governments of Togo and Benin to cooperate on anti-trafficking efforts. The government did not report conducting any labor inspections or training any inspectors on trafficking due to lack of funding for inspectors. The government reported it updated its labor law to more strictly enforce punishments relating to forced labor in supply chains. The government prohibited agencies from charging worker-paid recruitment fees, but did not report any efforts to monitor recruitment agencies.

The government did not make efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts. Although not explicitly reported as human trafficking, there were 31 open allegations of alleged sexual exploitation with trafficking indicators by Gabonese peacekeepers deployed to UN peacekeeping missions (one in 2024, one in 2022, 10 in 2021, 10 in 2020, four in 2019, one in 2018, and four in 2016). The government provided anti-trafficking training to its diplomatic personnel, including 40 newly appointed Ambassadors and staff, and established formal mechanisms to hold diplomats accountable for trafficking crimes. The government launched a national digital identification program for all Gabonese citizens, which will reduce trafficking vulnerabilities.

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 Gabon, and traffickers exploit victims from Gabon abroad. Gabon is a primary destination and transit country for West and Central African men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking. An international organization reported most trafficking cases occur in Libreville and Port-Gentil. Observers report the majority of child and adult trafficking victims are from West and Central African countries, such as Benin, Togo, Cameroon, Mali, Guinea, the Republic of Congo, and Nigeria.

Poverty continues to represent a key risk factor in forced labor and sex trafficking. Government officials reported girls are more vulnerable to trafficking than boys. Traffickers exploit girls in forced labor in domestic work, markets, or roadside restaurants; boys are exploited as street vendors, beggars, mechanics, microbus transportation assistants, and laborers in the fishing sector. Some West African women are coerced into domestic servitude or commercial sex within Gabon. Undocumented migrants and asylum seekers, unaccompanied children, and adults in commercial sex are vulnerable to trafficking. Traffickers reportedly exploit some children in illegal gold mines and in wildlife trafficking in the country’s interior. Observers reported mining communities are at higher risk of trafficking due to economic hardships ensuing from natural disasters. NGOs reported Cameroonian and Gabonese labor recruiters associated with large agricultural firms exploit English-speaking Cameroonians displaced by the violence and insecurity in Cameroon’s Northwest and Southwest regions. The recruiters force some Cameroonians to work on rubber and palm oil plantations around Bitam in northern Gabon.

West African traffickers reportedly exploit children from their countries of origin to work in Libreville markets, such as N’Kembo, Mont Bouët, and PK7, as well as in other urban centers, including Port-Gentil. In Gabon’s eastern provinces, shopkeepers force or coerce Gabonese children to work in markets. In some cases, smugglers who assist foreign adults migrating to Gabon – or through the country to Equatorial Guinea – subject those economic migrants to forced labor or commercial sex after they enter the country via plane or boat with falsified documents. In some cases, families willingly give children to intermediaries who fraudulently promise education or employment and instead subject the children to forced labor through debt bondage. Roadside bars – or “maquis” – are a common sector where traffickers sexually exploit women, and the Libreville neighborhood of Lalala is an area where some brothel owners reportedly exploit children in sex trafficking.

NGOs reported actors operating illicit adoption rings may exploit some birth mothers. Observers reported the lack of birth certificates increases the vulnerability of children to trafficking. According to authorities, there were 41 Cuban regime-affiliated workers in Gabon in 2025. The Cuban regime may have forced Cuban regime-affiliated medical professionals to work in Gabon. Chinese traffickers exploit some Chinese victims in Gabon. Traffickers exploit Gabon’s porous borders and unguarded beaches to transport victims using falsified identify documents.