• Develop necessary regulations and procedures, as well as allocate sufficient financial and staff resources to fully implement the updated trafficking law.
• Proactively identify trafficking victims, including among Panamanians exploited within the country, Indigenous communities, domestic workers, Cuban regime-affiliated teachers, and other vulnerable groups.
• Vigorously investigate and prosecute traffickers, including foreign tourists involved in extraterritorial commercial child sexual exploitation and traffickers who exploit victims within Panama, and seek adequate penalties for convicted traffickers, which should involve significant prison terms.
• Establish and fund a specialized trafficking shelter and ensure ministries have adequate funds to provide victim services.
• Strengthen data collection systems to collect and report comprehensive data on anti-trafficking law enforcement and victim protection efforts and produce an annual report on progress toward implementation of the NAP.
• Widely train police, prosecutors, and judges on enforcing the updated anti-trafficking law and employing criminal justice procedures that take account of victim trauma.
• Increase efforts to provide victims with comprehensive, trauma-informed services, including reintegration support and for the full length of any legal proceedings.
• Increase efforts to ensure victims consistently receive court-ordered restitution or compensation payments.
• Conduct outreach and prevention programs targeted to at-risk populations, including rural Indigenous communities, using culturally appropriate methods and local languages.

The government increased prosecution efforts. Although authorities did not convict any traffickers, the government strengthened its anti-trafficking legislation.

In December 2024, the government amended Article 456 of the penal code, which criminalized all forms of sex trafficking and labor trafficking. The amendment also brought the law into greater alignment with the definition of trafficking under international law. The law prescribed penalties of 15 to 20 years’ imprisonment for trafficking offenses involving an adult victim, and 20 to 30 years’ imprisonment for those involving a child victim. These penalties were sufficiently stringent and, with respect to sex trafficking, commensurate with penalties prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape. The government charged some sex traffickers with non-trafficking offenses, which carried lighter sentences. The 2024 amendment repealed Article 180, which had criminalized commercial sexual exploitation with penalties of seven to nine years’ imprisonment and a fine of 5,200 balboas ($5,200). Article 186 criminalized procuring commercial sex acts from a child and prescribed penalties of five to eight years’ imprisonment.

Authorities opened investigations into 22 suspected trafficking cases in 2024, compared with 19 trafficking investigations (14 for sex trafficking and five for labor trafficking) opened in 2023. The government did not specify the types of trafficking investigated in 2024. The government initiated prosecution of one suspect for unspecified forms of trafficking in 2024, compared with initiating prosecutions of three labor trafficking suspects in 2023. Authorities continued previously initiated prosecutions of seven suspects. The government did not convict any traffickers in 2024. Authorities convicted one defendant for child sexual exploitation crimes who was also awaiting trial for trafficking charges at the end of the reporting period. In comparison, the government convicted three sex traffickers under Article 186 in 2023. The National Commission for the Prevention of Sexual Exploitation Crimes reported 194 crime reports in 2024, involving 69 child victims, that involved child sexual abuse material or paid sexual relations with children. The government did not provide the number of investigations or prosecutions resulting from these reports and, because the government’s trafficking statistics did not include cases that did not involve movement, it was unclear how many of these crimes involved trafficking as defined by international law. The 2024 amendments to Panama’s anti-trafficking law removed the requirement of movement to constitute a trafficking offense.

A specialized unit within the National Police bore responsibility for investigating human trafficking and migrant smuggling crimes and worked closely with the specialized prosecutor’s office against organized crime, which directed investigations and led prosecutions of trafficking cases. Trained prosecutors within the office oversaw most trafficking casework in the Panama City metropolitan area and supported prosecutors pursuing trafficking cases in other parts of the country. Observers reported prosecutors sometimes charged trafficking crimes under statutes with lesser penalties due to a lack of specialized knowledge of the trafficking law and limited experience prosecuting trafficking cases. With international organization support, the government offered several trainings for law enforcement and other officials, including instruction on victim identification for security officials and prosecuting trafficking cases. The government reported its trafficking prosecutions on average required two years of investigative work. The judicial branch implemented a protocol to guide judges in adjudicating trafficking cases and delivered training workshops to judicial officials on the new trafficking law.

The government finalized and distributed a supplemental SOP for prosecutors leading trafficking cases. The government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees complicit in human trafficking offenses. Panamanian authorities cooperated with officials from Canada, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Sierra Leone on three sex trafficking investigations and one labor trafficking investigation.

The government slightly decreased protection efforts.

Law enforcement and other entities could identify potential trafficking victims. Separately, the government’s National Anti-Trafficking Commission (“the commission”) had a technical evaluation team with the authority to grant victims “preliminary” or confirmed victim status. In 2024, authorities referred 26 potential trafficking victims to the commission (36 in 2023), including 17 women, eight men, and one girl. Potential victims included Panamanian nationals and foreign nationals from Colombia, Chile, and Nicaragua; one was referred for potential sex trafficking, nine for potential labor trafficking, and 16 for unspecified forms of trafficking. The government identified six of these individuals as preliminary victims (26 in 2023) and formally identified four confirmed victims in 2024 (20 in 2023). There were 26 potential victims awaiting a ruling on their status at the end of 2024, including 11 identified in 2023. The government reported it could take several months for the commission to confirm potential victims’ status and in practice some victims waited much longer for a ruling on their status. Potential and preliminary victims could access shelter and other services while their status was pending.

The government implemented revised guidelines and new reference materials for victim identification and protection. These materials outlined trafficking indicators, formal procedures, and internal processes for referring officials and the Technical Unit for Attention and Protection of Victims and Witnesses (UPAVIT). However, the guidelines required further revisions to account for reforms enacted in December 2024. The government reported screening for trafficking indicators at locations where commercial sex was known to occur and among some vulnerable populations, though it did not report whether it identified victims through these efforts during the reporting period. Authorities infrequently identified victims within semi-autonomous Indigenous communities, where remote locations and limited official presence restricted residents’ access to justice and services and increased their vulnerability to trafficking.

The government maintained 11 UPAVIT units – based in regional prosecutor’s offices throughout the country – that employed multidisciplinary teams including a psychologist, a social worker, and a legal advisor. UPAVIT units provided immediate assistance to victims of all crimes and physical protection to victims, witnesses, and others participating in trials. Based on trafficking victims’ circumstances, UPAVIT could provide shelter, food, clothing, health services and medication, legal support, and psychological and social assistance. In addition, the commission could provide victims with career training and assistance to regularize immigration status and obtain work permits. In 2024, UPAVIT provided services to 15 victims, compared with providing services to 22 victims in 2023. The government reported victims were not required to participate in investigations or subsequent legal proceedings to access care, including from UPAVIT. The government reported improving procedures for initiating services directly from local UPAVIT units outside the capital, facilitating more timely assistance to victims in other areas of the country.

There were no dedicated shelters for trafficking victims. Authorities commonly offered victims lodging in hotels, with costs covered by the government or NGOs. The government could also refer victims to NGO-operated migrant or women’s shelters. The government did not report providing any victims shelter in 2024, compared with providing six victims shelter in 2023. Victims frequently elected to return to their home countries or reside with family or friends rather than stay in hotels. The government reported providing counseling and material support, such as household supplies, for victims who declined the lodging offered by the government. The government referred child trafficking victims to the National Secretariat for Children, Adolescents, and Families (SENNIAF). SENNIAF then placed child victims with relatives or within its network of shelters administered by NGOs and religious organizations; local experts reported the quality of care in SENNIAF shelters was often inadequate to meet the needs of child victims. The government did not report whether it placed any child victims into SENNIAF shelters or with relatives in 2024.

In prior reporting periods, the government coordinated with an international organization, including through providing funding, to establish a shelter for trafficking victims; the government did not report whether it continued these efforts during the current reporting period. The government reported providing training on victim identification and trauma-informed victim care for officials, including law enforcement, social workers, health care professionals, immigration officials, and labor inspectors. The 2024 amendments to the trafficking law directed the government to certify select civil society organizations to provide direct short-term services to victims.

The government seized assets derived from human trafficking crimes and allocated the proceeds to the commission to fund services and victim restitution or compensation. As mandated by the trafficking law, the funds were held in the Special Fund for Victims of Trafficking in Persons. The government did not report the amount in the fund at the end of 2024; in comparison, the fund contained $40,150 at the end of 2023. The government did not report whether the commission received deposits from the liquidation of new assets seized in connection with trafficking cases or those pending liquidation in previous years. The government did not report its total funding for victim services in 2024. UPAVIT reported spending $7,347 in 2024 to fund shelter, food, and other basic expenses for 15 trafficking victims, compared with $7,584 for 22 victims in 2023. The commission, which received its funding from the budget allocation to the Ministry of Public Security (MINSEG), funded additional victim services including the provision of food, shelter in hotels, transportation, psychological support, and legal services for potential victims. It could supplement victim services funding through the Special Fund and contributions from other ministries, although officials noted ministries operated without dedicated anti-trafficking budgets, limiting available resources.

The trafficking law granted foreign national victims and their dependents eligibility to short-term humanitarian visas, temporary residency permits extendable up to six years, and work permits. The trafficking law protected victims from punishment for unlawful activities committed as a direct result of being trafficked, and the government reported a policy for canceling immigration-related fines imposed on trafficking victims. The government issued four humanitarian visas and one work permit for trafficking victims in 2024. In comparison, in 2023, the government issued or renewed 14 provisional humanitarian visas and 10 work visas for trafficking victims and dependents and issued one permanent residency permit to a trafficking survivor eligible for residency on other grounds.

The government facilitated the repatriation of foreign victims to their home countries or Panamanian victims to Panama with funding from international organizations or NGOs. In 2024, the government facilitated one repatriation, of a Chilean victim, compared with six repatriations in 2023. The government made available specialized interview rooms to allow victims to provide testimony during a single interview to minimize the risk of re-traumatization, and the trafficking law directed authorities to allow trafficking victims to testify remotely to protect their identity and location. The law directed courts to order convicted traffickers to pay victims restitution, and victims could file civil suits against traffickers to obtain compensation. Labor trafficking victims could also claim compensation from traffickers through a separate administrative process overseen by the Ministry of Labor. The government did not report courts awarding restitution or compensation to any victims in 2024. In at least one case, the government did not effectively enforce a restitution order, with a victim awarded $5,000 in 2022 yet still awaiting funds by the end of the reporting period. The government did not report whether its prosecutors continued to support any unresolved victims’ petitions for compensation in ongoing cases from previous years.

The government maintained prevention efforts.

The anti-trafficking commission coordinated the government’s anti-trafficking efforts. Chaired by MINSEG, the commission comprised a board of directors, general secretariat, and technical sub-units. The 2024 amendment to the trafficking law expanded the board of directors to include the Minister of Economy and Finance, Director General of the National Secretariat for Disabilities, and a representative of civil society, along with its 16 existing member institutions. The updated law defined the commission’s authority to include, inter alia, harmonizing procedures to strengthen interagency coordination and collaboration; protecting victims and witnesses and promoting reintegration of victims and dependents; replicating anti-trafficking policies and procedures at the provincial and territorial levels; and improving efforts to collect, process, and harmonize trafficking case data.

The commission continued to oversee the 2022-2027 NAP and was responsible for implementing the plan; the government reported allocating unspecified financial and in-kind resources to its implementation. The updated trafficking law directed the general secretariat to produce an annual progress report on the commission’s anti-trafficking efforts and progress toward implementation of the NAP. The government did not begin implementing the new protection and prevention-related provisions in the updated trafficking law during the reporting period.

The government distributed flyers to educate the public on the risks and signs of human trafficking and conducted a multimedia public awareness campaign against sexual exploitation. The Ministry of Education developed and delivered a training on human trafficking risks in social media. The government operated a general national police hotline to receive tips, and it partially funded an NGO-managed online portal to receive anonymous reports of criminal activity, including trafficking. The government did not report the total number of trafficking-related reports it received through these platforms or whether officials opened any investigations or identified any victims in response.

With support from international organizations, the Ministry of Labor conducted workshops on ethical recruitment and trafficking prevention for registered recruitment agencies, and the government maintained a digital platform for recruitment agency licensing, which included a public registry where workers could verify an agency’s authorization. National laws and regulations provided the authority to revoke the licenses of agencies that committed fraudulent recruitment practices or charged workers recruitment fees. The government did not proactively enforce these regulations and only initiated investigations into unlawful recruitment practices in response to formal complaints from workers; it did not report any investigations into unlawful recruitment practices during the year. The government did not report investigating or prosecuting any suspects for extraterritorial sexual exploitation of children. The government did not report 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 Panama, and, to a lesser extent, traffickers exploit victims from Panama abroad. Many identified trafficking victims are foreign women exploited in sex trafficking, especially from South and Central America. However, traffickers also exploit Panamanians in sex trafficking in Panama, the Caribbean, and Central and South America; officials reported instances of traffickers exploiting Panamanian women in southeastern Europe. Chinese nationals and Venezuelan nationals are among the perpetrators of trafficking crimes in Panama. At the end of 2024, the Government of Panama renewed a bilateral agreement with the Cuban regime for the hiring of Cuban regime-affiliated teachers whom Cuba may have forced to work in Panama. According to reports, the Cuban medical professionals have departed.

Traffickers exploit children in forced labor, particularly domestic servitude and the cocoa industry, as well as sex trafficking in Panama. Officials reported concerns that traffickers exploited children in criminal activities, including drug trafficking. Experts report some populations are more vulnerable to trafficking due to discrimination and limited economic opportunity they experience on the basis of their sexual orientation or identity. Children living in institutional care settings, including government-funded shelters, are vulnerable to recruitment by traffickers.

Credible allegations of child abuse and low standards of care in some SENNIAF facilities indicated children in these facilities are vulnerable to trafficking.

Venezuelan and Nicaraguan migrants, including those seeking to enter the United States illegally or those returning to South America, are at risk for both sex and labor trafficking. Traffickers exploit some adults from Central America who transit Panama en route to the Caribbean or Europe in sex trafficking or forced labor in their destination countries. Traffickers exploit Indigenous women from rural, impoverished border areas of Panama in forced labor and sex trafficking. Traffickers exploit men from Central and South America, China, and Vietnam in forced labor in construction, agriculture, mining, restaurants, door-to-door peddling, and other sectors using debt bondage, false promises, restrictions on movement, and other coercive means.

There is evidence that some traffickers force victims to consume addictive substances as a coercive measure to facilitate their exploitation. Traffickers frequently exploit sex trafficking victims in bars and brothels; traffickers also exploit victims in beauty parlors, spas, houses rented by traffickers, and private homes. Traffickers utilize social media and messaging applications to recruit victims. In some cases, traffickers have posed as religious authority figures or manipulated victims through their religious beliefs. Foreign nationals exploit children in extraterritorial commercial child sexual exploitation in Panama. Local authorities have also investigated and arrested government officials for alleged involvement in trafficking in prior reporting periods.