• Adopt and implement the NRM and SOPs for victim identification, referral, and care, and train officials on their use.
• Proactively identify trafficking victims by systematically screening vulnerable populations, including Cuban regime-affiliated workers, for trafficking indicators and referring them to appropriate services.
• Vigorously investigate and prosecute trafficking crimes and seek adequate penalties for convicted traffickers, including complicit officials, which should involve significant prison terms.
• Increase the availability of services – including short-term shelter, long-term housing, medical care, and counseling – to all trafficking victims.
• Amend the anti-trafficking law to bring the definition of human trafficking in line with the definition of trafficking under international law.
• Directly fund the National Reference Group for Child Protection, Combating Trafficking in Persons, and Illegal Migration (NRG).
• Implement and consistently enforce strong regulations and oversight of labor recruitment companies, including by eliminating worker-paid recruitment fees.
• Improve interagency anti-trafficking coordination.

The government maintained minimal law enforcement efforts.

The 2008 Law on Preventing and Combating the Trafficking of People criminalized sex trafficking and labor trafficking and prescribed penalties of 16-20 years’ imprisonment. These penalties were sufficiently stringent and, with respect to sex trafficking, commensurate with those prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape. Inconsistent with international law, the law did not establish the use of force, fraud, or coercion as an essential element of the crime. The government continued to work with international organizations to develop amendments to bring the law in line with international standards; draft amendments remained pending.

In 2024, the government initiated investigations of five trafficking cases, compared with six in 2023. The government did not initiate prosecutions of any suspected traffickers, compared with two in 2023; it continued six prosecutions from previous years. The government convicted three traffickers, whom it sentenced to two to 16 years’ imprisonment, compared with convicting two traffickers in 2023. Due to officials conflating migrant smuggling and human trafficking, the government may have prosecuted trafficking as smuggling.

The government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees complicit in human trafficking crimes. However, official complicity in human trafficking crimes remained a significant concern, inhibiting law enforcement action. Traffickers allegedly bribed police and immigration officials to facilitate trafficking, especially to South Africa.

The government, in partnership with NGOs and international organizations, trained police, prosecutors, and judicial officials on investigating and prosecuting human trafficking crimes. Criminal justice practitioners had an anti-trafficking manual to support the investigation and prosecution of trafficking crimes. The police included anti-trafficking training in new recruit curriculum.

The Office of Assistance to Women and Children Victims of Domestic Violence trained a specialist in each police station to support trafficking victims. Additionally, 22 victim centers located in select police stations offered temporary shelter, food, and counseling, although observers reported these centers lacked sufficient resources. The government reported collaborating with the South African government on an investigation of a cross-border trafficking case.

The government maintained protection efforts.

The government reported identifying six trafficking victims and 51 potential victims, compared with identifying 16 trafficking victims in 2023. The government did not report how many victims were referred to care for the second consecutive year.

The government lacked procedures to identify trafficking victims and to screen vulnerable populations for trafficking. The government did not adopt draft NRM and SOPs for victim identification, referral, and care. Observers reported the lack of an NRM, SOPs, and screening limited front-line officials’ efforts to identify and refer victims to care. Front-line officials continued to use a draft victim referral and care handbook, which did not contain procedures or screening tools to identify trafficking victims. Immigration officials had a guide for screening, referral, and care of vulnerable migrants, including trafficking victims. Officials lacked understanding of trafficking, which hampered overall victim identification efforts.

The government partnered with NGOs and international organizations to identify, refer, and assist trafficking victims. The government did not report providing financial or in-kind support to NGOs providing trafficking victims’ services. Observers reported victims had limited shelter options and existing shelters operated with minimal resources. The government operated one short-term shelter that offered medical and psychological care and legal assistance to trafficking victims. The government did not operate long-term shelters or provide transitional housing to trafficking victims.

Victims’ access to services was not conditional on cooperation with law enforcement proceedings. The government reported eight victims participated in investigations and prosecutions. The anti-trafficking law required police protection for victim-witnesses, and victims could provide written statements during criminal proceedings. The law allowed victims to obtain restitution, but courts did not award restitution to any trafficking victims. The law provided for temporary residency status or legal alternatives to the removal of foreign victims to countries where they might face hardship or retribution, but the government did not report granting status to foreign victims during the reporting period. Authorities lacked procedures to identify trafficking victims, including among individuals being detained or deported.

The government slightly increased efforts to prevent trafficking.

The attorney general’s office chaired the NRG – composed of NGO, international organization, and Justice, Gender, and Foreign Affairs Ministry representatives – which coordinated national anti-trafficking efforts and implementation of the 2023-2027 NAP. The government did not report a dedicated anti-trafficking budget but instead used NGO and agencies’ existing resources to implement some anti-trafficking activities. Reference groups in all provinces coordinated subnational anti-trafficking responses. The government operated a hotline for victims of crimes, including trafficking, and it supported an NGO-operated child protection hotline but did not report any information on trafficking calls. Observers reported the government lacked sufficient resources to adequately respond to hotline calls.

In partnership with NGOs and international organizations, the government trained immigration officials, teachers, social workers, health workers, and community leaders on trafficking indicators and assistance for victims. The government reported posting anti-trafficking posters and distributing anti-trafficking pamphlets around the country in local languages. The government partnered with international organizations to develop a strategy to reintegrate children formerly in armed conflict; the strategy remained pending at the end of the reporting period.

The government maintained labor agreements with South Africa, Portugal, and the UAE to protect migrant workers vulnerable to trafficking. The government shared best practices on anti-trafficking with Angola, Sao Tome and Principe, Cabo Verde, and Portugal.

The government did not effectively regulate labor recruitment, prohibit worker-paid recruitment fees, or hold fraudulent recruiters liable. Labor inspectors inspected workplaces where they suspected forced labor but remained without authority to inspect the informal sector, which includes 85 percent of the workforce, increasing those workers’ vulnerability to trafficking. Labor inspectors did not receive anti-trafficking training or sufficient resources, hindering overall efforts. The government did not report providing anti-trafficking training to its diplomats. The government made efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex, including by raising awareness.

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 Mozambique, and traffickers exploit victims from Mozambique abroad. Forced child labor occurs in agriculture, mining, fishing, street vending, and domestic work. Traffickers lure rural women and girls to cities with promises of employment or education then exploit them in sex trafficking and forced labor, including domestic servitude. Observers report traffickers exploit some girls in rest stops, bars, and restaurants along the Maputo-South Africa highway. Traffickers exploit girls in sex trafficking around mines. Girls as young as 11 who work as nannies are vulnerable to trafficking when their employment ends.

An international organization reported conflict and natural disasters displaced 717,000 people in Mozambique, increasing their vulnerability to trafficking. Non-state armed groups exploited women and children in forced labor and sex trafficking. Insurgents in Cabo Delgado recruited and used child soldiers. Insurgents lure youth to Cabo Delgado with promises of employment in the fishing sector and then force them to fight with non-state armed groups. Sources report that non-state armed groups abducted and used children as cooks or laborers and sexually exploited girls.

Traffickers in South Africa force undocumented Mozambicans to work on farms or in mines for months without pay before turning them over to police for deportation. Some Mozambican boys who migrate to Eswatini to wash cars, herd livestock, or sell goods subsequently become victims of forced labor. Traffickers exploit Mozambican adults and girls in forced labor and sex trafficking abroad.

Media and NGOs report unscrupulous actors, including Russian officials and illicit recruiters, fraudulently recruit women ages 18-22 from Africa – including Mozambique – South Asia, and South America for vocational training programs and subsequently place them in military drone production sites. Media report workers at these sites are subjected to hazardous conditions, surveillance, hour and wage violations, contract switching, and worker-paid recruitment fees, all of which are indicators of human trafficking. The Cuban regime may have forced Cuban regime-affiliated medical professionals in Mozambique to work.