Amend the anti-trafficking law to prescribe penalties for sex trafficking that are commensurate with the penalties prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape. * Increase funding for anti-trafficking efforts, including implementing the National Policy Against Trafficking and sustaining donor-supported initiatives with government leadership and funding. * Increase the availability of services to meet the needs of adult victims, boys, LGBTQI+ individuals, and labor trafficking victims, continue and expand reintegration services for child victims transitioning out of shelter care and other victims who decline or lack access to shelter accommodation, and strengthen capacity-building and risk assessment procedures within the child protection system. * Strengthen interagency cooperation to ensure law enforcement operations include arrangements for prompt transition to care and shelter for identified victims, and contingency planning to avoid holding victims in police stations. * Increase efforts to prosecute both sex and labor trafficking crimes, convict and punish traffickers, including complicit officials. * Increase efforts to proactively identify trafficking victims – particularly among vulnerable populations, such as working children, individuals in commercial sex, displaced Venezuelans, persons in neighborhoods with increased gang activity, and Cuban government-affiliated workers – and refer potential victims to comprehensive protection services. * Continue and institutionalize training for criminal justice officials on enforcing anti-trafficking laws, employing victim-centered, trauma-informed procedures, and awarding compensation to victims. * Improve data collection systems to collect and report comprehensive, harmonized, and disaggregated data on anti-trafficking law enforcement and victim protection efforts. * Enforce laws against crimes that facilitate trafficking, such as fraudulent job recruitment, recruitment fees, illegal mining and logging, counterfeit operations, and organized crime. * 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. Article 129 (previously Article 153) of Peru’s penal code criminalized sex trafficking and labor trafficking and prescribed penalties of eight to 15 years’ imprisonment for offenses involving adult victims, 12 to 20 years’ imprisonment for offenses involving victims between the ages of 14 and 18, and a minimum of 25 years in prison for offenses involving victims younger than 14. These penalties were sufficiently stringent; however, with respect to sex trafficking, these penalties were not commensurate with those prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape. The law defined trafficking broadly to include all forms of labor exploitation and illegal adoption or child selling without the purpose of exploitation. The penal code also included 15 separate offenses for different forms of exploitation including “forced labor,” “slavery and other forms of exploitation,” and ten crimes involving sexual exploitation. Officials often classified trafficking victims and charged trafficking cases under exploitation laws, many of which overlapped significantly with one another and with Article 129 (previously 153). Many officials only applied trafficking statutes to crimes that occurred prior to exploitation, and courts reinforced this interpretation in binding judicial guidance issued.

Specialized prosecutors reported opening investigations in 1,275 cases in 2023 – 590 involving suspected sex trafficking, 519 involving suspected labor trafficking, and 166 involving unspecified forms of trafficking. In comparison, specialized prosecutors reported opening 813 investigations in 2022 – 298 involving sex trafficking, 194 involving labor trafficking, and 321 involving unspecified forms of trafficking. In 2023, the government prosecuted at least 180 suspects but did not report complete data on the number of prosecutions it initiated or continued. In comparison, the government reported prosecuting 241 defendants in 148 cases of trafficking and related crimes in 2022 (103 new and 45 ongoing), including 82 for sex trafficking, 30 for labor trafficking, and 36 for unspecified forms of trafficking. In 2023, courts convicted 143 defendants for trafficking and related crimes, including 61 for sex trafficking, 27 for labor trafficking, and 55 for unspecified forms of trafficking, and acquitted 37 defendants. Courts obtained 60 convictions under the trafficking statute and 83 under related exploitation statutes. This was an increase from 2022, when courts convicted 89 defendants for trafficking and related crimes, including 61 for sex trafficking, 21 for labor trafficking, and seven for unspecified forms of trafficking. Courts acquitted 71 defendants in 2022. In October 2023, police conducted law enforcement action at a house in Lima and identified 43 Malaysian men and women forced to commit fraud in an online scam operation. Media reported authorities arrested six Taiwan and two Peruvian suspects, but the government did not provide additional information.

The government maintained specialized anti-trafficking prosecution offices in 14 regions; these offices had jurisdiction to prosecute cases under the penal code’s trafficking, forced labor, slavery, and sexual exploitation statutes. The government operated a specialized anti-trafficking police unit in Lima with nationwide jurisdiction and a regional anti-trafficking police unit in each of Peru’s 24 regions. The size, capacity, and budget of police units varied across regions and some regions with a high prevalence of trafficking had few specialized officers. Insufficient funding, including for basic equipment and vehicles, constrained police’s ability to conduct proactive, intelligence-driven investigations or implement advanced investigative techniques. The government did not enforce a ministerial resolution requiring anti-trafficking police to remain in their units for at least two years, and frequent turnover among police undermined capacity building and continuity of operations. NGOs and government officials reported judges often considered recruitment to be an essential element of a trafficking crime; required proof of force, fraud, or coercion for child sex trafficking crimes; or reduced trafficking charges to lesser crimes. The Public Ministry’s Institute for Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences implemented guidelines for conducing forensic evaluations of trafficking victims, aimed at building its capacity to recognize, document, and introduce into court evidence of psychological trauma and coercion among trafficking victims. Court dockets remained backlogged in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, delaying criminal accountability for traffickers and justice for victims.

Superior courts issued several decisions strengthening national jurisprudence in child trafficking cases and in April 2023, the judiciary issued a plenary accord providing new mandatory guidance for criminal judges in applying the trafficking in persons law. The plenary accord affirmed that “transfer” does not require movement of a victim; elaborated the relationships between “slavery,” “servitude,” “forced labor,” and “labor exploitation”; and clarified that means are not required and consent is irrelevant in cases of child labor trafficking. The judiciary partnered with an international organization to develop an operational manual for judges hearing human trafficking and exploitation cases. In partnership with an international organization, the government held four joint training courses on evidence collection and trauma-informed investigative methods for police, prosecutors, and victim support personnel from across Lima and the regions of Cusco, Loreto, Puno, and Tumbes. With support from international organizations and NGO partners, the government organized additional trainings and workshops to enhance prosecutors’ technical skills, including effective oral litigation and investigating trafficking cases connected to cybercrime. The government continued partnering with an international organization to deliver a specialized training course on a manual for judges to improve their capacity to implement trafficking laws, reaching 176 judicial personnel through five training sessions.

The government acknowledged official complicity in trafficking crimes and corruption at all levels of the Peruvian law enforcement and criminal justice systems hampered efforts to hold traffickers accountable. Police officers, including members of specialized anti-trafficking units, allegedly accepted bribes from traffickers to avoid conducting investigations or tipped off suspects in advance of sting operations. The alleged complicity of some police, along with poor communication between police and prosecutors, bred mistrust among these officials at both the national and regional levels and undermined the effectiveness of anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts. The government reported convicting an official in Cusco for complicity in trafficking crimes but did not provide additional information on the nature of the crime or sentence imposed. In February 2024, following a complaint from a suspect in a sex trafficking investigation, authorities arrested the head of the anti-trafficking police unit in Madre de Dios for allegedly soliciting money and sex acts in exchange for dropping the charges. However, local experts reported officials failed to act in a different instance of corruption allegations against a high-level police officer. The government did not provide updates on the numerous investigations of government employes for alleged trafficking crimes opened in previous years including the following: an October 2022 case of two guards at a prison in Huacho and six others detained for allegedly facilitating inmates’ exploitation of sex trafficking victims, including children; a November 2021 case in which Bolivian authorities apprehended and extradited to Peru a former Peruvian police officer allegedly involved in two murders and sex trafficking crimes in Tacna; the alleged involvement of 40 police officers in Tacna and Moquegua in sex trafficking crimes related to this case; a separate case in Tacna involving two police officers and an immigration official allegedly involved in cross-border trafficking crimes; and a 2020 case that included arrests of seven police officers for alleged involvement in a child sex trafficking operation run by a well-known singer. The government did not report progress on a 2020 case involving two anti-trafficking police officers and two other government officials apprehended for providing protection to alleged traffickers and allowing them to operate with impunity. It also did not report progress in the case of a former police chief and noncommissioned officer, arrested in 2019 for human trafficking and corruption.

The government maintained efforts to identify and protect trafficking victims. While the government did not report complete data on victims identified and assisted, it improved several of its systems to undertake such efforts. Specialized police units reported identifying 962 victims in the first six months of 2023, but this figure included individuals encountered during trafficking-related police operations who were not trafficking victims. Police did not report the number of victims identified in 2022 for comparison. The government did not collect data on the number of victims other officials identified, but an NGO reported front-line officials in other sectors, including immigration agents and medical professionals, also identified victims in 2023. The government also identified an unspecified number of victims from 118 trafficking-related reports to its telephone and web-based complaints center. The Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations (MIMP) assisted 111 child victims in 2023, including 76 girls exploited in sex trafficking, 27 girls and three boys exploited in labor trafficking, and two girls and three boys in unspecified forms of unspecified forms of trafficking. Seventy-six victims were Peruvian and 35 were nationals of other countries (30 Venezuelan, two Bolivian, two Ecuadoran, and one Colombian). In comparison, MIMP assisted 113 child victims in 2022, including 80 girls and two boys exploited in sex trafficking and 29 girls and two boys exploited in labor trafficking; sixty-two child victims were Peruvian and 51 were foreign nationals. An NGO assisted 128 additional victims, including 29 women, two men, 34 girls, and two boys exploited in sex trafficking and 29 women, 20 men, eight girls, and four boys exploited in labor trafficking. This group included 69 foreign nationals, 56 Peruvians exploited in Peru, and three Peruvian nationals exploited in other countries. The government reported assisting four Peruvian victims exploited in Argentina and Ecuador, including three children and one adult.

The anti-trafficking law required the government to proactively identify victims among high-risk populations and provide services, including temporary lodging, transportation, medical and psychological care, legal assistance, and reintegration support. The government developed and began implementing a guide for diplomatic officials in overseas posts to assist Peruvian trafficking victims exploited abroad. With support from an international organization, the government provided training to diplomatic officials and disseminated the guide to officials in all of Peru’s overseas diplomatic missions. The government drafted and enacted a new intersectoral protocol on responding to trafficking in persons, replacing an earlier protocol from 2016. The new protocol formalized responsibilities of relevant government entities including those who identify, refer, protect, and reintegrate victims. The protocol directed frontline officials – including police, medical professionals, municipal inspectors, government service providers, public attorneys, and immigration agents – to identify potential trafficking victims among the populations they served; enumerated trafficking indicators and referral pathways to guide these efforts; and referenced complimentary policies and procedures within individual ministries. Authorities implemented identification and referral procedures unevenly due to insufficient financial and human resources and coordination challenges. Law enforcement officials screened for victims during anti-trafficking operations but made uneven efforts to identify trafficking victims during other enforcement activities. Non-specialized police and prosecutors did not effectively identify indicators of trafficking among women in commercial sex.

The Public Ministry’s Victim and Witness Assistance Unit (UDAVIT) provided short-term care and essential supplies for victims immediately following some law enforcement operations and coordinated with other government and NGO service providers to offer medical, legal, and social services to victims. In some regions, UDAVIT operated emergency centers that could provide short-term accommodation to women and children who were participating in investigations and prosecutions. The government did not report data on the assistance UDAVIT provided to trafficking victims in 2023. Insufficient funding and a lack of training on victim-centered methods limited UDAVIT’s capacity to provide consistent, high-quality care to victims. Local experts reported UDAVIT sometimes made services contingent on victims providing statements to investigators or questioned children without the presence of legal or social support personnel.

The government offered specialized services for girls exploited in sex trafficking, while other victims could access services for victims of GBV or other forms of government and NGO support. Authorities worked closely with NGO service providers, which improved the overall quality of care victims received. However, the government did not allocate sufficient funding to victim protection and often relied on NGOs to fill service gaps without providing financial support. Authorities referred all child victims to MIMP, which coordinated shelter or family care and provided legal, social services, psychological, and limited reintegration assistance to victims. MIMP operated specialized units in all regions of the country for assisting at-risk children, children in need of special protection, and child victims of crime, including all child trafficking victims. MIMP enacted new technical guidelines for strengthened care and assistance to migrant or refugee children in need of special protection, including potential trafficking victims, but local experts reported insufficient efforts to disseminate and implement these guidelines.

MIMP operated seven specialized shelters exclusively for girls exploited in sex or labor trafficking (including some whom authorities classified as sexual exploitation victims) in five regions (Cusco, Lima, Loreto, Madre de Dios, and Puno); in total, these facilities could accommodate 111 children. However, for a third year the government maintained a temporary conversion of one facility into a shelter for victims of other crimes, decreasing the overall shelter capacity for child trafficking victims to 99. Services and staffing in the shelters were generally robust, with the inclusion of a full-time attorney, medical personnel, and psychologist. The Ministry of Health provided mental health care services to child trafficking survivors through community mental health centers and public hospitals. MIMP also operated 52 residential centers for children that could accommodate child trafficking victims, including boys, but these shelters were not exclusively for human trafficking victims and MIMP did not equip them to provide specialized psychological and protection services to meet the needs of child trafficking survivors. Media reports documented multiple instances of MIMP staff committing abuses against child residents in a MIMP shelter in Ucayali. In October 2023, officials learned a MIMP psychologist raped a 13-year-old girl after discovering she was pregnant. The alleged perpetrator evaded arrest and was not apprehended before the close of the reporting period. In March 2024, six child residents in the same shelter reported inappropriate touching by the shelter’s director. Authorities arrested the alleged perpetrator that same month and issued a nine-month preventative prison sentence. Although authorities took action to respond to evidence shelter staff committed abuses, these cases raise concerns that stronger oversight and risk assessment is needed to protect children in state care.

Women could access legal, psychological, and social services – but not overnight accommodation – through MIMP’s nationwide network of 429 Emergency Centers for Women, and the government did not collect data on the number of trafficking victims the centers assisted. Women were required to file a complaint to access these services. Numerous civil society organizations provided assistance to trafficking victims, including two NGOs that were members of the government’s multisectoral commission against trafficking, and approximately 70 private shelters accepted trafficking victims.

Adult victims, labor trafficking victims, and/or male victims had few shelter options; there were no shelters that accepted adult men. In December 2023, the government adopted a separate intersectoral protocol for responding to forced labor. The protocol included similar directives to the trafficking protocol for proactive victim identification and provision of immediate and reintegration services, but it included fewer specialized service options for forced labor victims. A lack of services meeting the needs of adult victims, such as open shelter facilities or livelihood development support, led many adult victims to decline services. The government typically did not admit transgender victims to government shelters. Foreign national victims were generally eligible for the same services as Peruvian victims, but NGOs reported it was difficult in practice for them to access some services without documentation. Through binational emergency response teams, authorities collaborated with their counterparts in Ecuador, improving coordination and enhancing access to justice and services for identified victims from several countries in the border region. In October 2023, authorities in Lima identified 43 Malaysian men and women subjected to forced criminality in an online scamming operation. The government did not provide direct services to these victims but referred them to NGOs for assistance. The Malaysian government released a statement that the victims would be repatriated, but additional details about the assistance they received in Peru was not available. Government presence remained weak in some areas of Peru where trafficking risks were high, including in many Indigenous communities, but the government made concerted efforts to maintain specialized law enforcement units and provide victims with access to specialized shelters in high-risk regions including Loreto, Madre de Dios, and Puno.

With support from an international organization, MIMP, the Ministry of Labor (MOL), and local governments made progress on an initiative launched in the previous year to increase reintegration and livelihood support for young survivors, 14 to 19 years old, transitioning out of shelter care. The government observed child and young adult victims faced administrative hurdles when seeking to re-enroll in school, and school officials lacked the expertise to properly meet the needs of young survivors. The government implemented the new program in three of its specialized shelters, offering survivors training in entrepreneurship skills and financial literacy and facilitating connections with private employers for job placement opportunities.

The government made meaningful efforts to incorporate trauma-informed and victim-centered principles into its policy and procedural documents and to seek training for its officials to improve their knowledge and response to providing victim care. Non-specialized criminal justice officials, however, sometimes did not employ victim-centered methods. Police and prosecutors reported many victim services were not available following law enforcement operations on nights and weekends, and law enforcement did not adequately plan for prompt transition to care and shelter for identified victims when planning operations. At times when shelters were not immediately available, authorities placed child victims in police stations among children apprehended for crimes, where victims faced conditions similar to detention while waiting for referral to shelter.

The government assigned victims a public attorney from the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, nine of whom specialized in trafficking, to safeguard their legal rights and guide them through the legal system after authorities initiated a prosecution. Law enforcement officials utilized secure Gesell chambers to conduct a single interview for sex trafficking victims, and prosecutors could use a transcript of this interview in place of oral testimony in court. The government of Loreto allocated 3.75 million soles ($1,020,410) to a project to improve Gesell chambers in the region – the first time a regional government dedicated funding to trafficking victim protection activities. LGBTQI+ individuals experienced discrimination from law enforcement and were often re-victimized during the criminal justice process.

The penal code established minimum criteria a judge should consider for awarding restitution to a trafficking victim during sentencing in a criminal case, and it granted authority for the government to confiscate a trafficker’s property to fulfill payment obligations. In practice, individual judges applied widely varying criteria when assessing damages. The government did not collect data on the frequency with which courts ordered or victims received restitution. A local expert reported most convictions included orders for traffickers to pay restitution to victims, but the government did not effectively enforce these orders. The government reported assisting foreign trafficking victims in the removal of fines or other penalties they may have incurred from undocumented entry. However, due to inadequate victim identification procedures, authorities may have penalized some unidentified trafficking victims. A November 2023 law expanding the government’s authority to expel irregular migrants may have increased such risks among unidentified victims. Foreign victims were eligible for temporary and permanent residency status under Peruvian refugee law. The government did not report whether it granted any trafficking victims residency during the year.

The government increased prevention efforts. The government’s multisectoral commission against trafficking, led by the Ministry of Interior (MOI) and comprised of 14 government agencies and two NGOs, continued to coordinate the government’s anti-trafficking response and lead implementation of the National Policy Against Human Trafficking and its Forms of Exploitation (2021-2030). However, the government weakened coordination by removing the ability to vote from the commission’s NGO members, and frequent turnover in leadership positions within key government agencies hampered implementation of anti-trafficking activities during the year. Authorities at regional, provincial, and metropolitan levels convened 25 coordination bodies across the country to strengthen anti-trafficking efforts at the local level. The government made progress in monitoring and reporting on its anti-trafficking efforts. It implemented a new online reporting system to monitor implementation of the national policy across member institutions of the multisectoral commission, and MOI trained relevant institutions to report on their efforts across 42 priority areas in the national policy. In addition, the MOI submitted to congress a report on multisectoral government efforts to implement the national anti-trafficking policy during the first half of 2023. Nonetheless, Peru lacked a coordinated information management system for case data, and Peru’s overlapping legal framework further complicated data collection efforts on law enforcement and victim protection efforts. The Attorney General’s Office published its annual report analyzing its anti-trafficking efforts.

The government allocated dedicated anti-trafficking funding to the MOI but did not report the amount of this allocation in 2023. Other ministries funded anti-trafficking activities through their general budgets, and regional governments conducted anti-trafficking activities, primarily with in-kind contributions. In addition to the Loreto government’s funding for victim protection, the regional government of Cusco made its first-ever dedicated funding allocation to anti-trafficking activities, a 3.3 million soles ($897,960) public investment project for anti-trafficking capacity building and prevention efforts across seven provinces. A 2019 law directed the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) to prioritize a multisectoral budget request detailing dedicated anti-trafficking budgets for member entities of the multisectoral commission, but MEF did not do so. Local experts reported government funding for anti-trafficking activities was insufficient, and the lack of a line-item budget made it difficult for officials to secure the necessary funds to implement the national policy.

The MOI operated a 24-hour complaints center, accessible through a toll-free telephone line, a mobile application, a web portal, and email, for the public to report suspected cases of trafficking and other crimes. Authorities received 118 trafficking-related reports through the hotline in 2023, an increase from 94 in 2022. Several government institutions, including overseas diplomatic missions, held events and disseminated materials through digital and other media platforms to raise awareness of trafficking, educate members of the public on identifying and reporting possible trafficking crimes, and promote the national policy. The government disseminated materials in Aymara, Quechua, and Shipibo, improving access to information for some Indigenous language speakers who often experienced high trafficking risks.

The government maintained a separate governance infrastructure, led by the MOL, on combating forced labor. The government required private employment agencies to train their personnel in the detection of job offers that could be linked to human trafficking, migrant smuggling, or child labor, and prohibited them from charging workers recruitment fees or retaining workers’ identity documents or personal items. Labor inspectors had a mandate to monitor employment agencies for compliance, but they lacked adequate case management systems to effectively classify and refer suspected criminal cases to appropriate authorities. The government maintained labor inspection units that specialized in forced and child labor, and in June 2023 it enacted a policy directing all labor inspectors to look for forced and child labor during inspections. However, it did not report whether labor inspectors identified any trafficking victims in 2023.

The government implemented policies with mixed impacts on trafficking risks among migrants and asylum-seekers, particularly vulnerable Venezuelans. The government implemented a policy granting temporary residence status for irregular migrants who applied before November 10, 2023 and it continued implementing, through October 2023, a temporary amnesty law waiving overstay fines accrued by migrants and refugees with expired residency documents. Together, these policies decreased debts and expanded access to documentation among some migrants and asylum-seekers, decreasing trafficking risks among this vulnerable population. In addition, the government reported immigration officials in 29 border districts had a mandate to identify vulnerable migrants at risk of trafficking and provide priority assistance for regulating their status. However, local experts reported this effort was largely ineffective, and a November 2023 law expanding the government’s authority to expel irregular migrants may have increased trafficking risks among migrants fearful of speaking to authorities. Between April 2023 and January 2024, the government enacted an emergency decree on its southern border with Chile, closing border crossings, and deployed soldiers and police to enforce the policy. NGOs reported the closure of formal points of entry increased instances of migrant smuggling, thereby increasing migrants’ vulnerability to trafficking. The government implemented a policy enacted in the previous year penalizing those who rent housing to undocumented migrants, which could increase irregular migrants’ vulnerability to homelessness and trafficking in Peru.

The government did not permit transgender individuals to change their gender on identity documents; this lack of access to accurate documentation increased their vulnerability to exploitation and hindered access to protection services. The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism conducted outreach to businesses in the tourism sector to promote compliance with a mandatory code of conduct and relevant laws designed to prevent the sexual exploitation of children, including extraterritorial commercial child sexual exploitation and abuse. The same ministry provided technical assistance to regional and local governments through trainings and awareness raising events. The government enacted a national digital transformation policy that included special protections for preventing the online exploitation of children and adolescents. Authorities conducted law enforcement operations against individuals who purchased sex acts from trafficking victims but did not provide additional detail about possible cases. The government did not report providing anti-trafficking training to its troops prior to their deployment as peacekeepers.

As reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Peru, and traffickers exploit victims from Peru abroad. Traffickers exploit Peruvian and foreign women and girls, and to a lesser extent boys, in sex trafficking within the country. Traffickers increasingly recruit victims through social media platforms, often through false employment offers or deceptive romantic relationships; traffickers capitalize on emerging technologies and leverage advances in functionality and interaction tools within online platforms to refine their targeting and recruitment methods. Traffickers lure Peruvian, Venezuelan, and Bolivian women and girls to remote communities near mining and logging operations through false promises of lucrative employment opportunities then exploit them in sex trafficking after arrival. Tourists from the United States and Europe exploit children in extraterritorial commercial child sexual exploitation and abuse in areas such as Cusco, Lima, and the Peruvian Amazon. In the Loreto region, criminal groups facilitate transportation of foreign tourists by boat to remote locations where traffickers exploit women and children in sex trafficking in venues on the Amazon River. Traffickers exploit Peruvian and foreign adults and children in forced labor in the country, principally in illegal and legal gold mining, related activities, and service jobs in nearby makeshift camps; logging; agriculture; brick-making; unregistered factories; counterfeit operations; artisanal fishing; organized street begging; and domestic service. Traffickers compel victims into forced labor through deceptive recruitment, debt-based coercion, isolation and restricted freedom of movement, withholding of or non-payment of wages, and threats and use of physical violence. Traffickers subject children to forced labor in begging, street vending, domestic service, cocaine production and transportation, and other criminal activities.

Local experts report organized criminal groups increasingly perpetrate trafficking crimes in Peru. Tren de Aragua, a transnational criminal gang originating in Venezuela, exploits victims – often Venezuelan women and children – in sex trafficking and extorts individuals engaged in commercial sex, to finance its criminal activities and exert territorial control over neighborhoods in Lima. Tren de Aragua uses online platforms to recruit victims, reach prospective purchasers of commercial sex acts, and conduct financial transactions. Members of a Taiwan organized crime group lured 43 Malaysian men and women to Peru with false employment offers and subsequently exploited them in forced criminality in an online scam operation run out of Lima. Remaining members of the narcoterrorist organization Shining Path use force and coercion to subject children and adults to forced labor in agriculture, cultivating or transporting illicit narcotics, and domestic servitude, as well as to carry out terrorist activities, and at times recruit children using force and coercion to serve as combatants or guards.

Indigenous Peruvians, many of whom live in remote communities with limited access to government services, are particularly vulnerable to trafficking. LGBTQI+ Peruvians are vulnerable to trafficking, including re-exploitation. Transgender individuals are at particularly high risk, and traffickers seek to exploit their need to finance gender-affirming medical care. Venezuelan migrants and refugees residing in Peru under permanent, temporary, or irregular migration status are particularly vulnerable to sex and labor trafficking, often targeted due to economic insecurity and lured into exploitation through false employment offers. Cuban nationals working in Peru, including medical professionals contracted by the Peruvian government, may have been forced to work by the Cuban government. Local experts report online sexual exploitation of children occurs, in which traffickers sexually exploit children in live internet broadcasts in exchange for compensation. Traffickers increasingly use online payment platforms for financial transactions. Illicit activity, including sex and labor trafficking, is common in regions of the country with limited permanent government presence, including remote mining and logging areas and the Valley of the Apurímac, Ene, and Mantaro Rivers (VRAEM). Criminal economies including illegal mining and logging, as well as drug trafficking, fuel the demand for sex and labor trafficking in Peru.

Traffickers exploit Peruvian women and children in sex trafficking in other countries, particularly within South America. They also exploit women and girls from neighboring countries in Peru. NGOs and foreign authorities report traffickers exploit transgender Peruvians in sex trafficking in Argentina, Italy, and Sweden. Traffickers subject Peruvian adults and children to forced labor in other South American countries, the United States, and other countries. An NGO reported the increasing prevalence of human trafficking of children and young adults near Peru’s border with Ecuador. NGOs and government officials reported official complicity in trafficking crimes and widespread corruption in Peruvian law enforcement and judicial systems continue to hamper anti-trafficking efforts.