• Train front-line officials on the SOPs for victim identification and the NRM to systematically and proactively identify trafficking victims, including by screening populations vulnerable to trafficking – such as refugees, asylum-seekers, individuals involved in commercial sex, transiting migrants, and Cuban regime-affiliated workers, including medical professionals – and refer all identified trafficking victims to appropriate care.
• Increase efforts to investigate and prosecute traffickers and seek adequate penalties for convicted traffickers, which should involve significant prison terms, in accordance with the trafficking provisions in the 2016 anti-trafficking law.
• Increase protection services for trafficking victims, including by partnering with NGOs and international organizations providing protection services.
• Operationalize the National Committee to Combat Trafficking in Persons and Similar Practices to effectively lead the government’s anti-trafficking efforts, including by appointing a chair, identifying members, and disbursing funding for its operations.
• Develop and finalize an updated NAP to combat trafficking and allocate resources to its implementation.
• Improve nationwide data collection and coordination on anti-trafficking law enforcement and victim identification efforts, including a method to disaggregate data between human trafficking crimes and other crimes, such as migrant smuggling.
• Increase anti-trafficking training for police, prosecutors, and judges on strong evidence gathering, the use of non-testimonial evidence in the absence of witness testimony, the irrelevance of a victim’s initial consent when proving a trafficking crime, victim-centered investigations, and the distinctions between human trafficking and migrant smuggling.
• Increase judicial officials’ awareness of the trafficking provisions in the 2016 anti-trafficking law, including by providing training for judges on trafficking crimes and ensuring the penal code on the judges’ bench includes the 2016 anti-trafficking law.
• Provide specific anti-trafficking training to law enforcement officials, labor inspectors, prosecutors, magistrates, and other front-line officials to improve case investigation, victim identification, and referral of victims to appropriate care.
• Increase awareness of all forms of human trafficking among the public through government-run campaigns or provide financial or in-kind support for NGO-run campaigns.
• Expand law enforcement’s capacity to investigate trafficking crimes by reducing restrictions on the time for investigations and increasing resources, as feasible.

The government increased anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts.

The 2016 Law No. 133, On the Fight Against Trafficking in Persons and Illicit Smuggling of Migrants, criminalized sex trafficking and labor trafficking; it prescribed penalties of five to 10 years’ imprisonment, which were sufficiently stringent and with respect to sex trafficking commensurate with those for other grave crimes, such as rape. The law considered the involvement of a child or forcing a victim into “prostitution” as aggravating circumstances for which the penalties increased to 10 to 20 years’ imprisonment.

The government reported investigating six cases and prosecuting five defendants – four for sex trafficking and one for labor trafficking – an increase compared with one reported labor trafficking investigation and prosecution of one defendant in the previous year. The government convicted one trafficker – the first in eight years. This trafficker remained at large, but the courts convicted the individual in absentia and sentenced them to two years’ imprisonment. However, by sentencing convicted traffickers to terms of imprisonment below the mandatory minimum penalties prescribed under the trafficking law, courts may have weakened deterrence. While the government reported additional prosecutions and convictions, these did not constitute trafficking under the international definition. The Ministry of Justice implemented procedural changes to expedite trials for trafficking cases, permitting cases with more developed evidentiary records to bypass assignment to investigative judges, which traditionally resulted in delays of several months to years. However, most potential human trafficking crimes moved through the judicial system as other crimes, including sexual assault, kidnapping, or migrant smuggling charges. Foreign victims often chose not to pursue criminal proceedings due to the protracted timing of investigations and their desire to leave Djibouti. The government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees complicit in human trafficking crimes.

Severe resource and capacity limitations continued to impede the ability of officials to comprehensively investigate trafficking crimes. Officials reported the requirement for law enforcement to present an investigative report and evidence to the court within three days of a suspect’s arrest (two days for crimes committed in Djibouti City) continued to inhibit law enforcement’s ability to fully investigate all crimes, including trafficking, and judges often dismissed cases on procedural grounds. Observers previously reported families or village elders often settled allegations of labor trafficking – including domestic servitude – informally through traditional arrangements between religious and community leaders, without referral to the formal court system.

The Djibouti National Police maintained a specialized unit to investigate crimes against children, including child trafficking, and an anti-vice unit to investigate commercial sex establishments, including sex trafficking. Unlike the previous year, the government provided anti-trafficking training to law enforcement and judicial officials with the assistance of international organizations. Observers reported judges and prosecutors commonly relied on non-trafficking criminal statues with which they were more familiar to prosecute trafficking crimes, rather than utilizing the anti-trafficking law. The government maintained an MOU with the Ethiopian government to combat international trafficking and migrant smuggling with the assistance of an international organization, but did not report on their activities this reporting period.

The government made mixed victim protection efforts.

The government reported identifying five potential trafficking victims, including two potential victims of sex trafficking, one potential victim of forced labor, and two potential victims of unspecified forms of trafficking, compared with one potential labor trafficking victim in the previous year. The government again did not report referring any victims to care. The government had victim identification SOPs and an NRM, previously developed in collaboration with an international organization, to identify and refer potential victims to protection services, which were not systematically or consistently utilized. Observers previously reported the government lacked the resources, training, and political will to implement the SOPs and NRM. The government convened a working group related to the victim identification SOPs, comprised of representatives from various government agencies, civil society representatives, and regional officials, but did not report on its activities. The government did not report screening among populations vulnerable to trafficking, including Ethiopian migrants. An international organization operated the country’s only shelter dedicated for adult trafficking victims and vulnerable migrants. The government did not report referring any potential trafficking victims to the shelter or providing any financial or in-kind support to the shelter.

An international organization continued to operate a migrant shelter in Obock, which provided migrants, including potential trafficking victims, with food and water; medical and psychosocial support; temporary shelter; and assisted voluntary return to their country of origin. The international organization also screened the migrants for trafficking indicators. Its staff continued to operate mobile clinics along dangerous migration routes to provide medical assistance and raise awareness of the center’s resources, including voluntary repatriation and support for potential trafficking victims. Djiboutian Coast Guard officials continued to provide clothing and food to migrants rescued from the sea, including potential trafficking victims, and referred migrants to shelters, mainly the Obock shelter. In 2024, this international organization supported more than 48,000 people through its shelters.

An NGO continued to operate a day center in Djibouti City for unaccompanied migrant children and children who are homeless, including potential trafficking victims; the government did not report referring any children to the NGO or supporting the NGO’s operations. The National Union of Djiboutian Women (UNFD) continued to operate a center in Djibouti city for women and children, including victims of violence and human trafficking, and provided legal, medical, and psycho-social assistance. The government again did not report allocating funding for protection efforts.

The 2016 anti-trafficking law included provisions allowing trafficking victims temporary residency during judicial proceedings and permanent residency, as necessary, as a legal alternative to removal to countries where victims might face hardship or retribution; however, the government did not report providing temporary residency to any trafficking victims during the year. Additionally, the law directed the government to provide victims legal assistance and an interpreter, as well as psychological, medical, and social assistance. Observers previously reported, in practice, the government did not provide this assistance due to the lack of available resources. The government reported Djiboutian law permitted trafficking victims to file civil suits, but no trafficking victims have filed such suits. Due to inconsistent implementation of formal identification procedures, 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, including among migrants and individuals in commercial sex.

The government maintained limited efforts to prevent trafficking.

Overall anti-trafficking coordination efforts remained minimal, and the government did not report allocating funds for prevention efforts. The government again did not report appointing a chair or taking further action to operationalize its mandated national coordinating committee. The coordinating committee was established in February 2023 via a presidential decree and was set to be chaired by a Ministry of Justice appointee to lead the government’s anti-trafficking efforts. The government remained without a NAP. The UNFD operated a 24-hour hotline to report cases of violence against women and girls and refer victims to services, which could be utilized by trafficking victims. The government did not report conducting any anti-trafficking awareness activities. Labor recruitment and placement companies were subject to random inspections by the inspector general; however, the government did not report conducting labor inspections to enforce laws against forced labor or identifying any potential trafficking cases during inspections. The government did not report making 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, including family members of the victims, exploit local and migrant children, primarily from Ethiopia and Somalia, in forced begging in Djibouti City. Traffickers exploit migrant and local children in sex trafficking, sometimes using substances as a means of coercion. Traffickers exploit Djiboutian and migrant women and children who are homeless in sex trafficking or labor trafficking, particularly domestic servitude, in Djibouti city, Ali Sabieh, Dikhil, Tadjoura, and Obock. Traffickers reportedly exploit some migrant women in sex trafficking at truck stops and in restaurants, nightclubs, bars, and guest houses in Balbala, one of Djibouti’s poorest neighborhoods. Observers report, in past years, traffickers exploited foreign workers – including Ethiopians, Somalis Yemenis, Indians, Pakistanis, and Filipinos – in forced labor in domestic service, construction, and food service sectors.

An international organization estimates more than 200,000 migrants – predominantly Ethiopian – transited Djibouti in 2024, including both land and sea crossings. Traffickers often exploit migrants transiting Djibouti; labor traffickers primarily exploit migrants in the domestic labor sector, and sex traffickers exploit migrants via debt bondage or indentured servitude to pay off smugglers. Reports indicate smugglers, often involved in organized, cross-border networks, hold large groups of migrants in isolated areas in Djibouti, particularly near Obock, Tadjoura, and Dikhil, where smugglers and traffickers potentially coerce migrants into labor or sex trafficking. Djibouti accommodates approximately 32,000 refugees and asylum seekers, including potential trafficking victims. Many Ethiopians who came to Djibouti as migrants or asylum-seekers are often unable or unwilling to return to Ethiopia and are vulnerable to trafficking. According to an NGO, there were 84 Cuban regime-affiliated workers, including medical professionals, who may have been forced to work in Djibouti by the Cuban regime.