𝐀𝐂𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐔𝐒 Department of State’s 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report, the Government of Liberia (GOL) does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so, demonstrating overall increasing efforts compared with the previous reporting period, considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, if any, on its anti-trafficking capacity; therefore, Liberia remained on Tier 2. “These efforts included prosecuting and convicting an official complicit in human trafficking and identifying more victims and referring them to services. However, the government did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas. Investigations decreased and law enforcement officials continued to lack adequate resources and understanding of trafficking to effectively investigate and prosecute trafficking crimes. Victim services, especially shelter, remained insufficient,” the report observed.
𝐀𝐒 𝐑𝐄𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑 the past five years, human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Liberia, and traffickers exploit victims from Liberia abroad. Trafficking within the country is more prevalent than transnational trafficking, and the majority of victims are children. Traffickers recruit and exploit most trafficking victims within the country’s borders in domestic servitude, forced begging, sex trafficking, or forced labor in street vending, gold and alluvial diamond mines, and on small-scale rubber plantations. Traffickers typically operate independently and are commonly family members who promise impoverished relatives a better life for their children or promise young women a better life for themselves. They take the children or women to urban areas and exploit them in forced labor in street vending, domestic service, or sex trafficking. Traffickers are also often well-respected community members who exploit the “foster care” system common across West Africa. Liberian law requires parents to register children within 14 days of birth; while about two-thirds of children under the age of five are registered, only about 30 percent have obtained a birth certificate. Although the government has expanded birth registration accessibility, continued lack of birth registration and identity documents increase individuals’ vulnerability to trafficking.
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐃𝐄𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓
recommended that Liberia expand victim services, particularly for victims outside the capital, males, and victims requiring long-term care; increase efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking cases, including those involving internal trafficking, sex trafficking, related criminal networks, and officials accused of complicity; train labor inspectors and social workers on standard victim identification procedures and the national referral mechanism; improve collaboration between anti-trafficking police units, immigration, labor, and judicial authorities; increase financial or in-kind support to NGOs that support trafficking victims; train law enforcement and judicial officials on identifying, investigating, and prosecuting trafficking cases under the revised 2021 anti-trafficking law; increase labor inspections in the informal sector and mining regions to improve identification of trafficking cases, including child forced labor; increase efforts to raise public awareness of human trafficking, including internal trafficking; allocate financial and in-kind resources to the national anti-trafficking task force; and screen foreign workers, including Cuban overseas workers, for forced labor indicators and refer identified forced labor victims to appropriate services.