FIJI remains on Tier 2 Watch List for the second consecutive year, according to the US Department of State’s 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report.
This means Fiji does not fully meet the minimum standards for eliminating human trafficking but is making significant efforts to become compliant.
In addition, this shows Fiji also faces a “very significant or increasing number of victims or haven’t shown increasing efforts to combat trafficking”.
According to the October report our significant efforts included initiating more trafficking investigations, identifying more trafficking victims – including a victim of sex trafficking – and referring trafficking victims to services.
In partnership with civil society, Fiji completed the development of victim identification SOP (Standard Operating Procedures), began developing a centralised trafficking case management system, and updated the anti-trafficking NAP (National Action Plans).
However, according to the report, the government did not initiate any new trafficking prosecutions and, for the second consecutive year, did not convict any traffickers.
“Despite many years of widespread reporting of trafficking indicators within a religious organization that operated numerous businesses in various sectors, authorities did not take sufficient action to hold suspected traffickers accountable or identify and assist potential victims,” the report says
“Official complicity and corruption undermined anti-trafficking efforts and allowed traffickers to operate with impunity.”
Previous TIP reports have consistently described Fiji as a “source, destination and transit country” for children, men and women subjected to forced labour and sexual exploitation due to its geographical location with vast maritime territory and inadequately controlled borders.
Limited domestic investigations and research on the issue have found incidences of forced labour, slavery and domestic and international trafficking of persons, including women and children.
This includes issues involving forced labour of migrant labourers on farms, factories, construction industry, fishing vessels, garages, sex trafficking of migrant and local women and children in the sex trade and allegations of exploitation of Fijian workers in the agriculture and service industries abroad.
Furthermore, in the past several years, human traffickers have exploited domestic and foreign victims in Fiji, and traffickers exploit victims from Fiji abroad. Fijian adults, who are employed overseas, in New Zealand, Australia and Tonga, are normally subjected to forced labour, specifically in the construction and agriculture industries.
Among other things, the US report recommends that we:
m Proactively identify trafficking victims by screening for trafficking indicators among vulnerable populations – including individuals in commercial sex, Chinese national workers, child laborers, and migrant workers – including at initial visa application and recruitment;
m Increase efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking crimes, including those involving complicit officials and individuals facilitating child sex trafficking on private yachts and in hotels, and seek adequate penalties for convicted traffickers, which should involve significant prison terms;
m Continue to increase efforts to work with civil society, the private sector, and religious and community leaders to develop public awareness campaigns, including in iTaukei and Hindi, to raise awareness on all forms of human trafficking and the anti-trafficking laws, particularly among employers, foreign tourists, residents in outer island communities, and vulnerable populations, including individuals in commercial sex, persons displaced by natural disasters, foreign migrant workers, and female victims of violence;
m Increase the availability and quality of protection services – including completing renovation of the Fiji Immigration Department’s (FID) safehouses and providing short-term shelter, long-term housing, counseling, and medical care – for all trafficking victims, including by collaborating with civil society service providers;
m Train prosecutors and judicial officials on the application of trafficking laws, elements of trafficking, investigative techniques, evidence collection specific to trafficking cases, and alternatives to victim testimony; and
m Improve collaboration and communication between police and prosecutors, including by assigning a prosecutor to work directly with the police and FID on trafficking cases.
On prosecution, the report says the government “slightly decreased law enforcement efforts”, while it “slightly increased efforts to identify and protect victims” in the area of protection, and “maintained mixed efforts to prevent trafficking” in prevention.
The report adds that Fijian children are at risk of forced labor in agriculture, retail, or other sectors. Rising levels of poverty, often resulting in increased school drop-out rates, also contribute to increased risks of perpetrators exploiting Fijian children in commercial sex and forced labor.
It says natural disasters and climate-induced displacement significantly increase Fijians’ vulnerability to trafficking because of loss of livelihood and shelter.
The economic crisis related to the pandemic, as well as recent natural disasters, increased the number of children who were driven to use the streets as a source of livelihood or compelled to seek incomes to sustain their families; these children are at risk of being exploited in sex trafficking or forced labor.
“Children as young as 12 are exploited in sex trafficking, sometimes by family members to purchase food and other essentials for their families. Media reports indicate an increase in online child sexual exploitation, some of which may involve child sex trafficking,” the report says.
“Family members and domestic partners exploit women in forced criminality to sell illicit drugs or participate in drug trafficking through threat of violence, abuse, and psychological coercion. Children are also increasingly at risk of exploitation in forced criminality to sell illicit drugs.”
It is evident that Fiji needs to do more to improve its status in as far as addressing human trafficking is concerned. Fiji should build on current achievements.
We need more research to address the information gap we have and the inadequacies in the system. Also, there needs to be widespread and advocacy on forced labour, forced migration and human smuggling.
Recent improvements have been made in the area of awareness creation due to campaigns and an improved outreach program targeting vulnerable members of local communities.
But the fight against human trafficking still faces numerous challenges, the report reveals.
There is no other way; our leaders, key stakeholders, authorities and politicians must acknowledge, address, and act on these challenges in order to protect the safety and lives of Fijians.
Until we meet on this same page same time next week, stay blessed, stay healthy and stay safe!
