TRINIDAD and Tobago identified 26 victims of sex trafficking in 2025, down from 45 the previous year, while Government spending on victim services fell by almost $300,000, according to the 2026 Trafficking in Persons Report.
The report was published yesterday by the US State Department, and it assesses global anti-trafficking efforts across 188 countries and territories, including Trinidad and Tobago, grouping them into tiers based on their government’s compliance with minimum standards.
The report found that the Government identified and referred all 26 victims to care, compared with 45 in 2024, while the number assisted declined from 42 to 26. Spending on victim services fell from $791,410 in 2024 to $492,662 in 2025, while the allocation for prevention programmes decreased from $442,997 to $379,652.
Despite the reductions in victim identification and assistance, the report said Trinidad and Tobago had made increasing efforts to combat human trafficking during the reporting period and retained its Tier 2 ranking.
The victims identified by the Government comprised 21 women and five girls. Twenty-five were Venezuelan nationals, while one was a Trinidad and Tobago national who had been exploited abroad.
The Government did not report identifying any victims of labour trafficking or any male victims. Non-governmental organisations and international organisations identified an additional three sex-trafficking victims—two women and one girl.
The report found that authorities did not consistently screen vulnerable populations for signs of trafficking, leaving some potential victims without timely access to assistance. Some victims also experienced delays in obtaining government-funded shelter, medical care and vocational training until officials formally recognised them as trafficking victims.
The Government operated one shelter exclusively for trafficking victims, with accommodation for up to nine people, and funded three other shelters that could accommodate a combined 26 people. Those facilities also served other populations in need.
The report noted the number of shelters funded by the Government had declined from five to three, although the Government maintained there was sufficient capacity to accommodate trafficking victims. It also raised concerns about the availability and quality of services for male victims, including the absence of long-term placement options.
Fake jobs used
to ensnare victims
On law enforcement, the Government reported initiating 79 trafficking investigations in 2025, compared with 118 in 2024. The investigations comprised 39 cases of sex trafficking, seven of forced labour and 33 involving unspecified forms of trafficking.
Authorities prosecuted 13 suspects, compared with 11 in the previous year, and convicted one trafficker in 2025. No convictions were reported in 2024.
The report also highlighted the conviction and sentencing of a former police officer to 16 years, five months and 15 days in prison for human trafficking. However, it said the Government had not reported any new investigations or prosecutions of officials allegedly involved in trafficking during the reporting period.
Corruption and official complicity remained concerns, while weaknesses in gathering evidence continued to undermine investigations and prosecutions. The report also cited court backlogs and instances in which witnesses failed to appear at trials, possibly because of intimidation by suspects.
Observers said authorities did not pursue prosecutions when victim-witnesses refused to testify against alleged traffickers.
The Government increased the administrative staff of the police Counter Trafficking Unit, which was responsible for investigating human trafficking offences, and worked with police financial investigators to examine related financial crimes. The unit also maintained a partnership with the Police Service’s Cyber and Social Media Unit to develop cases involving the use of online platforms by traffickers.
The report found that traffickers used social media to advertise fraudulent employment opportunities and increasingly relied on cryptocurrency payments and the dark web to facilitate their operations.
Women and girls, primarily from Venezuela, remained among those at risk of sex trafficking. The report said victims were sometimes recruited through false job offers or promises of relationship-based sponsorship, while informal recruitment networks exposed foreign nationals to debt bondage and other forms of coercion.
Labour trafficking risks were also reported among people employed in domestic work, bars, nightclubs and informal construction.
The report found the Government had not taken meaningful steps to strengthen oversight of private labour recruiters. Although legislation required recruiters to be licensed, a licensing officer had never been appointed, and the Ministry of Labour had not reported how many recruiters were licensed under the Employment Exchange Act.
The Government had begun drafting a new national action plan to combat trafficking following the expiry of the previous plan in 2025.
The report concluded Trinidad and Tobago had increased some law-enforcement efforts but continued to fall short in several areas, particularly victim identification and protection, evidence collection, and the regulation of labour recruitment.
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