By Anthony Henry

Jamaica has once again landed on the United States Department of State’s Tier 2 list in the latest Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP), with Washington warning that despite some progress, the country is not meeting the minimum standards required to eliminate human trafficking.

The report paints a disturbing picture of declining investigations, weakened victim protection, and persistent failures in law enforcement accountability, even as traffickers continue to prey on some of the nation’s most vulnerable citizens.

The TIP report, released this week, acknowledges that the Government of Jamaica has demonstrated “significant efforts” compared to the previous year. Authorities secured convictions against two traffickers, ordered restitution for one of the victims, and handed down sentences involving substantial prison terms, a marked improvement from the lenient fines and light penalties of prior years. Officials also referred all identified and potential victims to services, and the Office of the National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons (ONRTIP) rolled out new online training for front-line workers.

However, the State Department made it clear that these steps are not enough. The government conducted fewer investigations than before, cut funding for victim services, and failed to finalise or implement a national policy to replace its expired anti-trafficking action plan. Perhaps most damningly, the report highlights endemic corruption and official complicity within law enforcement as a significant obstacle to meaningful progress.

Jamaica remains at Tier 2, not the lowest ranking, but a clear signal that the country continues to fall short in protecting its people from modern slavery.

The State Department outlined a raft of urgent recommendations. Chief among them:

• More aggressive investigations and prosecutions of traffickers, including corrupt officials, and ensuring prison sentences that fit the severity of the crimes
• Washington also called on Jamaica to finalise a comprehensive national policy, strengthen victim identification systems
• Overhaul the way Cuban and Chinese foreign workers are screened for signs of forced labour

The report notes that Jamaican courts handed down harsher penalties this year. A sex trafficker was sentenced to 11 years and six months in prison and ordered to pay $2 million in restitution. Another trafficker convicted of child labour exploitation received two years behind bars. By contrast, last year, three sex traffickers received little more than six-month sentences or the option to pay fines of $200,000. While the shift toward serious jail time is a positive step, the slow pace of court cases continues to deter victims from testifying.

Investigations have declined sharply. Officials opened 39 cases in the last reporting period, compared to 61 the year before. Of those, 38 involved sex trafficking and only one involved labour trafficking. Despite credible reports of forced labour, especially among foreign nationals, prosecutions remain disproportionately focused on sex trafficking. Alarmingly, the report found no cases of complicit officials being investigated or convicted, even as widespread corruption continues to undermine law enforcement’s credibility.

Victim protection is also faltering. The government identified 23 victims, down from 29 the year before. Most were girls exploited in sex trafficking, alongside a small number of women and two labour trafficking victims. All were referred to services, but support remains inadequate. Funding for victim protection dropped to $3.7 million, less than half of the $9.6 million allocated the previous year. This decline leaves survivors without consistent access to trauma-informed care, reintegration support, or long-term housing.

ONRTIP and the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) have introduced new screening tools, but officials often fail to use them effectively. The report cites troubling gaps, such as children apprehended in gang-related activity being treated as criminals rather than potential trafficking victims. Similarly, Cuban health professionals and Chinese construction workers, groups flagged by international observers as high-risk for forced labour, are rarely screened for trafficking indicators.

Shelter capacity also remains weak. Jamaica operates one dedicated shelter for women and child trafficking victims with space for just 15 survivors. Plans to create a shelter for male victims have stalled. Child victims are sometimes placed in foster care or residential facilities, but NGOs warn that these settings are not always safe. Adult victims technically have freedom of movement, but authorities frequently restrict their choices in the name of security. Some victims are placed in guarded private accommodations, raising questions about autonomy and human rights.

The government has continued prevention efforts, including public awareness campaigns through TV, radio, billboards, and social media, with materials in both English and Patois. The National Task Force Against Trafficking in Persons (NATFATIP) remains active, but its work is still guided by an expired 2018–2021 action plan. A draft national policy submitted in 2022 remains unapproved, leaving the country without an updated strategic framework.

Meanwhile, the trafficking profile in Jamaica is grim. Domestic and foreign victims are exploited in sex trafficking and forced labour across the island. Children are sold for sex in resort towns, often with parental involvement. Criminal gangs force boys into begging, drug running, and violent crime. Girls are coerced into sex trafficking through social media recruitment, family complicity, or survival exchanges.

Foreign nationals, including Cubans, Chinese, and South Asians, are also exploited. In 2025, there were 440 Cuban health workers in Jamaica under a bilateral agreement. Survivors have reported being forced to remit half their salaries to the Cuban state, having passports confiscated, and facing restrictions on their movement. The Jamaican government has since allowed Cuban workers to reclaim their passports, but watchdogs warn that coercion continues. Chinese nationals working on construction sites are also vulnerable to forced labour, while Jamaican farm workers abroad, particularly in Canada, have reported conditions that amount to trafficking: intimidation, inadequate food, and surveillance-heavy living quarters.

Perhaps the most shocking revelation in the report is the scale of trafficking among Jamaican children. A 2023 prevalence study found that 6.3 percent of children aged 12 to 17 had experienced conditions indicative of trafficking. Forced child labour, especially domestic servitude, emerged as the most common form. While girls were more frequently exploited in sex trafficking, boys were more likely to be forced into criminal activity or labour. The study also found that trafficking rates were similar across both poor and relatively better-off households, challenging the assumption that only poverty drives vulnerability.

Despite these findings, the Jamaican government has not allocated the resources required to confront the crisis. ONRTIP and NATFATIP face chronic underfunding. CPFSA and the Ministry of Justice’s Victim Services Division lack the capacity to provide long-term care. Liaison officers meant to protect migrant workers abroad are spread too thin, leaving thousands without adequate protection.

The US government has made its stance clear: Jamaica must do more. Washington’s recommendations are sweeping, from prosecuting complicit officials to ensuring traffickers serve real prison time, from expanding shelters to giving victims more independence, from amending laws to collecting stronger data. Failure to act, the report warns, leaves thousands of Jamaicans, especially children, at continued risk of exploitation.

The TIP report is not merely an international critique; it is a mirror held up to Jamaica’s institutions, exposing systemic weaknesses in governance, policing, and social protection. With corruption festering, resources dwindling, and traffickers adapting with impunity, the country’s Tier 2 ranking is both a condemnation and a lifeline. It signals that while Jamaica has avoided a Tier 3 downgrade, the time for complacency has passed.

Human trafficking is not abstract. It is a girl sold for sex in a resort town, a boy forced into a gang’s gun battle, a Cuban doctor stripped of his passport, a farmworker starved in a Canadian field. Until Jamaica confronts these realities with urgency, resources, and accountability, Tier 2 will remain a ceiling rather than a stepping stone.