The US government has provided 11 key recommendations to the Fijian administration, urging them to implement stiffer penalties for human trafficking convictions, which should include substantial jail terms, and to make all types of trafficking illegal. These suggestions were included in the 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report by the US State Department, released last Monday in Washington.
The Fijian government is instructed to create and enforce guidelines for identifying victims and connecting them to support services, as well as teaching stakeholders how to apply these procedures. Proactive victim identification through the screening of individuals within vulnerable groups, such as those involved in commercial sex or work as migrants, PRC national workers, or child labourers, is also encouraged.
The report recommends increased efforts to investigate and prosecute human trafficking crimes, including those facilitated by complicit officials or individuals organizing child sex trafficking in private yachts and hotels. It suggests incorporating comprehensive anti-trafficking training for frontline officials, such as local police and officers in the Fijian Police Force’s Human Trafficking Unit (HTU), as standard protocol.
Moreover, the report conclusively advises revising the trafficking-related clauses of the 2009 Crimes Act to cover all types of trafficking. It suggests amending immigration-based provisions to permit foreign victims to work and earn while assisting with investigations.
Increased allocation of funds for victim services and enhancements in the quality and availability of protection services, such as renovations of the Fijian Immigration Department’s safehouses and provision of short and long-term accommodation, counseling, and medical care for all victims, is also recommended. The US government further advises intensifying supervision of foreign construction workers’ working conditions and escalating investigations into child and migrant worker labour violations.