The US government has issued 11 key recommendations to the Fijian government aimed at combating human trafficking. These directives include enforcing stringent penalties for human traffickers and criminalising all forms of trafficking, according to the US Department of State’s 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report.
The Fijian government has also been instructed to establish and carry out formal protocols for the identification of trafficking victims and their subsequent referral to appropriate care. It is also required to proactively identify possible trafficking victims by scrutinizing vulnerable groups such as commercial sex workers, China’s national workers, migrant workers and child laborers.
The report further suggests increasing efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking crimes, particularly those involving officials who are complicit and individuals who facilitate child sex trafficking. Adequate penalties, including significant prison sentences, should be sought for convicted traffickers.
Additional recommendations include improving and extending anti-trafficking training for frontline officials, adapting the 2009 Crimes Act to criminalise all forms of trafficking and altering immigration laws to allow identified foreign victims to work and earn income while they assist with investigations.
The US government also advises the Fijian authorities to allocate funding for victim services and increase the quality and availability of protection services. These services include renovation of Immigration Department safehouses, short and long-term accommodation, counselling and medical care. Increased oversight of foreign construction workers’ working conditions and investigation into child and migrant workers’ forced labor are also proposed in the report.