2024 Trafficking in Persons Report: Guatemala

2024 Trafficking in Persons Report: Guatemala (Tier 2)

The Government of Guatemala does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so. The government demonstrated overall increasing efforts compared with the previous reporting period; therefore Guatemala remained on Tier 2. These efforts included identifying more victims, increasing the number of trafficking investigations and new prosecutions, opening new specialized criminal courts for trafficking and immigration crimes, enacting a new anti-trafficking action plan, and convicting the former head of the police’s specialized anti-trafficking investigation unit for involvement with a sex trafficking ring. However, the government did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas. The convicted officer received an option to pay a fine in lieu of imprisonment, a penalty that was inadequate to deter corrupt officials from participating in or facilitating trafficking crimes. Courts convicted fewer traffickers and the government did not allocate sufficient funding for anti-trafficking law enforcement or victim services outside the capital. Adult victims had few shelter options.

PRIORITIZED RECOMMENDATIONS:

Increase funding for victim protection, including government and NGO shelters and other service providers, and expand access to services for LGBTQI+, male, and/or adult victims. *

Vigorously investigate and prosecute traffickers, including labor traffickers and complicit officials, and seek adequate penalties for convicted traffickers, which should involve significant prison terms. * Increase efforts to proactively identify trafficking victims, particularly among vulnerable populations, such as working children, migrants and returnees, individuals in commercial sex, children apprehended for illicit gang-related activities, and Cuban government-affiliated workers. * Ensure outreach efforts to vulnerable and underserved communities include access for victims and at-risk persons to file a complaint or receive services. * Amend the 2009 anti-trafficking law to include a definition of human trafficking consistent with international law. * Develop a mechanism to ensure victims receive court-ordered restitution payments. * Strengthen measures to ensure authorities consistently refer identified victims, including labor trafficking victims, to services and build the capacity of Child and Adolescent Court judges to provide trauma-informed procedures to child victims. * Provide reintegration and victim witness support, including immigration relief for undocumented migrant victims, to victims once they leave shelters to prevent re-trafficking. * Increase funding and capacity building for police, prosecutors, and judges throughout the country. * Expand prevention measures, including through raising awareness of fraudulent recruitment for employment in Guatemala and abroad; punishing employers or recruiters who commit fraudulent practices that facilitate trafficking; and enforcing a prohibition against worker-paid recruitment fees.

PROSECUTION

The government maintained law enforcement efforts. The anti-trafficking law of 2009 criminalized sex trafficking and labor trafficking and prescribed penalties from eight to 18 years’ imprisonment and a fine. These penalties were sufficiently stringent and, with respect to sex trafficking, commensurate with penalties prescribed for other serious crimes, such as rape. However, inconsistent with the definition of trafficking under international law, the law did not consider the use of force, fraud, or coercion as an essential element of an adult trafficking

offense. The law defined trafficking broadly to include all labor exploitation and illegal adoption without the purpose of exploitation.

The government did not provide complete data on its law enforcement efforts. Authorities opened investigations into 452 cases of suspected trafficking crimes (345 involving sex trafficking, 59 involving labor trafficking, and 48 involving unspecified forms of trafficking). This was an increase from 2022, when authorities investigated 356 suspects in 182 cases (150 involving sex trafficking, 21 involving labor trafficking, and 11 involving unspecified forms of trafficking). Authorities reported initiating prosecution of 200 suspects in 113 cases, including 36 involving sex trafficking, 17 involving labor trafficking, and 60 involving unspecified forms of trafficking. The government did not report the number of prosecutions ongoing from previous years. In comparison, authorities in 2022 reported initiating prosecutions of 162 defendants (135 accused of sex trafficking, 23 accused of labor trafficking, and four not specified) and continuing prosecutions of 143 defendants (85 for sex trafficking, 30 for labor trafficking, and 28 not specified) in cases ongoing from previous years. Some prosecutions may have been for crimes that did not meet the definition of trafficking according to international law. Courts convicted 44 traffickers, a decrease from 75 traffickers convicted in 2022. The government did not specify the types of trafficking crimes convicted traffickers committed or provide sentencing details for convicted traffickers. In the previous year, the government reported 20 convicted traffickers received prison sentences ranging from six to 20 years and fines up to 600,000 quetzals ($76,780) but did not report sentencing details for most convicted traffickers.

The National Civil Police maintained a specialized unit dedicated to investigating trafficking crimes, with a central office in Guatemala City and an office in Quetzaltenango, with jurisdiction to investigate trafficking crimes across six departments in western Guatemala. With support from an international donor, the government opened two new regional offices in Chiquimula and Huehuetenango. While these offices nominally increased investigation capabilities and expanded access to justice for victims in two departments with high trafficking risks, the government did not allocate sufficient funding. Local experts reported the specialized unit also had insufficient coverage relative to the scale of trafficking in Guatemala, and a lack of adequate

training, technology, and equipment hindered effective investigations. Observers indicated National Civil Police officers across the country lacked an understanding of human trafficking. The government had a specialized anti-trafficking prosecution unit, with offices in Guatemala City, the western region, and the northeast region; specialized prosecutors in the capital handled trafficking cases from areas not covered by the regional offices. The government did not fulfill its plan to open an additional office in Petén in 2023. The government did not allocate sufficient resources to anti-trafficking police and prosecutions units; some key positions were vacant throughout the year, and the institutions relied on international donors to fund much of their work. The government operated three specialized first instance criminal courts in Guatemala City, Quetzaltenango, and Zacapa. In 2023, the government opened two new specialized courts in the departments of Petén and Huehuetenango. Together, operating courts had jurisdiction over the prosecution of trafficking and related crimes in 18 of Guatemala’s 22 departments. However, the government expanded these courts’ jurisdiction to include immigration offenses, thereby diminishing their capacity and specialization for trafficking crimes. A judge’s approval was required for prosecutorial investigations, but the judicial system lacked adequate capacity to process cases in a timely manner. Insufficient Public Ministry (MP) resources and a lengthy appeals process caused further delays, with many legal processes lasting two to three years. Judicial officials did not always apply a victim-centered approach, and some lacked adequate training to apply forensic evidence in prosecutions. Some officials, especially those outside major urban areas, did not adequately recognize the elements and indicators of trafficking crimes and tried many cases as labor exploitation or sexual assault rather than trafficking, often leading to lesser sentences.

Corruption and official complicity in trafficking crimes remained a significant concern, inhibiting law enforcement action during the year; this problem was especially acute in border zones where government presence and rule of law were weak. Media reports based on interviews with migrants and asylum-seekers transiting Guatemala alleged police across the country routinely extorted migrants for money and some officials coerced migrants and asylum-seekers into sexual exploitation. These abuses exacerbated migrants and asylum-seekers’ existing vulnerabilities to trafficking and further deterred vulnerable individuals from reporting crimes. Corrupt members of security forces facilitated trafficking crimes and

perpetuated impunity by accepting bribes, working with criminal organizations, and/or inhibiting law enforcement. Corruption within some law enforcement institutions further hindered criminal justice efforts and undermined the rule of law.

In February 2023, authorities convicted the former head of the police’s specialized anti-trafficking investigation unit who pleaded guilty to covering up evidence tied to his involvement with a sex trafficking ring. The court imposed a commutable sentence of three years and ten months’ imprisonment. The court then reduced the sentence by half to one year and ten months’ imprisonment, with an option to pay a fine of five quetzals per day of the sentence (approximately 3,325 quetzals or $425) in lieu of prison time. This penalty was inadequate compared to the seriousness of the offense and insufficient to deter other corrupt officials. A court acquitted one prison guard and initiated prosecutions against two others arrested in the previous reporting period for alleged involvement in a sex trafficking operation exploiting inmates in a women’s prison. The government did not provide updates on a trial that began in November 2022 of a municipal mayor arrested for alleged involvement in the sex trafficking of a kidnapped 13-year-old-girl.

The government reported law enforcement authorities cooperated with unspecified foreign counterparts in one case and collaborated with authorities in the United States on an unspecified number of extradition processes related to trafficking cases. In 2023, police trained officers on the anti-trafficking law, and the judiciary held training programs on human trafficking for its employees through the judiciary’s training school. Unlike last year, the MP did not provide training programs for its personnel. The government collaborated with international donors who funded and delivered additional training for officials on investigation techniques, victim identification, and victim-centered approaches.

PROTECTION

The government maintained efforts to protect victims; however, it did not provide complete information on its victim identification and protection efforts. Authorities identified 611 victims in the last nine months of 2023, including 104 adults and 507 children. This was a significant increase from 318 victims identified by government authorities in 2022. NGOs identified an additional 348 victims in 2023, including at least four adults and 316 children. Unlike last year, the government did not disaggregate victim identification data by type of exploitation or victims’ gender. Some victims counted in these statistics may have been victims of crimes that did not constitute trafficking under international law. The government did not provide complete data on foreign victims identified; however, the government and NGOs did identify at least three U.S., two Colombian, five Honduran, one Mexican, and one Salvadoran victim(s).

The government reported providing services to 225 victims in 2023, including 13 adults and 212 children. These victims included 198 women and girls and 27 men and boys; two were individuals with disabilities and eight were foreign nationals. However, the government did not provide detail about the services provided. In the first eight months of 2023, the government referred 188 victims to NGO and government shelters, an increase from 161 victims referred to shelters in 2022, where they received services including psycho-social support, medical care, legal assistance, and education and/or vocational training. Victims referred to shelters included 24 adults and 164 children; 156 were women and girls and 32 were men and boys. The Secretariat of Social Welfare (SBS) operated two specialized shelters for child trafficking victims and the Secretariat Against Sexual Violence, Exploitation, and Trafficking in Persons (SVET) operated one shelter for migrant women trafficking victims. The government did not report the number of victims it served in government-run shelters. In comparison, government shelters served 60 residents in 2022. NGOs operated other shelters, and authorities frequently referred victims to four NGO shelters that had specialized services for trafficking victims. The government provided 2.95 million quetzals ($377,480) to one NGO service provider, a decrease from 4.5 million quetzals ($575,820) provided to a different NGO in 2022. Government agencies and NGOs cooperated to provide services to victims such as food, housing, psychological care, healthcare, education, and job training. In 2023, the government allocated 2.71 million quetzals to the SBS shelters ($346,770), a modest increase

from 2.3 million quetzals ($294,310) in 2022. The government did not report 2023 funding allocated to the SVET shelter, which received a budget of 2.39 million quetzals ($305,820) in 2022.

The government’s Interinstitutional Commission Against Trafficking-in-Persons (CIT) finalized and government institutions began implementing an updated guide for authorities from various sectors to identify, refer, and provide services to trafficking victims. Immigration officials conducted interviews with migrants prior to deportation and the government screened returning unaccompanied migrant children for trafficking indicators using SBS protocols for the attention and reception of such children in two government shelters. However, authorities returned most unaccompanied children to their families without taking steps to decrease their vulnerability to exploitation. The government did not report whether it trained immigration officials on identifying trafficking victims in migration contexts or whether immigration officials referred any potential trafficking victims to prosecutors and service providers. Authorities did not screen government-affiliated Cuban nationals working in Guatemala for trafficking indicators, despite concerns the Cuban government may have forced some of them to work.

The MP’s Comprehensive Care Unit employed social workers who conducted individual needs assessments and referral to services for victims. Guatemalan law required judges in Child and Adolescent Courts to make all referrals for children to public or private shelters. However, delays in referrals from judges sometimes delayed victims’ access to needed assistance. Judges placed some child victims with family members despite their involvement in the child’s exploitation, leaving those children vulnerable to re-trafficking.

The government’s child trafficking shelters in Guatemala City and Retalhuleu each had capacity to assist up to 30 residents at a time but frequently operated over capacity, and SVET’s shelter for women migrant victims had the capacity to assist 30 victims at a time. The government provided only limited services for adult victims of trafficking and no shelters or services for adult men. Experts noted a shortage of shelters available to assist LGBTQI+ trafficking victims. With technical assistance from an NGO, the government continued implementing a care model

to provide victim-centered, trauma-informed care through multidisciplinary teams in its two child trafficking shelters. The SBS trained officials on trafficking issues, including the implementation of a guide for providing care to LGBTQI+ adults; protection of child trafficking victims; and combating cyber-related trafficking crimes. With donor support, SVET trained government and NGO professionals who provide care to trafficking victims on victim-centered methods. The government provided few services to Indigenous victims and others in rural locations where government presence and multilingual capacity were limited. The government did not provide sufficient long-term care and reintegration support to victims and case follow up was inadequate, leaving victims vulnerable to further exploitation.

The government had policies and procedures to support victims during the criminal justice process. However, resources were insufficient to extend access to these measures to all victims. The government permitted some victims to give testimony via video, in a Gesell Chamber, or from behind a partition in the courtroom to protect the victim’s identity and privacy. The five specialized courts offered psychological services for some victims and enhanced procedures to ensure confidentiality for victims and witnesses. The MP employed social workers and psychologists to serve as liaisons between the office and victims, accompany victims through the proceedings against traffickers, and assist victims in accessing medical services. Nonetheless, NGOs reported authorities sometimes used harsh questioning that re-traumatized victims during legal proceedings. The law required judges to order restitution when sentencing traffickers, but the government did not have a mechanism to ensure victims received court-ordered payments. The government did not report any victims received restitution in 2023 and has not done so since 2016. Guatemala’s antitrafficking law provided legal alternatives to the removal of foreign victims who may face hardship or retribution upon return to their home countries. The government granted foreign victims temporary residence status. However, local stakeholders reported this was insufficient to allow foreign victims to participate in legal proceedings. Lengthy criminal justice processes, coupled with a lack of assistance to find legal employment, posed a disincentive to foreign adult victims to remain in the country for the duration of trials. These factors hindered effective prosecutions and limited foreign victims’ access to comprehensive services in Guatemala. With support from an NGO, the government updated its interagency protocol for the repatriation of trafficking victims. The

government coordinated the repatriation, funded by an international organization, of one foreign victim to their home country. Due to a lack of formal identification procedures to proactively identify victims among some vulnerable groups, such as children apprehended for gang-related criminal activity, authorities may have detained and arrested some unidentified trafficking victims.

PREVENTION

The government maintained strong prevention efforts. As the secretariat for the CIT, comprised of government institutions, NGOs, and international organizations, SVET coordinated efforts against trafficking at the national level. SVET’s 2023 budget totaled 3.61 million quetzals ($461,930). This was an increase from 2022, when the government allocated a budget of 2.83 million quetzals ($362,120) to SVET. Civil society organizations and foreign donors also provided funding to many of SVET’s initiatives, and CIT member institutions funded anti-trafficking activities from their general budgets. The government enacted a new national anti-trafficking action plan for 2024-2028. CIT members convened working sessions to update the government’s 2014-2024 public policy against trafficking, but these updates were not finalized.

SVET supported stakeholders in four departments that had local coordinating bodies comprised of government, NGO, and other stakeholders. Authorities in Huehuetenango launched a coordinating body bringing the total to five. SVET continued conducting extensive outreach programs, offering education on preventing trafficking to members of public and private institutions and public-awareness activities for members of the public. SVET continued to prioritize outreach to municipalities where reports of trafficking and history of training and outreach activities were both low, as well as municipalities with the highest youth populations according to the most recent census. With donor funding, SVET’s mobile units traveled to rural areas to raise awareness among underserved communities. However, SVET officials lacked the authority to receive complaints or refer potential victims to services, undermining the impact

of outreach efforts, particularly in remote areas with limited anti-trafficking infrastructure. SVET continued an awareness campaign to prevent trafficking among returning migrants and persons transiting Guatemala. SVET employed multilingual staff to support outreach activities in Mayan languages; it produced prevention and awareness materials in those languages as well as Spanish, Garifuna, Braille, and sign language to reach vulnerable populations. The government did not have a trafficking-specific hotline but operated several platforms for reporting crimes over the phone or online; authorities identified victims as a result of these calls but did not provide additional details.

The government continued to maintain a web portal to report child labor complaints. The government did not report whether it received any complaints involving forced child labor or if it referred any cases to law enforcement for criminal investigation. The Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (MINTRAB) conducted targeted inspections assessing workplaces for indicators of forced labor, but it lacked sufficient human and financial resources to conduct effective labor inspections and identify forced labor cases. Unlike last year, the government did not identify any trafficking victims during labor inspections. A MINTRAB policy prohibited employers or recruiters from charging workers recruitment fees but did not prescribe penalties for violating the policy. The government implemented a new law requiring private recruiters to register and receive permission to operate, but oversight and enforcement was inadequate and underfunded. The MINTRAB conducted trainings on labor rights in the United States and mechanisms for assisting exploited workers abroad for members of its technical team that facilitated Guatemalan workers’ participation in temporary work programs in the United States. MINTRAB led an inter-institutional campaign to provide prospective migrant workers with information about free labor mobility services and raise awareness of fraudulent recruitment. Authorities arrested twelve suspects on charges of fraud, money laundering, and illicit association for running a scam operation falsely promising to provide H-2 visas for work in the United States in exchange for payment.

The government continued implementing a media campaign to raise public awareness on preventing extraterritorial commercial child sexual exploitation and abuse. The government participated in a program with authorities in the United States to limit entry into Guatemala of

sex offenders convicted in the United States. In 2023, authorities denied 25 sex offenders entry into Guatemala through this program.

TRAFFICKING PROFILE:

As reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Guatemala, and traffickers exploit victims from Guatemala abroad. Traffickers exploit Guatemalan adults and children in sex trafficking within the country and in Mexico, the United States, Belize, and other countries. LGBTQI+ persons are at particular risk of sex trafficking. Foreign nationals, predominantly men from Canada, the United States, and Western Europe, as well as Guatemalan men, purchase commercial sex acts from child trafficking victims. Traffickers exploit women and children from other Latin American countries and the United States in sex trafficking in Guatemala. Traffickers exploit Guatemalan adults and children in forced labor within the country, often in agriculture or domestic service. Traffickers often target individuals internally migrating from rural areas to cities. The negative impacts of climate change on rural livelihoods are driving increased urbanization and exacerbating existing risk factors among members of underserved communities. Experts identified the coffee, broccoli, sugar, stone quarry, and fireworks manufacturing sectors as at risk for the potential use of forced child labor. Some women and girls in forced marriages are subjected to domestic servitude. Traffickers particularly target Indigenous Guatemalans, including children, for forced labor, Including in tortilla-making shops in Guatemala and foreign countries. Traffickers exploit Guatemalan children in forced labor in begging, street vending, and as street performers, particularly within Guatemala City and along the border with Mexico. Child victims’ families are often complicit in their exploitation. Local experts report online sexual exploitation of children occurs, in which traffickers sexually exploit children in live internet broadcasts in exchange for compensation. Criminal organizations, including gangs, exploit girls in sex trafficking and coerce and threaten boys and young men in urban areas to sell or transport drugs, participate in extortion, or commit murder; local experts observed an increase

in the recruitment of victims by organized criminal groups. Traffickers subject Guatemalan adults to forced labor in Mexico, the United States, and other countries, including in agriculture, the garment industry, and domestic service. Guatemalan children are vulnerable to forced labor in factories in the United States. Traffickers exploit some Latin American migrants and asylum-seekers transiting Guatemala en route to Mexico or the United States in sex trafficking or forced labor within the country or upon arrival at their destination. Traffickers frequently target the most vulnerable migrants and asylum-seekers, including members of marginalized populations that frequently experience discrimination from authorities, who are often fearful to report abuses. Migrants who rely on migrant smugglers are at particularly high risk of exploitation as they are moving outside regular migration channels and often assume debts to pay smugglers. Traffickers increasingly use online recruitment methods to reach victims, particularly children, continuing a trend that accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Traffickers have exploited victims in migrant shelters. Authorities have investigated police, military, and elected officials for paying children for sex acts, facilitating child sex trafficking, accepting bribes from traffickers, or protecting venues where trafficking occurs. Government officials in the national banking system allegedly assisted traffickers in committing money laundering crimes. Government-affiliated Cuban workers in Guatemala, including medical professionals contracted by the Guatemalan government, may have been forced to work by the Cuban government.