Sierra Leone has remained on Tier 2 in the 2026 Trafficking in Persons Report, as the government intensifies efforts to combat human trafficking but continues to face challenges in victim protection, funding and prosecution.
The report states that the government has not fully met the minimum standards for eliminating human trafficking but is making significant efforts to address the problem.
It highlights progress in investigating and prosecuting trafficking cases, identifying victims, providing assistance and resuming operations of the toll-free anti-trafficking hotline. However, it raises concerns over limited victim services, inadequate funding and a decline in the number of traffickers convicted.
More Cases Investigated, Fewer Convictions
According to the report, authorities investigated 39 trafficking cases and prosecuted 39 suspects during the reporting period, compared with 13 cases investigated and 20 suspects prosecuted in the previous period.
However, convictions fell from four traffickers to just two. The government also failed to provide sentencing information for those convicted.
The report further notes that no investigations, prosecutions or convictions were reported involving government officials allegedly complicit in trafficking, despite persistent concerns about corruption and official involvement that could undermine law enforcement efforts.
The Anti-Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling Act of 2022 criminalises both sex trafficking and labour trafficking, prescribing a minimum prison sentence of 25 years.
Despite the legal framework, shortages of resources, inadequate training and limited knowledge of trafficking laws continue to hamper investigations and prosecutions. In some instances, trafficking offences are investigated or prosecuted under alternative laws carrying lesser penalties.
72 Victims Identified and Assisted
On victim protection, the report indicates that the government identified and referred 72 trafficking victims to care, up from 57 in the previous reporting period.
The victims comprised 37 women, four men, 18 boys and 13 girls. The government also reported assisting all 72 victims, compared with no reported assistance in the previous period.
However, the country continues to lack sufficient shelters for trafficking survivors and relies heavily on non-governmental organisations to provide accommodation, healthcare, counselling, legal assistance and repatriation services.
Two NGOs provide shelter services for female and child victims, while support for male victims remains limited.
The government, in partnership with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), reportedly provided in-kind assistance valued at 829,500 new leones, equivalent to approximately US$35,000, to the two NGOs supporting victims.
The report also notes that the government has policies to protect foreign trafficking victims from being returned to countries where they could face persecution or hardship. Victim-witness assistance is available to support participation in criminal proceedings, although courts did not award restitution to victims as part of criminal sentences.
Prevention Efforts Continue Amid Funding Cuts
The government maintained its interagency anti-trafficking task force and continued implementing its 2024–2028 National Action Plan.
It also established a survivor network to incorporate the experiences and views of trafficking survivors into prevention and response programmes.
However, funding for prevention activities declined significantly, from NLe245,700, approximately US$10,876, in the previous reporting period to NLe90,000, or about US$3,797.
Public awareness campaigns were conducted in collaboration with an international organisation and the Sierra Leone Football Association, targeting communities and groups vulnerable to trafficking.
The government also resumed its toll-free anti-trafficking hotline, with two telecommunications companies partnering with the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Agency (ATIP) to distribute SIM cards to help the public report suspected cases.
The report commended Sierra Leone’s efforts to regulate labour recruitment agencies and hold them accountable for fraudulent recruitment practices. Recruitment agencies must obtain overseas recruitment licences, while prospective migrant workers are required to undergo documentation checks before receiving exit permits and travel clearances.
The government also began enforcing an ethical recruitment policy aimed at preventing workers from paying recruitment fees.
Nevertheless, the report found that Sierra Leone had not taken adequate measures to prevent forced labour and child labour in supply chains. It also noted that anti-trafficking training for diplomatic personnel was not reported, although troops received training before deployment on peacekeeping missions.
Rural Communities and Children Among Those at Risk
The report identifies children in welfare institutions, homeless children, female migrants and people living in low-income communities as particularly vulnerable to trafficking and exploitation.
Traffickers reportedly move victims from rural communities to urban centres and mining areas, where they exploit them in sex trafficking and forced labour across agriculture, artisanal diamond and granite mining, domestic service, fishing, begging, petty trading, quarrying and rock breaking.
Children who beg, migrant workers and people in economically disadvantaged communities face heightened risks of forced labour. Traffickers also exploit victims through harmful customary practices, including forced marriages.
The report further warns that traffickers prey on people affected by natural disasters, using false promises of overseas employment to lure them into exploitation. Social media has also become a tool for recruiters who advertise fake jobs and employment opportunities.
Sierra Leoneans Exploited Abroad
Beyond its borders, Sierra Leone continues to face challenges involving citizens trafficked to other West African countries, the Middle East and Europe.
Sierra Leonean women are reportedly exploited in domestic servitude in countries including Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon and Oman, while other migrants face forced labour and sex trafficking.
The report also highlights allegations that unscrupulous recruiters, including individuals linked to Russian officials, fraudulently recruited young women aged 18 to 22 from several regions, including Sierra Leone, under the pretext of vocational training before placing them in military drone production facilities.
Reported conditions at these sites include hazardous working environments, surveillance, excessive working hours, wage violations, changes to employment contracts and recruitment fees imposed on workers — indicators associated with human trafficking.
Additionally, some Sierra Leoneans have reportedly been trafficked into online scam operations abroad.
The report underscores the need for stronger law enforcement, increased funding, expanded victim services and more effective prevention measures to address trafficking both within Sierra Leone and beyond its borders.
