Some victims were reluctant to testify due to fear of reprisals from traffickers. Sex trafficking victims were eligible for short-term protection under a program for witnesses, but authorities did not report how many victims received protection in 2014.There were no reports victims were penalized for unlawful acts committed as a result of being subjected to human trafficking, though in past years police officers deported foreign citizens in trabalho escravo. The government ombudsman recommended foreign victims should be offered refugee status, although authorities did not report how many victims, if any, received this status in 2014.

PREVENTION
The government continued prevention efforts, but coordination among initiatives focused on different forms of trafficking was uneven.The national committee on trafficking included selected NGOs, and officials maintained a separate commission to eradicate trabalho escravo. Authorities issued two reports in 2014 on efforts to implement the 2013-2016 plan for movement-based trafficking. Most federal ministries reported reduced budgets limited their ability to implement the plan. State anti-trafficking offices often lacked adequate human resources and budgets, and interagency coordination was weak in several states. Federal, state, and municipal entities undertook anti-trafficking initiatives and awareness efforts.The MOL published a public list identifying individuals and businesses responsible for trabalho escravo; some companies sued to be removed from the list. The July 2014 list cited 609 employers who were denied access to credit by public and private financial institutions because of this designation.The federal supreme court issued a preliminary ruling to ban the publication of the list in December 2014, and reports indicated in early 2015 major banks and other institutions that would previously not extend credit to companies on this list began to do so. Sao Paulo state law penalized companies using trabalho escravo in their supply chain. Authorities continued awareness campaigns in an effort to reduce the demand for commercial sexual exploitation of children. Officials did not report any new investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of child sex tourists in 2014.There was no reported progress on an ongoing prosecution of a case initially investigated in 2007 involving a fishing tour company that brought U.S. citizens to engage in child sex tourism with indigenous girls in Amazonas state. Brazilian military troops received anti-trafficking training prior to their deployment abroad on international peacekeeping missions.The government provided anti-trafficking training or guidance for its diplomatic personnel.

BRUNEI:  Tier 2 
Brunei is a destination and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking. Men and women from countries in Asia such as Indonesia, Bangladesh, China, the Philippines,Thailand, and Malaysia migrate to Brunei primarily for domestic work, or on social visit passes or tourist visas; some are subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude upon their arrival. Some migrants who transit through Brunei become victims of sex or labor trafficking upon arrival in Malaysia or Indonesia. Some women and girls are subjected to sex trafficking. Some victims are subjected to debt bondage, nonpayment of wages, passport confiscation, physical abuse, or confinement. Although it is illegal for employers in Brunei to withhold wages of domestic workers, some employers withhold wages to recoup labor broker or recruitment fees or to compel the continued service of workers.

Though prohibited by law, retention of migrant workers’ travel documents by employers or agencies remains a common practice. Government officials have been investigated for complicity in trafficking  offenses, including  domestic servitude.
The Government of Brunei does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. The government continued national campaigns to raise trafficking awareness among government officials, foreign diplomatic missions, and members of the public. Authorities identified two suspected sex trafficking victims, but did not prosecute or convict any traffickers. The government did not investigate any cases of forced labor compelled through debt bondage or threats of deportation, though these practices continued to occur. It fined one employer for failing to pay the salary of a domestic worker—a violation known to contribute to trafficking.

RECOMMENDATIONS  FOR  BRUNEI:
Increase efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking offenses and convict and punish both sex and labor traffickers, including complicit government officials; increase protective services to provide incentives for victims to participate in investigations and prosecutions, including by allowing adult victims in government shelters to come and go freely and by issuing work permits to all victims; enforce laws prohibiting acts which facilitate trafficking, such as retention or confiscation of migrant workers’ identity documents; do not arrest, deport, or otherwise punish trafficking victims for crimes committed as a direct result of being subjected to trafficking; train officials on proactive procedures to identify victims of trafficking among vulnerable groups, with a focus on psychological coercion as a technique used by traffickers; allocate government resources to the fund established by the 2004 law, and allow this to be paid directly to victims as restitution; train judges on Brunei’s anti-trafficking laws; provide anti-trafficking training to Bruneian diplomatic personnel; continue comprehensive and visible anti-trafficking awareness campaigns directed at employers of foreign workers and clients of the sex trade; and accede to the 2000 UN TIP Protocol.

PROSECUTION
The government did not prosecute or convict any traffickers for the second consecutive year. Brunei prohibits both sex and labor trafficking through its Trafficking and Smuggling Persons Order of 2004, which prescribes punishments of up to 30 years’ imprisonment. These punishments are sufficiently stringent and commensurate with penalties prescribed for other serious offenses, such as rape.The penal code includes a prohibition on traveling outside the country for commercial sex with children, prescribing a punishment of up to 10 years’ imprisonment. In 2014, the government screened for suspected trafficking offenses among 81 cases involving labor complaints or prostitution, but it did not prosecute or convict any traffickers. One case of suspected sex

trafficking was investigated and remained pending at the close of the reporting period, and an investigation from the previous reporting period remained ongoing. Officials referred cases involving prostitution, unpaid wages, workers fleeing their place of employment, or physical abuse of workers to the Human Trafficking Unit (HTU) of the Royal Brunei Police Force (RBPF) for investigation of potential trafficking. Some referred cases were prosecuted for other offenses.The government continued to provide anti-trafficking training to police officers in the RBPF. Judicial officials, who did not receive anti-trafficking training, sometimes interpreted Brunei’s laws to require deception at the recruitment stage; authorities did not effectively prosecute and convict suspects under human trafficking laws when victims migrated willingly and were not deceived about the sector of work they would be entering in Brunei. Officials cited the lack of incentives for victims to remain in Brunei and participate in investigations as an impediment to effective law enforcement.There were no investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government officials complicit in human trafficking offenses.