PROSECUTION
The government continued efforts against transnational sex trafficking and increased investigation of internal sex trafficking but took minimal steps to prosecute and convict labor traffickers and internal sex traffickers.Article 188 A of the penal code prohibits all forms of trafficking and prescribes punishments of 13 to 23 years’ imprisonment plus fines up to 1,500 times the monthly minimum wage, penalties that are sufficiently stringent and commensurate with those prescribed for other serious crimes, such as rape. In 2014, authorities modified the penal code to specifically penalize benefiting from the sexual exploitation of a person within the context of armed conflict.
Data on law enforcement efforts was incomplete, as some internal trafficking cases were categorized as other crimes; for example, internal child sex trafficking cases were frequently investigated as induction into prostitution and pimping. Police reported nine anti- trafficking operations involving 26 suspects—six for international sex trafficking and three for domestic sex trafficking—and 176 possible trafficking cases referred from the anti-trafficking hotline. Prosecutors reported opening 15 new transnational trafficking investigations and 107 internal trafficking investigations, though it was unclear in how many cases charges were filed against alleged traffickers or how many cases involved labor trafficking.Authorities initiated trials in four transnational trafficking cases (one of which was for labor trafficking) and two internal trafficking cases involving an unknown number of defendants. In comparison, prosecutors reported 44 new investigations for transnational trafficking and eight cases brought to trial in 2013. The government convicted five transnational sex traffickers and two internal sex traffickers, compared with 11 transnational sex traffickers and one internal sex trafficker in 2013. Sentences ranged from three to 22 years’ imprisonment, including one sentence served as house arrest, and were subject to appeal. Statistical information for the number of investigations, prosecutions, or convictions in 2014 for the forcible recruitment or forcible use of children by illegal armed groups was not provided.The government did not report any convictions for other forms of forced labor, despite a 2013 constitutional court directive ordering authorities to increase law enforcement efforts against domestic servitude. Authorities collaborated with U.S. and Latin American officials on anti-trafficking law enforcement operations  and investigations.
One prosecutor handled all transnational trafficking cases for the entire country, and one prosecutor in Bogota oversaw cases of internal trafficking and migrant smuggling in the city. Outside of the capital, some designated local prosecutors handled internal trafficking cases in addition to their existing workloads. Many of these prosecutors were overburdened, underfunded, and lacked trafficking expertise.Authorities launched a prosecutorial working group to improve coordination on trafficking investigations. Social workers and other officials interacting with potential trafficking victims, such as children in commercial sexual exploitation or in the worst forms of child labor, did not always refer these cases for criminal investigation. Officials and experts reported some authorities would not proactively investigate trafficking cases without an official complaint. Government officials did not consider forced child recruitment or forced criminal activity by illegal armed groups or organized criminal groups as human trafficking, and these forms of trafficking were not investigated or prosecuted as such. Authorities trained a variety of officials— including prosecutors, judicial officials, police, and labor inspectors— on human trafficking, often through partnerships with international

organizations. The government provided no updates on a 2013 investigation of a city councilman and municipal employee in the department of Antioquia for possible involvement in commercial sexual exploitation of minors. Authorities did not report any other investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees complicit in trafficking.

PROTECTION
The government provided some services to victims, but long- term protection was inadequate and victim identification uneven. Some officials reportedly used established protocols to identify victims, but authorities did not effectively employ procedures to identify victims among vulnerable populations in the country, such as child laborers or displaced Colombians. NGOs criticized the government’s ability to identify and assist trafficking victims in the country.The MOI reported authorities identified 62 Colombian trafficking victims in 2014; 53 Colombian citizens exploited abroad and nine internal victims, including two children and one forced labor victim. Of victims identified abroad, 28 were exploited in sex trafficking, 22 in labor trafficking, and three were in servile marriage, which Colombian authorities considered to be trafficking. This compares with 60 Colombian victims identified abroad in 2013. In addition, authorities reported four foreign labor trafficking victims identified in Colombia. The Colombian Child Welfare Institute (ICBF) identified 96 girls and 12 boys in prostitution and no children in forced labor—compared with 158 children in prostitution and nine children in forced labor in 2013—but did not identify these children as trafficking victims. Given the low number of internal child sex trafficking victims reported by the MOI, it appeared the requirement for officials to report all trafficking cases to the MOI was not consistently implemented. Labor inspectors did not report identifying any forced labor victims and had limited access to some areas, such as illegal mining sites. Authorities and an international organization identified at least 243 children who separated from illegal armed groups in 2014, compared with 342 in 2013. Of these children, 96 were girls; 147 boys; 46 indigenous; and 42 Afro-Colombian.
The government provided some services to Colombian victims its funding for specialized assistance was inadequate. Local officials, NGOs, and trafficking victims all asserted government- funded victim care did not meet victims’ needs and reintegration services, such as employment assistance, were virtually nonexistent. Specialized care and shelter for child sex trafficking victims was lacking in most of the country. Services for male and transgender victims were very limited. NGOs reported victims found it easier to access services as victims of armed conflict than as trafficking victims, especially given the requirement to file an official complaint, which served as a disincentive for them to self-identify. In June 2014, authorities approved Law 1069, which outlines benefits, procedures, and responsibilities related to the protection of trafficking victims.This law defines short-term assistance as up to five days and medium-term assistance as up to six months. NGOs criticized the law for requiring victims to file an official complaint against their traffickers to receive medium-term assistance and for not sufficiently addressing long-term assistance needs. The government continued to fund an international organization to facilitate victim repatriation—53 in 2014—and provide services, including through sub-contracts to NGOs. Authorities did not report how much funding was paid out to these NGOs in 2014. Through this funding an NGO operated a dedicated emergency shelter for adult trafficking victims in Bogota, which provided temporary shelter to 12 Colombian victims in 2014, compared