PROTECTION
Government efforts to protect victims of trafficking remained inadequate; it identified three adult female trafficking victims associated with the case who were prosecuted during the reporting period. While efforts to encourage victims to participate in the prosecution of their traffickers remained lacking in 2014, the judge overseeing the one trial heard during the year assured victims they would not be deported or harmed and provided them modest support. However, the government did not provide shelter, medical care, or counseling to these or any other victims of trafficking in 2014. It lacked a formal system to proactively identify victims of trafficking among high-risk populations, such as undocumented immigrants and persons in prostitution. Official round-ups, detentions, and deportations of non-Djiboutian residents, including children, remained routine. Among undocumented foreigners, the government focused on identifying their country of origin and deporting them; it did not consistently screen this population for trafficking victimization. However, the gendarmes reportedly increased coordination with an international organization to transfer voluntary economic migrants, including potential victims of trafficking, to either medical facilities or the Migrant Response Center, as needed. The government provided funding for local Djiboutian NGOs, which operated counseling centers and other programs that may have assisted trafficking victims.The government detained street children, including potential trafficking victims, following sweeps to clear the streets in advance of holidays or national events; after detention, if identified as Ethiopian or Somali, immigration officials transported the children to Ali Sabieh, near the Ethiopian border, and abandoned them there, leaving them vulnerable to potential re-trafficking. At the same time, in partnership with an international organization, the government provided training to senior officials on protection approaches for vulnerable and trafficked migrant children traveling through the country and larger Gulf of Aden. Although the

government implemented a program to grant residency status to undocumented Ethiopian migrants, a population vulnerable to trafficking in Djibouti, it did not formally offer foreign trafficking victims legal alternatives to removal to countries where they may face hardship or retribution.The Ministry of the Interior, the agency responsible for protection of refugees, and the Ethiopian embassy collaborated on the voluntary return of 600 Ethiopians from Djibouti in 2014, some of whom may have been trafficking victims.

PREVENTION
Although the government updated and extended its national action plan through 2020, tangible efforts to prevent trafficking were minimal overall. In coordination with the government, an international organization distributed awareness-raising materials— targeting prospective migrants and those in transit—which covered the differences between trafficking and smuggling, the dangers of irregular migration, and provided phone numbers for emergency services in Djibouti. The anti-trafficking working group led by the Ministry of Justice continued to lead anti-trafficking efforts during the year; however, the lack of ministerial coordination across the government to combat this crime continued to be a concern.The government reportedly arrested clients of women in prostitution, but did not take any other known measures to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts or make efforts to minimize the demand for forced labor. It provided Djiboutian troops with anti-trafficking training prior to their deployment abroad on international peacekeeping missions, though such training was conducted by a foreign donor.The government did not provide anti-trafficking training or guidance for its diplomatic personnel.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC:
Tier 2 
The Dominican Republic is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor. Large numbers of Dominican women and children are subjected to sex trafficking throughout the Dominican Republic, the Caribbean, Europe, South and Central America, the Middle East, Asia, and the United States. Commercial sexual exploitation of local children by foreign tourists and locals persists, particularly in coastal resort areas of the Dominican Republic. NGO research indicates sex trafficking of 15- to 17-year-old girls occurs in the street, parks, and on beaches. Traffickers lure Dominican and foreign women to work in night clubs in the Middle East, the Caribbean, and Latin America and subject them to sex trafficking. Dominican officials and NGOs have documented cases of children forced into domestic service, street vending, begging, agricultural work, construction, and moving of illicit narcotics.There are reports of forced labor of adults in construction, agricultural, and service sectors.Vulnerable populations include working children and street children, migrant workers, and undocumented or stateless persons of Haitian descent. NGOs and people in prostitution report police complicity and abuse of people in prostitution, including in areas known for child sex trafficking.
The Government of the Dominican Republic does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so.The government prosecuted an increased number of labor and sex trafficking defendants and punished offenders with imprisonment. The

government referred more victims to care in 2014 and sustained efforts aimed at preventing human trafficking. The government, however, continued to lack trafficking-specific victim assistance. The government began implementing a naturalization law that provides a path to citizenship for persons affected by the 2013 Constitutional Tribunal ruling, but a sizeable group may be left without legal status, increasing their vulnerability to trafficking. The government reported no new investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of officials complicit in trafficking.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC:
Vigorously prosecute trafficking offenses and convict and punish offenders involved in forced labor and sex trafficking, especially complicit government employees; continue robust victim identification efforts by working with NGOs to guide labor officials in how to identify trafficking victims (especially adult and child victims in the sex trade and in the agriculture and construction sectors) and refer them to available services; adequately fund specialized services for adult and child trafficking victims; work with NGOs to provide adequate shelter and services to adult and child victims; screen those affected by new migration policies for trafficking indicators and assist identified victims; and implement a forced labor and sex trafficking awareness campaign in Spanish and Creole.