RECOMMENDATIONS  FOR ERITREA:
Develop, enact, and enforce an anti-trafficking statute that criminalizes all forms of trafficking, including sex trafficking and forced labor, differentiating between emigration, smuggling, and human trafficking; investigate allegations of conscripts being forced to perform duties beyond the scope of the national service program and prosecute and punish, as appropriate, those responsible; enforce existing limits on the length of national service to 18 months and cease the use of threats and physical punishment for non-compliance; ensure children under 18 sent to Sawa, the military school, do not participate in activities that amount to military service and are not forced to work; ensure victims are not punished for crimes committed as a result of being subjected to human trafficking or for fleeing government-sponsored forced labor; extend existing labor protections to persons performing national service and other mandatory citizen duties; with assistance from international organizations, provide training to all levels of government, including law enforcement officials and diplomats, on identifying and responding to trafficking crimes; in partnership with NGOs or religious entities, ensure the provision of short- term protective services to child trafficking victims; and accede to the 2000 UN TIP Protocol.

PROSECUTION
The government failed to investigate, prosecute, or convict trafficking offenders during the reporting year. Article 605 of the Eritrean Transitional Criminal Code prohibits trafficking in women and young persons for sexual exploitation, which is punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment.These penalties are sufficiently stringent, but not commensurate with punishments prescribed for other serious crimes, such as rape. Article 565 prohibits enslavement and prescribes penalties of five to 20 years’ imprisonment, which are sufficiently stringent. Labor Proclamation 118 of 2001 prohibits forced labor, though Article 3, sub-paragraph 17 of the 2001 Labor Proclamation specifically excludes national and military service or other civic obligations from the definition

of forced labor. Existing labor protections were not applicable to persons engaged in compulsory national service. Although the government issued public statements on the arrest of an unknown number of traffickers, it failed to report the details of these cases and continued to conflate transnational migration and human trafficking crimes. The government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government officials complicit in human trafficking offenses, nor did it provide anti-trafficking training to law enforcement or military personnel.

PROTECTION
The government demonstrated negligible efforts to identify or provide protection to trafficking victims. Government media continued to publicize official efforts to repatriate Eritrean females subjected to sex trafficking or domestic servitude abroad; however, it is unknown if these repatriations were voluntary.The government did not report providing assistance to these or any other victims. It failed to develop procedures to identify trafficking victims among vulnerable groups, including deported Eritreans or persons forcibly removed by Eritrean security forces from neighboring countries. Eritreans fleeing the country and those deported from abroad– including trafficking victims–were vulnerable to being arrested, detained, abused, forced to pay fines, recalled into national service, or shot by military forces.The government did not provide foreign victims with legal alternatives for their removal to countries where they faced retribution or hardship.

PREVENTION
The government sustained minimal efforts to prevent trafficking. Its efforts to prevent this crime were difficult to evaluate, as it conflated transnational migration and human trafficking. The government engaged citizens on the dangers of trafficking through awareness-raising events and poster campaigns through the Women’s Association,Youth Association, and Workers’ Federation. While the Proclamation of National Service 11/199 prohibits the recruitment of children younger than 18 years of age into the armed forces and applies sufficiently stringent penalties for this crime, children under 18 allegedly continued to be sent to Sawa for completion of their final year of education. Furthermore, the government did not have procedures for verifying the age of new recruits into governmental armed forces and was not transparent about efforts to ensure that children did not participate in compulsory activities amounting to military service or other forms of forced labor. Though the Ministry of Labor was responsible for investigating labor abuses, the government did not report information on its efforts to punish unscrupulous labor brokers or recruiters.The government did not provide anti-trafficking training or guidance for its diplomatic personnel.The government did not report efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts or forced labor. Eritrea is not a party to the 2000 UN TIP Protocol.

ESTONIA: Tier 2 
Estonia is a source, transit, and destination country for women and girls subjected to sex trafficking and for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor. Estonian women and girls are subjected to sex trafficking within Estonia and in other European countries. Men and women from Estonia are subjected to conditions of forced labor within Estonia, elsewhere in Europe, and in Australia, particularly in the construction, cleaning, and social

welfare sectors, as well as in seasonal jobs. Estonian children are exploited to commit crimes, such as theft; in some cases, they may be trafficking victims. Men from Ukraine and Poland are subjected to labor exploitation within Estonia, particularly in the construction sector. Vietnamese nationals subjected to forced labor transit Estonia en route to other EU countries.
The Government of Estonia does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. Estonian authorities secured more convictions under the country’s 2012 anti-trafficking law and sentenced two traffickers to prison, though an additional two traffickers were released on probation. Law enforcement launched the first investigation into labor trafficking, but the overall number of trafficking prosecutions continued to decline. Authorities continued to require a police report be filed for presumed victims to receive government-funded assistance; this requirement resulted in a very low level of victim identification.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ESTONIA:
Increase efforts to investigate, prosecute, and convict trafficking offenders under Article 133 of the penal code; amend the Victim Support Act to remove barriers to victim identification; increase training for judges to ensure the judiciary understands the severity of the crime when issuing sentences; encourage police and the labor inspectorate to investigate labor trafficking, including labor recruiters engaging in fraudulent practices; increase government efforts to identify victims proactively, including the screening of individuals in prostitution and migrant workers in Estonia; encourage more victims to assist prosecutions by facilitating access to legal counsel; provide specialized training to police, inspectors, and prosecutors; and inform victims of the option to pursue court-ordered compensation from their traffickers.