reintegration assistance was available for an additional 12 months. Male victims were accommodated in separate shelters run by NGOs, though space was limited. Child trafficking victims received an automatic residence permit until they reached 18 and were accommodated in generalized children’s centers; specialized services and shelters for child trafficking victims did not exist. Experts criticized disparate levels of assistance across the country. Referral processes varied from region to region and were based on memoranda of understanding signed between local police and NGOs. According to NGOs, trafficking victims amongst irregular migrants, asylum seekers, and unaccompanied children went unidentified due to inconsistent application of identification criteria by officials. Under Italian law, victims were not punished if they were forced to commit a criminal offense as a result of being subjected to trafficking; however, there were reports some victims were charged with immigration-related crimes.

PREVENTION
The government sustained limited trafficking prevention efforts. The government did not finalize its first national anti-trafficking action plan, despite a March 2014 legislative decree requiring it to do so. It also did not implement any nationwide public awareness campaigns. The government lacked a national anti- trafficking coordinator, and there was no national rapporteur to conduct independent evaluations of anti-trafficking efforts. The government’s hotline for victims of trafficking received over 4,000 calls for information in 2014, of which 769 were directly related to trafficking. Local authorities and NGOs continued to distribute brochures, posters, bumper stickers, and media advertisements providing information on victim assistance. The government coordinated an interagency working group to generate guidelines for victim identification and referral as part of the creation of the national plan. The government made efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts and forced labor.The government provided anti-trafficking training to Italian troops prior to their deployment abroad as part of international peacekeeping missions.The government provided anti-trafficking training for its diplomatic personnel.

JAMAICA:  Tier  2 Watch List      
Jamaica is a source and destination country for adults and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor. Sex trafficking of Jamaican women and children reportedly occurs on streets and in night clubs, bars, massage parlors, and private homes, including in resort towns. Jamaican citizens have been subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor abroad, including in other Caribbean countries, Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Communities vulnerable to sex trafficking and forced labor include residents of Jamaica’s poverty-stricken areas ruled by criminal “dons,” who remain effectively outside of the government’s control, and workers in the informal sector, particularly on family farms and in markets and shops.A high number of children are reported missing in Jamaica; some of these children are likely subjected to forced labor or sex trafficking. Foreign nationals are subjected to forced labor in Jamaica and aboard foreign-flagged fishing vessels operating in Jamaican waters. NGOs and other local observers report child sex tourism is a problem in Jamaica’s resort areas. Jamaican police officers may be complicit in prostitution rings, some of which are alleged to recruit children and coerce adults into the sex trade.

The Government of Jamaica does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. In 2014, the government made substantive efforts to raise public awareness of human trafficking. The government also named a national trafficking in persons rapporteur, the first such appointment in the region, who will report directly to Parliament.The director of public prosecution successfully concluded a trafficking case at the Supreme Court. Despite these measures, the government did not demonstrate evidence of overall increasing anti-trafficking efforts compared to the previous reporting period; therefore, Jamaica is placed on Tier 2 Watch List. For the sixth consecutive year, the government did not convict any traffickers, including officials complicit in human trafficking.While the government identified more Jamaican adult trafficking victims than in the previous reporting period, it only identified one child victim compared with the high number of children vulnerable to both sex trafficking and forced labor.

RECOMMENDATIONS  FOR  JAMAICA:
Vigorously prosecute, convict, and punish traffickers, including any officials complicit in sex or labor trafficking; identify and assist more victims of forced labor and sex trafficking, including prostituted Jamaican children; develop a new, comprehensive national action plan with adequate funding dedicated to implement the plan; fully implement government-wide standard operating procedures to guide police, labor inspectors, child welfare officials, and health workers in the proactive identification of local and foreign victims of forced labor and sex trafficking, including children under age 18 in prostitution in night clubs, bars, and massage parlors; develop and implement standards for shelter and trafficking victim care designed to move victims toward self-sufficiency; provide the necessary authority and support to the newly appointed national rapporteur on trafficking in persons to carry out the mandate to investigate reports of human trafficking, report on violations of the rights of victims, and provide an annual report to the government; and continue efforts to raise awareness about human trafficking of Jamaican citizens and foreign nationals.

PROSECUTION
The government did not secure any trafficking convictions; however, it successfully concluded a trafficking trial at the Supreme Court, which resulted in a hung jury, and continued to pursue 13 trafficking cases in the court system. The government prohibits all forms of trafficking through its comprehensive Trafficking in Persons (Prevention, Suppression, and Punishment) Act. Maximum sentences for trafficking crimes range from 20 years’ imprisonment for trafficking in persons and conspiracy to commit trafficking to 30 years’ imprisonment for aggravated trafficking in persons. In April 2014, officials enacted the Criminal Justice Act, which may be used to prosecute traffickers who are members of a “criminal organization” with penalties of five to 15 years’ imprisonment. These penalties are sufficiently stringent and commensurate with penalties prescribed for other serious crimes.

Jamaica’s laws against human trafficking are sufficient; however, the government has not convicted any traffickers in the previous six years. Chronic delays in the justice system seriously impeded trafficking and other violent crime prosecutions. The Ministry of Justice is undertaking a judicial reform program to improve efficiency. Authorities reportedly initiated 38 new trafficking investigations, compared with 27 in 2013, leading to the arrest of five individuals for suspected sex trafficking crimes in 2014. Prosecutors initiated prosecutions of five individuals in 2014, including a former government official, for violations of the anti- trafficking law, compared with four prosecutions initiated in 2013. The government continued 10 trafficking prosecutions from previous reporting periods including seven sex trafficking, two forced labor, and one domestic servitude prosecution. In one of these cases, the case was delayed because of the need to appoint legal counsel for the suspected trafficker. Authorities reported no new investigations or any convictions of government officials for alleged complicity in trafficking-related offenses.The Jamaican police, in collaboration with Bahamian counterparts, oversaw the investigation that led to the successful prosecution and 2014 conviction inThe Bahamas of a Jamaican national for sex trafficking. The government funded and provided trafficking training for 168 police officers, judges, and magistrates.