anti-trafficking brochures to an unknown number of departing Moldovan artiste visa holders; however, Lebanese authorities did not report identifying or offering protective services to any Moldovan sex trafficking victims. DGS also began a program to pre-brief holders of the artiste visa about restrictions and obligations of their visa status upon arrival to Beirut International Airport; under the program, if the visa holder objects to the obligations and restrictions, she is free to return to her home country.
In November 2014, the labor minister banned recruitment agencies from advertising their services, a violation that could be prosecuted under the anti-trafficking law. In February 2015, the labor minister also called for the adoption of a draft law to reduce the vulnerability of migrant domestic workers, but the law was not enacted at the end of the reporting period. DGS periodically issued circulars calling on Lebanese employers to abide by guest worker regulations. MOL and DGS have the authority to close or penalize employment agencies that exploit migrant workers; MOL closed 15 agencies for committing employment violations, while DGS blacklisted 56 recruitment agencies.Throughout the reporting period, MOL and ISF required Syrian nationals to have work permits in specific sectors; this requirement increased Syrian refugees’ vulnerability to trafficking by legally binding them to their employers under the sponsorship system. Lebanese peacekeeping troops continued to receive mandatory training on sexual exploitation and abuse but not specifically on human trafficking.The government made efforts to reduce the demand for forced labor in March 2015 when it closed and referred for prosecution a recruitment agency responsible for advertising short-term, cheap foreign domestic workers to the public. The government did not take any steps to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts or address child sex tourism by Lebanese nationals abroad.The government did not provide anti-trafficking training or guidance for its diplomatic personnel.

LESOTHO:  Tier  2 Watch List    
Lesotho is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking, and for men subjected to forced labor. In Lesotho and in South Africa, Basotho women and children are subjected to domestic servitude, and children—both boys and girls—increasingly endure commercial sexual exploitation. Basotho women and girls voluntarily migrate to South Africa seeking work in domestic service and upon arrival are detained in prison-like conditions or forced to engage in prostitution. Some Basotho men, who migrate voluntarily, though illegally, to South Africa for work in agriculture and mining, become victims of forced labor; many work for weeks or months before their employers turn them over to South African authorities for deportation on immigration violations to avoid paying them. Basotho are also coerced into committing crimes, including theft, drug dealing, and smuggling under threat of violence or through forced drug use. Chinese and Nigerian organized crime rings reportedly acquire Basotho victims while transporting foreign victims through Lesotho to Bloemfontein or Johannesburg. The trend of foreign nationals subjecting their compatriots to trafficking in Lesotho, first observed in 2011, reportedly continued, although no specific cases were identified by government or NGO stakeholders during the reporting period.
The Government of Lesotho does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it

is making significant efforts to do so. Despite these measures, the government did not demonstrate overall increasing anti-trafficking efforts compared to the previous reporting period; therefore, Lesotho is placed on Tier 2 Watch List for a third consecutive year. Lesotho was granted a waiver from an otherwise required downgrade to Tier 3 because its government has a written plan that, if implemented, would constitute making significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, and it has committed to devoting sufficient resources to implement that plan.The government finalized the National Anti-Trafficking in Persons Strategic Framework and Action Plan. However, the government failed to initiate any prosecutions during the reporting period and has not successfully prosecuted and punished a trafficking offender under the 2011 anti-trafficking act. In addition, it did not address systematic weaknesses—including alleged complicity and questions of jurisdiction among courts. The government identified 11 trafficking victims and referred five for care. However, overall efforts to protect victims remained minimal, as the government did not develop formal referral procedures or establish victim care centers—key elements of the 2011 anti-trafficking act that remained unimplemented for the fifth consecutive year. The government continued its reliance on NGOs to identify and assist victims, without providing funding or in-kind support for these services; during the year, this led to one NGO suspending its shelter operations.

RECOMMENDATIONS   FOR LESOTHO:
Enact implementing regulations for the 2011 anti-trafficking act and address jurisdictional issues impeding the hearing of trafficking cases in the Basotho court system; increase efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking offenses under the 2011 act, including both internal and transnational cases; provide care to victims of trafficking via government-run centers or in partnership with international organizations or NGOs; develop a formal system to proactively identify trafficking victims among vulnerable populations and refer them to care, in line with the 2011 act; differentiate the process of victim identification from the prosecution of trafficking offenders; provide adequate resources to support anti-trafficking efforts, especially provision of protection services such as victim witness support; increase oversight of labor recruitment agencies licensed in Lesotho; implement the national action plan and strategic framework; investigate and prosecute complicit officials; and initiate use of a data collection system to analyze data on victims identified and assisted, trafficking offenses investigated and prosecuted, and trafficking offenders convicted and punished.

PROSECUTION
The government sustained minimal anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts. The Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act, effective January 2011, prohibits and punishes all forms of trafficking in persons. It prescribes penalties of up to 25 years’ imprisonment or a fine of one million maloti ($82,850) under Section 5(1) for the trafficking of adults and up to life imprisonment or a fine of two million maloti ($165,700) under Section 5(2) for the trafficking of children; these penalties are sufficiently stringent and commensurate