PROTECTION
The government maintained modest efforts to protect trafficking victims during the year and remained without a process for screening vulnerable populations to identify victims or provide official designation of trafficking victim status. Officials identified and provided shelter to at least five potential trafficking victims during the year, as compared to 14 identified and two sheltered in 2013.
Ordinarily, upon identification of a woman or child victim of crime, including trafficking, police transferred the victim to the Women and Child Protection Unit (WACPU), which has responsibility for referring victims of all crimes to temporary shelter and medical assistance provided by NGOs or other entities.The government did not have formal written procedures to guide officials on the identification of victims or their subsequent referral to care. WACPU’s facilities offered initial psycho-social, legal, and medical support to victims of crime, in cooperation with the Namibian Police, MGECW, the Ministry of Health, and NGOs; however, it remained unclear whether trafficking victims received such services during the year. At least some of the seven renovated facilities that provide long-term accommodations for women and child victims of gender-based violence and human trafficking under the management of MGECW remained inoperative, without the capacity or staff to provide victim services during the year. MGECW provided a social worker and partial coverage of operational costs to the one NGO-managed facility.The NGO- managed facility assisted several trafficking victims during the year.
The government did not have a policy in place to encourage victims’ participation in investigations. The law provides that special accommodations may be made for vulnerable witnesses, potentially including trafficking victims; however, there was no evidence these measures have been employed in trafficking cases. There were no reports victims were detained, fined, or jailed for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being subjected to trafficking. The government neither made systematic efforts to identify trafficking victims nor employed any mechanism for screening among illegal migrants or individuals in prostitution, which may have left victims unidentified in the law enforcement

system. Although no foreign victims were identified in Namibia in 2014, there continued to be reports among local authorities in Rundu and NGOs in Windhoek that police and immigration officials deport foreign street children. In addition, the government remained without the ability to provide temporary or permanent residency to foreign victims.

PREVENTION
The government made minimal efforts to prevent human trafficking during the reporting period. The government did not conduct any significant awareness campaigns during the reporting period. The MGECW coordinated an inter-ministerial committee and technical working group both specifically tasked to address trafficking efforts in collaboration with other ministries at the working level; however, it is unclear whether these entities were able to coordinate efforts or delegate responsibilities to relevant stakeholder ministries in developing and implementing trafficking programming. The government appeared to make only limited progress toward implementing the National Plan of Action on Gender-Based Violence 2012-2016, including the anti-trafficking strategy portions of the plan. The Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare employed 67 labor inspectors and 21 occupational health and safety inspectors in 2014, which were responsible for enforcing laws against child labor; however, inspectors did not formally identify any child labor violations during the 2,187 labor and 561 occupational health and safety inspections conducted in 2014.The government did not make efforts to reduce demand for commercial sex acts or forced labor.The government did not report any measures taken to prevent trafficking among Namibian diplomats posted abroad.The government did not provide anti- trafficking training or guidance to its diplomatic personnel.

NEPAL:  Tier 2 
Nepal is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking. Nepali women and girls are subjected to sex trafficking in Nepal, India, the Middle East,Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. Nepali men, women, and children are subjected to forced labor in Nepal, India, the Middle East, Asia, and the United States in construction, factories, mines, domestic work, begging, and the adult entertainment industry. In many cases, this forced labor is facilitated by manpower agencies engaged in fraudulent recruitment and the imposition of high fees. Unregistered migrants—including the large number of Nepalis who travel through India or rely on unregistered recruiting agents—are particularly vulnerable to forced labor. Some migrants from Bangladesh and possibly other countries transit Nepal en route to employment in the Middle East, using potentially falsified Nepali travel documents, and may be subjected to human trafficking. Some government officials are reportedly bribed to include false information in genuine Nepali passports or to provide fraudulent documents to prospective labor migrants, a tactic used by unscrupulous recruiters to evade recruitment regulations. Nepali and Indian children are subjected to forced labor in the country, especially in domestic work, brick kilns, and the embroidered textile, or zari, industry. Bonded labor exists in agriculture, brick kilns, the stone-breaking industry, and domestic work.
The Government of Nepal does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making

significant efforts to do so. The government increased efforts to prosecute suspected trafficking offenders in 2014, resulting in 203 convictions. The government issued an implementation plan for its National Plan of Action (NPA) and increased funding allocations to each of the 75 districts for establishment of at least three new village-level anti-trafficking committees. However, the government’s victim identification and protection efforts remained inadequate. In the course of police raids, there were reports police sometimes detained sex trafficking victims and subsequently returned them to their traffickers. Victims frequently retracted their witness statements following alleged threats by traffickers. The government inconsistently implemented anti-trafficking laws, as many government officials continued to employ a narrow definition of human trafficking and domestic sex and labor trafficking victims and male victims of transnational labor trafficking were only marginally protected, often leading to repeated victimization.

RECOMMENDATIONS  FOR  NEPAL:
Increase law enforcement efforts against all forms of trafficking, including sex trafficking of Nepali females within Nepal, and against officials complicit in trafficking-related crimes; ensure victims are not punished for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being subjected to trafficking; revise the Human Trafficking and Transportation (Control) Act (HTTCA), or draft new legislation to bring the definition of human trafficking in line with international law; institute formal procedures to proactively identify trafficking victims and refer them to protection services; respecting due process, prosecute suspected labor trafficking offenders and Nepali labor recruiters accused of charging excessive fees or engaging in fraudulent recruitment; lift current bans on migration for domestic work to discourage migration through undocumented channels; ensure victim services are available to both female and male victims of trafficking; implement HTTCA victim protection provisions; and accede to the 2000 UN TIP Protocol.