PROTECTION
The government maintained efforts to identify victims and refer them to service providers, but overall victim protection was inadequate. The government identified 51 victims, which is comparable with 55 victims identified by the government in 2013. Two NGOs identified an additional 16 victims.The government did not provide information on the type of trafficking victims experienced, but an NGO reported seven victims were subjected to sex trafficking and three to labor trafficking. Of the 67 victims total, at least 23 were children, 20 were adults, 54 were subjected to sex trafficking, and eight were subjected to labor trafficking; ages and type of trafficking experienced by the remaining victims are unknown. One identified victim was from Belize, while the rest were Nicaraguan. The government did not have formal procedures for identifying victims among vulnerable populations, such as individuals in prostitution or working children. Local officials were not adequately trained to recognize all forms of trafficking, and victim identification in the autonomous regions continued to lag behind national efforts.
There were few specialized services for trafficking victims in Nicaragua.The government provided assistance to eight victims in a short-term police-operated shelter for victims of domestic violence and human trafficking in Managua and referred 30 victims to NGO shelters for at-risk children or victims of domestic abuse. NGOs provided the majority of victim protection without government funding. Services and shelter for boys remained limited, and there were no shelters available to men.The government did not provide long-term care, and the availability of extended services from NGOs was limited.The government put some child victims at risk of re-trafficking by placing them with family members who may have been complicit in the children’s exploitation. Regions outside Managua most affected by human trafficking largely lacked adequate services.
While victims could file civil suits against traffickers, the government did not report whether any traffickers’ assets were used to support victims, which is what the law requires. Nicaraguan diplomats at a foreign posting provided repatriation assistance to several Nicaraguan sex and labor trafficking victims; it is unknown whether victims received any additional services upon their return to Nicaragua.There were no reports of victims being penalized for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being subjected to human trafficking; however, inadequate efforts to screen for indicators of trafficking among vulnerable groups may have led to some unidentified victims being punished. Humanitarian visas were available to foreign trafficking victims, although there were no cases or requests reported by the government in 2014.

PREVENTION
The Nicaraguan government continued awareness campaigns, but reported few other efforts to prevent trafficking. NGOs assert the government-run anti-trafficking coalition was inactive during the second half of the reporting period.The government continued to support 17 regional anti-trafficking working groups, though NGOs involved in the groups observed a significant decrease in their activities. Authorities reported partnering with NGOs to reach more than 40,000 Nicaraguan citizens through training and awareness events with general information on human trafficking. The government provided anti-trafficking training for its diplomatic personnel. It continued to partner with the tourism industry on prevention of child sex tourism. Authorities did not investigate, prosecute, or convict any child sex tourists in 2014.

The government made limited efforts to decrease the demand for commercial sex acts, but no efforts to decrease the demand for forced labor.

NIGER:  Tier 2 
Niger is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking. Caste- based slavery practices continue primarily in the northern part of the country. Nigerien boys are subjected to forced labor, including forced begging, within the country and in Mali and Nigeria by corrupt marabouts (religious instructors). Corrupt marabouts or loosely organized clandestine networks may also place Nigerien girls into domestic servitude or in the sex trade. Nigerien children are subjected to forced labor in gold mines, agriculture, and stone quarries within the country. Girls are subjected to sex trafficking along the border with Nigeria. In the Tahoua region of Niger, girls born into slavery are forced to marry men who buy them as “fifth wives” and subsequently subject them to forced labor and sexual servitude, a practice known as wahaya; their children are born into slave castes.“Fifth wives” are typically sold between the age of 9 and 11 years old.Traditional chiefs play a primary role in this form of exploitation, either through enslaving children in their own families or arranging “marriages” for other powerful individuals. Some girls in forced marriages may be exploited in the sex trade after fleeing these nominal unions. Nigerien girls reportedly travel abroad to enter into “marriages” with Nigerian men or foreign nationals living in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and are subjected to domestic servitude in these countries.
Nigerien women and children are recruited from Niger and transported to Nigeria, North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe where they are subjected to domestic servitude, sex trafficking, or forced labor in agriculture or animal herding. The profile of traffickers changed during the reporting period; for the first time, some migrants were suspected to be traffickers, particularly Nigerien migrants to Algeria.Traffickers operated primarily small, freelance operations in loosely organized networks of individuals and some marabouts. Some women were accused of managing trafficking rings, although they may have been trafficking victims themselves. Some women are complicit in the exploitation of children, accepting payment from traffickers who run forced street begging operations. Niger is a transit country for men, women, and children from West and Central Africa migrating to North Africa and Western Europe, where some are subjected to forced labor or sex trafficking. Additionally, some migrants are subjected to forced labor in Niger as domestic servants, mechanics, welders, laborers in mines and on farms, or as staff in bars and restaurants. Corrupt law enforcement and border officials accept bribes from traffickers to facilitate the transportation of victims into and throughout the country.
The Government of Niger does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so.The government continued to prosecute and convict traffickers using its 2010 anti-trafficking law and, in May 2014, using the slavery statute in the penal code, it obtained its first conviction for the slavery practice known as wahaya.The government adopted the National Action Plan for the Fight Against Trafficking in Persons and allocated resources to fund the National Commission for the Coordination of the Fight against Trafficking in Persons (CNCLTP)—currently serving as the coordinating

body for anti-trafficking efforts—and its implementing agency, the National Agency for the Fight against Trafficking in Persons (ANLTP).The government continued to identify and refer victims to NGOs to receive care; however, authorities identified fewer victims and the overall level of protective services available to victims  was inadequate.