not prescribe punishments for forced child labor, child prostitution, sex trafficking, and the recruitment of children under the age of 18 years into armed forces or groups; the act also includes provisions for the rehabilitation and reintegration of child victims.The Sudan Armed Forces Act of 2007 prohibits members of the armed forces from recruiting children younger than 18 years, enslaving civilians, or coercing civilians into prostitution; the government has never used this statute to hold military officials accountable. In July 2014, the government enacted a law raising the age of conscription into the Popular Defense Forces from 16 to 18 years and establishing 18 years old as the minimum age for joining the national reserve service and the national service. Law enforcement and judicial officials struggled with understanding and appropriately applying the national anti-trafficking law throughout the reporting period; thus, authorities utilized other legal frameworks carrying lesser penalties to punish trafficking offenders, such as state-level anti- trafficking legislation. In some instances, victims were penalized under immigration laws and authorities charged perpetrators of other crimes, such as smuggling, under the national trafficking law due to the absence of a federal law specific to the crime that was committed.
The government did not publish law enforcement statistics for human trafficking as distinct from other crimes, such as smuggling, kidnapping, or organ trafficking. The Ministry of Interior (MOI) reported it opened five trafficking cases in 2014 and eight cases in 2015 in Khartoum. UNHCR reported that, between January and April 2015, the government opened eight investigations into possible trafficking offenses in Kassala; all charges were made under Articles 7, 9, and 13 of the anti-trafficking law. During the reporting period, the government reported it conducted approximately 50 security operations targeting trafficking crimes. Authorities claimed to have rescued 374 vulnerable refugees, some of whom may be trafficking victims, but the government did not specify if any trafficking offenders were brought to justice as a result of the operations or if any of the individuals were prosecuted for immigration or other offenses. In November 2014, local media reported Sudanese authorities freed six Eritrean migrants in Eastern Sudan who were forcibly held and chained together by organized criminals; it was unclear if the migrants were victims of forced labor or sex trafficking. Government authorities reported efforts to investigate cases of organ harvesting. It is not clear that the victims of these crimes were subjected to forced labor or sex trafficking. Unlike previous years, the government prosecuted government officials complicit in human trafficking. In February 2015, the Ministry of Justice inaugurated a special prosecutor’s office in Kassala state.The government also dedicated special prosecutors in Wad Medani and Khartoum to oversee trafficking cases. The government provided limited specialized anti-trafficking training to officials and continued to rely on international organizations to do so.The MOI reported training on anti-trafficking legislation was incorporated into general training for commissioned police officers, while non-commissioned officers were provided daily guidance on handling trafficking cases. In March 2015, 20 police officers assigned to the Khartoum trafficking in persons unit were trained on the links between trafficking and cyber-crimes; an additional 20 officials were scheduled to receive the same training in April 2015.

PROTECTION
The government demonstrated limited efforts to identify trafficking victims, though it supported international organizations to do so; however, the government continued to lack the full capacity to

protect victims and relied heavily on international organizations and domestic groups for these services.The government did not report statistics reflecting its efforts to identify trafficking victims in 2014, and few care facilities were accessible to trafficking victims. It did not practice systematic procedures to identify trafficking victims among vulnerable populations, including refugees and asylum seekers, nor did it consistently utilize a formal referral mechanism to refer victims to protection services. Authorities continued to treat foreign victims as illegal migrants and failed to systematically screen them for trafficking. During the reporting period, the government arrested, detained, prosecuted, or deported trafficking victims among vulnerable populations for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being subjected to human trafficking, such as immigration and prostitution violations.The government returned or deported to Eritrea registered refugees or asylum seekers, failing to screen them for trafficking.The Ministry of Labor’s (MOL) Secretariat of Sudanese Working Abroad—the body responsible for supporting Sudanese migrant workers abroad—reportedly had an anti-trafficking section to repatriate abused workers from the Middle East; however, it did not report if it identified or assisted Sudanese forced labor victims working overseas.
The government supported a safe house operated by an international organization in Kassala state, which provided secure shelter, medical treatment, and psycho-social support; however, it was sometimes overcrowded and authorities did not allow all victims to freely leave. Moreover, government-appointed social workers in the safe house were unable to provide continuous psycho-social support.As of March 2015, this safe house sheltered 17 individuals, most of who were identified by an international organization as trafficking victims. In 2014, the MOI worked with an international organization and a local NGO to begin plans to establish a safe house for trafficking victims in Khartoum; formal plans to establish this assistance were still in discussion at the end of the reporting period. The government, however, did not provide formal support to other safe houses operated by some community associations that assisted vulnerable groups, including trafficking victims.
In 2014, the National Council for Children and Women (NCCW) established a National Coordinating Committee for Combating and Preventing Child Trafficking, headed by the Secretary General of NCCW; it includes representatives from more than 10 government ministries, international NGOs, and international organizations. Investigative authorities sometimes pressured trafficking victims to cooperate in the investigations of their traffickers, thereby making their stay in protection facilities contingent on their cooperation. Some victims’ participation in investigations caused their traffickers to retaliate against them, but authorities did not promise victims protection from such harm. The government did provide legal alternatives to the removal of foreign victims to countries where they would face hardship or retribution.The Law of 1955 Regarding Domestic Servants outlined a process for employing and registering domestic workers and provided limited labor rights and protections for them; however, few—if any— domestic workers were registered and protected under the law.

PREVENTION
The government made limited improvements to prevent trafficking. It continued to publicly acknowledge the existence of cross-border trafficking in Sudan through media outreach and cooperative efforts with foreign diplomatic missions and international organizations; however, it continued to deny that forced labor, sex trafficking,