The government maintained prosecution efforts. Article 334 of the criminal code criminalized sex trafficking and labor trafficking and prescribed penalties of up to nine years’ imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 Surinamese dollars (SRD) ($13,300) for offenses involving a victim 16 years of age or older, and up to 12 years’ imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 SRD ($13,300) for those involving a victim under the age of 16. These penalties were sufficiently stringent and, with respect to sex trafficking, commensurate with those prescribed for other serious crimes, such as rape. In January, the government amended the penal code to criminalize the use of electronic communication to schedule sexual encounters with individuals under 16 years old with penalties up to four years in prison with a fine of up to SRD50,000 (US$6,650). Police reported initiating eight investigations (seven for sex trafficking of both adults and minors, and one for labor trafficking of adults), an increase from three investigations in 2018 and 10 in 2017. The labor inspectorate reported investigating a case of potential labor trafficking. The prosecutor’s office did not initiate any new prosecutions during the past two years, compared with four new prosecutions for sex trafficking in 2017. The government reported 18 convictions for human trafficking in 2019 compared with convictions of seven traffickers in 2018 and three in 2017. The government did not report the status of four pending prosecutions involving 12 suspected traffickers initiated in previous years. The government did not report any new investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees complicit in trafficking offenses. The head of the Trafficking In Persons (TIP) police unit conducted training sessions outside the capital with 400 participants from the health, immigration, police, customs and District Commissioners offices. The police TIP unit responsible for investigating cases gained a staff member and authorities provided the unit with a new vehicle for investigations outside the capital. In July 2019, a TIP unit member participated in an overseas trafficking training sponsored by another country. In October 2019, 40 officials from immigration, customs, police, the seaport, and airport authorities participated in trafficking awareness training offered by an international organization.