The government increased protection efforts. Law enforcement and other entities could identify potential trafficking victims; separately, the government’s National Anti-Trafficking Commission (“the commission”) determined whether potential victims should be considered “preliminary” or “confirmed” victims. The commission reported there were 16 confirmed trafficking victims identified in 2021, compared with six victims in 2020 and 34 in 2019. Of the 16 confirmed victims identified in 2021, seven were sex trafficking victims and nine were labor trafficking victims. Despite the existence of trafficking internal to Panama, authorities identified just one Panamanian victim; most of those identified were foreign nationals from Colombia, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. All seven victims of labor trafficking were Nicaraguan. The government reported it could take several months for the commission to confirm potential victims’ status. Victims could access shelter and other services while their status was pending. In 2021, the commission ruled on the status of 23 victims, including some identified in previous reporting periods; it granted 19 potential victims, including three identified in previous reporting periods, full status as trafficking victims.
Officials reported challenges in identifying victims under the government’s pandemic-mitigation measures, including strict curfews that limited victims’ freedom of movement. Officials also noted bar and brothel closures spurred traffickers to exploit sex trafficking victims in private residences and other settings; as the government relaxed these policies, traffickers used both old and new tactics, broadening the scope of officials’ investigative work. The commission proactively supplied an identification form to assist officials who encountered potential trafficking victims, including law enforcement, border officials, and healthcare workers; however, observers noted the form’s distribution was incomplete, leaving some potential victims vulnerable to misidentification. The government reported screening vulnerable populations, including irregular migrants, for trafficking indicators but did not identify any trafficking victims during routine screenings in 2021. Despite screening efforts and law enforcement investigations, the government did not proactively identify most victims; instead, government statistics suggested officials relied on victims to report their own exploitation in roughly 50 percent of cases. Observers suggested officials under-identified Indigenous trafficking victims due to the remote location and limited services within semi-autonomous Indigenous communities. Further, officials likely under- or mis-identified internal trafficking victims while operating under a legal framework that required movement to constitute a trafficking crime. The government had guidelines for victim identification and protection, which outlined the formal procedures, internal processes, and training materials used by referring officials and the Technical Unit for Attention and Protection of Victims and Witnesses (UPAVIT).
Officials referred all victims to UPAVIT, which provided immediate care, including shelter, medical care, and legal assistance, to victims of all crimes and physical protection to victims, witnesses, and experts. In 2021, UPAVIT provided services to 19 victims, including several victims identified in previous reporting periods, as well as 15 dependents of victims; by contrast, UPAVIT provided services to 25 victims in the previous reporting period. Based on victim circumstances, UPAVIT could provide shelter, food, clothes, health services and medication, and psychological and social assistance; separately, the commission could provide victims with career training and assistance in changing migratory status. Thirteen victims received therapy and counseling services. The government trained representatives from the Public Ministry and civil society on victim protection and services; it also trained government sign language interpreters to recognize trafficking indicators and identify and refer victims to services.
The government maintained the Special Fund for Victims of Trafficking in persons, as mandated by the anti-trafficking law, to subsidize victim services provision with assets seized from traffickers; a commission sub-unit had responsibility for managing the fund. However, seized assets were insufficient to fully fund victim service provision, and the government did not otherwise allocate funding specific to the anti- trafficking commission or victim services. As a result, agencies drew from their general budgets to fund the anti-trafficking commission and the provision of food, shelter in hotels, transportation, and psychological and legal services for potential victims. During the reporting period, the commission consulted with the Ministry of Economy and hired an accountant to monitor seized assets and streamline mechanisms to operationalize them for commission use. The government-funded, NGO- administered program providing hospitality sector vocational training to trafficking victims remained dormant; eight victims participated in the program in 2020 before it was suspended due to the pandemic. As a special measure during the pandemic, the government continued to provide additional support to victims in the form of food or hygiene deliveries. In 2021, UPAVIT reported further decreases in expenditures for services to trafficking victims: $1,500, compared with $3,800 in 2020 and $54,540 reported in 2019.
There were no dedicated shelters for trafficking victims. As a result, authorities commonly placed victims in hotels and covered the cost of the hotel rooms. The government could also refer victims to migrant or women’s shelters run by NGOs. In 2021, the government reported providing shelter to one labor trafficking victim through UPAVIT, compared with two victims provided shelter in 2020. Victims frequently elected to return to their home countries or reside with family or friends rather than stay in hotels, potentially inhibiting victim-witness support in pending trafficking cases. The government could refer child trafficking victims to SENNIAF and its network of shelters administered by NGOs and religious organizations. However, there were credible allegations, substantiated by independent investigation, of abuse and low standards of care in SENNIAF facilities. The Attorney General’s office reported 26 ongoing investigations into abuse in SENNIAF shelters at year’s end. Although the government approved new measures to guarantee children’s right to adequate care, observers expressed concerns SENNIAF’s budget was insufficient to support restructuring or other largescale efforts to improve the overall provision of care and reduce residents’ risk of suffering abuse, which heightened their vulnerability to trafficking. However, officials reported there were no allegations of abuse levied against the shelter most commonly serving child trafficking victims.
Foreign national victims were eligible for short-term humanitarian visas, temporary residency permits extendable up to six years, and work permits. The government issued 22 provisional humanitarian visas and seven work permits to trafficking victims, compared with 17 visas and 11 work permits in 2020. Officials also renewed work permits for 12 additional victims but did not report issuing any permanent residency permits to trafficking victims for the second consecutive year, compared with 13 in 2019. The government began drafting an executive decree to establish a visa category allowing foreign national trafficking victims to petition for their dependents to immigrate to Panama; commission officials reported input from trafficking survivors spurred the initiative. The government helped repatriate one victim exploited in Panama, compared with supporting the repatriation of one victim in 2020. The government made available specialized interview rooms to allow victims to provide testimony privately to minimize the risk of re-traumatization and allowed prosecutors to request hearings be closed to the public. Prosecutors utilized these specialized interview rooms and other accommodations to facilitate several victims’ testimonies during the reporting period. Officials funded and coordinated with Costa Rican law enforcement to facilitate a foreign national victim’s testimony in the case against her trafficker. The government seized assets derived from human trafficking activities and allocated the proceeds to services for trafficking victims. In one case, authorities seized $19,742 in assets, to be set aside for victim compensation. The law allowed victims to request restitution from their traffickers during criminal cases or to file civil suit to obtain compensation; lawyers from the commission were available to assist victims seeking restitution or compensation. Labor trafficking victims could also claim compensation from their traffickers through a separate administrative process overseen by the Ministry of Labor. The government reported no victims made new requests for restitution or compensation in 2021, compared with eight victims who filed for restitution in criminal cases in 2020. Courts ordered compensation for one Costa Rican trafficking victim in a civil case; at the conclusion of the reporting period, the judge had not announced the final amount the trafficker would be ordered to pay. The government reported prosecutors continued to support seven victims’ petition for compensation in an ongoing case from 2019. No labor trafficking victims claimed compensation via the Ministry of Labor’s administrative process, compared with 16 victims who did so in 2020. The commission’s on-staff lawyers could also support trafficking victims in other legal matters; during the reporting period, commission lawyers helped a trafficking victim fight an eviction and advised another on migratory status.