Panama is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor.
Most Panamanian trafficking victims are exploited in sex trafficking in the country. Panamanian women are also vulnerable to sex trafficking in other countries, including one known case in Guyana. The majority of foreign trafficking victims in Panama are women from Colombia, neighboring Central American countries, and the Dominican Republic. Most of these women migrate voluntarily to Panama for employment—including in the sex trade—but are subsequently exploited in sex trafficking or, to a lesser extent, in domestic servitude. Colombian refugee women are particularly vulnerable to sex trafficking. Within the last five years, authorities have identified Eastern European women working in nightclubs as potential sex trafficking victims. Nicaraguan, and to a lesser extent, Colombian men are subjected to labor trafficking in construction, agriculture, mining, and other sectors. Men and women from China are subjected to debt bondage, including in supermarkets, laundries, and other small businesses operated by Chinese citizens. Authorities have reported cases of traffickers subjecting men from Colombia to forced labor in restaurants, and an international organization has identified cases of debt bondage of Indian men in door-to-door peddling. Men from the United States have been investigated as child sex tourists in Panama. Panamanian and European officials reported some men and women from other countries, who transit Panama en route to the Caribbean or Europe, are subsequently subjected to sex or labor trafficking in their destinations. Immigration officials have been investigated for labor trafficking offenses.
The US State Department's 2014 report on human trafficking: Download Human Trafficking N-S 2015
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