The Government of the Republic of South Sudan does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; therefore South Sudan remained on Tier 3.
Despite the lack of significant efforts, the government took some steps to address trafficking, including forming and staffing an anti-trafficking inter-ministerial task force, cooperating with an international organization to release child soldiers, and identifying 19 potential trafficking victims.
However, during the reporting period, there was a government policy or pattern of employing or recruiting child soldiers. Authorities did not report investigating or prosecuting any forced labor or sex trafficking crimes for the eighth consecutive year. The government made negligible efforts to proactively identify and protect trafficking victims separate from smuggling clients, continued to arrest and imprison child sex trafficking victims, and continued to indiscriminately arrest and imprison individuals for prostitution violations without screening for indicators of trafficking.
Cease all recruitment and use of children by government forces and associated militias, and immediately release all child soldiers under the command or influence of government forces and affiliated militias and, in partnership with international organizations, transfer them to appropriate civilian rehabilitation and reintegration programs.
The penal code, Child Act, and the Labor Act criminalized some forms of sex trafficking and labor trafficking. The criminal code did not explicitly criminalize adult sex trafficking and conflated human trafficking with smuggling by requiring movement across borders. The government reported law enforcement officers did not investigate, prosecute, or convict any traffickers for the eighth consecutive year. The government partnered with an international organization in May to train approximately 30 officials on basic trafficking principles.
