Police recorded 96 new human trafficking cases in 2024, in which 85 people were targeted and for which 119 suspects were arrested. These figures were reported at a meeting of the National Anti-Trafficking Committee that reviewed anti-trafficking operations conducted in the past year.
According to the Lao Security News, officers from the Police Department for the Prevention and Combating of Human Trafficking received 96 reports and complaints related to human trafficking that involved 119 suspects, 29 of whom were women, and 81 foreign nationals, including 10 women. At least 21 of the victims were women, and 12 of them were under the age of 18.
During 2024, 127 people attended counselling sessions at protection centres set up to assist women and children. A total of 104 women returned to their families after being lured into unsafe and illegal work. In addition, 962 people at potential risk of human trafficking received face-to face counselling and hotline counselling on 54 occasions.
The National Anti trafficking Committee is working with Vietnam, China, Thailand and Cambodia to try to curb illicit cross-border activities. The figures on human trafficking cases presented at the meeting showed that this crime continues to be committed and the traffickers are increasingly using sophisticated methods.
Laos is affected by the human trafficking problem because the country’s geographical location makes it easy for citizens to travel in and out. In the past, human traffickers have been active in finding, moving, transporting and hiding victims, and also lying and deceiving them. There have also been reports of crimes such as illegal pregnancy, forced prostitution and labour
exploitation, the officials said. These activities are a violation of the law and the good culture of the nation. The most worrying issue is that a number of Lao citizens are deceived by fraudulent agents into going abroad to work, and they are then exploited for labour or secretly engaged in arranged marriages
This year, all the sectors responsible for countering human trafficking will focus on groups at particular risk of victimisation and strictly enforce the laws to prevent more crimes of this nature.