26 sex trafficking victims identified

TRINIDAD and Tobago identified 26 victims of sex trafficking in 2025, down from 45 the previous year, while Government spending on victim services fell by almost $300,000, according to the 2026 Trafficking in Persons Report.

The report was published yesterday by the US State Department, and it assesses global anti-trafficking efforts across 188 countries and territories, including Trinidad and Tobago, grouping them into tiers based on their government’s compliance with minimum standards.

The report found that the Government identified and referred all 26 victims to care, compared with 45 in 2024, while the number assisted declined from 42 to 26. Spending on victim services fell from $791,410 in 2024 to $492,662 in 2025, while the allocation for prevention programmes decreased from $442,997 to $379,652.