The CIA World Factbook Every edition, 2011 to 2025 Southeast Asia
Trafficking in persons Brunei, in 6 editions.
The entry for Brunei published Trafficking in persons in 6 editions of 36, from 2011 to 2025. The text changed in 5 editions. Each is shown as published. Trafficking in persons in every entry.
- editions changed the text
- 5
- the first edition with it
- 2011
- the latest edition with it
- 2025
Published as “Trafficking in persons” (2011 to 2025).
field in that editiontext changed from the edition beforenot in that editionthe edition shownChoose an edition on the strip beside the text, or step through them with the arrows. Mark changes compares it with the edition before: the marks are ours, words added and words removed.
2025 edition
Changed since 2024- current situation:
- Brunei is a destination, and to a lesser extent, a source and transit country for men and women who are subjected to forced labor and forced prostitution;
- men and women from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, China, and Thailand migrate to Brunei for domestic work or other low-skilled employment, but sometimes face conditions of involuntary servitude after arrival
- tier rating:
- Tier 2 Watch List - the government has yet to prosecute a human-trafficking case using its 2004 anti-trafficking law, has not shown evidence of increased efforts to address human trafficking over the previous year, and has not identified or assisted any trafficking victims (2011)
current situation:
Brunei is a destination, and to a lesser extent, a source and transit country for men and women who are subjected to forced labor and forced prostitution; men and women from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, China, and Thailand migrate to Brunei for domestic work or other low-skilled employment, but sometimes face conditions of involuntary servitude after arrival
tier rating:
Tier 2 Watch List - the government has yet to prosecute a human-trafficking case using its 2004 anti-trafficking law, has not shown evidence of increased efforts to address human trafficking over the previous year, and has not identified or assisted any trafficking victims (2011)
The entry for Brunei did not include Trafficking in persons.
- current situation:
- human traffickers exploit foreign victims in Brunei;
- some men and women who migrate to Brunei to work as domestics or in retail or construction are subject to involuntary servitude, debt-based coercion, contract switching, non-payment of wages, passport confiscation, physical abuse, or confinement;
- some female migrants entering Brunei on tourist visas are forced into prostitution;
- some traffickers use Brunei as a transit point for victims used for sex and labor trafficking in Malaysia and Indonesia
- tier rating:
- Tier 2 Watch List — Brunei does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so;
- the government enacted the 2019 Trafficking in Persons Order, which criminalized sex and labor trafficking and separated trafficking crimes from migrant smuggling crimes;
- the government formalized its interagency anti-trafficking in persons committee;
- instituted a committee to review foreign worker recruitment practices, ratified the ASEAN Convention against Trafficking in Persons, and acceded to the UN TIP Protocol;
- however, authorities did not formally identify any trafficking cases, did not initiate any new trafficking prosecutions, and did not convict any traffickers;
- trafficking victims continued to be detained, deported, and charged with crimes without law enforcement determining if they were forced to commit the illegal acts by traffickers;
- the government again did not allocate money to a fund established in 2004 for victim compensation and repatriation;
- a draft national action plan to combat trafficking was not completed for the sixth consecutive year (2020)
Rewritten: too little of the 2011 text remains to mark the changes.
current situation: human traffickers exploit foreign victims in Brunei; some men and women who migrate to Brunei to work as domestics or in retail or construction are subject to involuntary servitude, debt-based coercion, contract switching, non-payment of wages, passport confiscation, physical abuse, or confinement; some female migrants entering Brunei on tourist visas are forced into prostitution; some traffickers use Brunei as a transit point for victims used for sex and labor trafficking in Malaysia and Indonesia
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List — Brunei does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so; the government enacted the 2019 Trafficking in Persons Order, which criminalized sex and labor trafficking and separated trafficking crimes from migrant smuggling crimes; the government formalized its interagency anti-trafficking in persons committee; instituted a committee to review foreign worker recruitment practices, ratified the ASEAN Convention against Trafficking in Persons, and acceded to the UN TIP Protocol; however, authorities did not formally identify any trafficking cases, did not initiate any new trafficking prosecutions, and did not convict any traffickers; trafficking victims continued to be detained, deported, and charged with crimes without law enforcement determining if they were forced to commit the illegal acts by traffickers; the government again did not allocate money to a fund established in 2004 for victim compensation and repatriation; a draft national action plan to combat trafficking was not completed for the sixth consecutive year (2020)
- tier rating:
- Tier 2 Watch List — Brunei does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so;
- the government enacted the 2019 Trafficking in Persons Order, which criminalized sex and labor trafficking and separated trafficking crimes from migrant smuggling crimes;
- the government formalized its interagency anti-trafficking in persons committee;
- instituted a committee to review foreign worker recruitment practices, ratified the ASEAN Convention against Trafficking in Persons, and acceded to the UN TIP Protocol;
- however, authorities did not formally identify any trafficking cases, did not initiate any new trafficking prosecutions, and did not convict any traffickers;
- trafficking victims continued to be detained, deported, and charged with crimes without law enforcement determining if they were forced to commit the illegal acts by traffickers;
- the government again did not allocate money to a fund established in 2004 for victim compensation and repatriation;
- a draft national action plan to combat trafficking was not completed for the sixth consecutive year (2020)
- trafficking profile:
- human traffickers exploit foreign victims in Brunei;
- some men and women who migrate to Brunei to work as domestics or in retail or construction are subject to involuntary servitude, debt-based coercion, contract switching, non-payment of wages, passport confiscation, physical abuse, or confinement;
- some female migrants entering Brunei on tourist visas are forced into prostitution;
- some traffickers use Brunei as a transit point for victims used for sex and labor trafficking in Malaysia and Indonesia
current situation: human traffickers exploit foreign victims in Brunei; some men and women who migrate to Brunei to work as domestics or in retail or construction are subject to involuntary servitude, debt-based coercion, contract switching, non-payment of wages, passport confiscation, physical abuse, or confinement; some female migrants entering Brunei on tourist visas are forced into prostitution; some traffickers use Brunei as a transit point for victims used for sex and labor trafficking in Malaysia and Indonesiatier rating: Tier 2 Watch List — Brunei does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so; the government enacted the 2019 Trafficking in Persons Order, which criminalized sex and labor trafficking and separated trafficking crimes from migrant smuggling crimes; the government formalized its interagency anti-trafficking in persons committee; instituted a committee to review foreign worker recruitment practices, ratified the ASEAN Convention against Trafficking in Persons, and acceded to the UN TIP Protocol; however, authorities did not formally identify any trafficking cases, did not initiate any new trafficking prosecutions, and did not convict any traffickers; trafficking victims continued to be detained, deported, and charged with crimes without law enforcement determining if they were forced to commit the illegal acts by traffickers; the government again did not allocate money to a fund established in 2004 for victim compensation and repatriation; a draft national action plan to combat trafficking was not completed for the sixth consecutive year (2020)
trafficking profile: human traffickers exploit foreign victims in Brunei; some men and women who migrate to Brunei to work as domestics or in retail or construction are subject to involuntary servitude, debt-based coercion, contract switching, non-payment of wages, passport confiscation, physical abuse, or confinement; some female migrants entering Brunei on tourist visas are forced into prostitution; some traffickers use Brunei as a transit point for victims used for sex and labor trafficking in Malaysia and Indonesia
- tier rating:
- Tier 2 Watch List — Brunei does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so, therefore Brunei was upgraded to Tier 2 Watch List;
- key achievements included referring two alleged traffickers for prosecution, including one Bruneian national, identifying and providing assistance to 14 victims, opening two shelters for victims, and signing a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding with Bangladesh on recruitment of migrant workers;
- however, the government did not effectively screen for trafficking among foreign nationals in commercial sex and migrant workers;
- officials handled some potential trafficking cases administratively, if at all, and probably inappropriately detained, prosecuted, and deported potentially unidentified sex and labor trafficking victims;
- for the sixth consecutive year, the government did not convict any traffickers under its anti-trafficking law, and other laws that could be used to prosecute traffickers did not provide sufficiently stringent sentences (2023)
- trafficking profile:
- human traffickers exploit foreign victims in Brunei;
- some men and women who migrate to Brunei to work in domestic service, retail, or construction work are subject to involuntary servitude, debt-based coercion, contract switching, non-payment of wages, passport confiscation, physical abuse, or confinement;
- some female migrants entering Brunei on tourist visas are forced into prostitution, and some Kenyan women reportedly faced forced labor in Brunei;
- workers from Bangladesh and China may have been forced to work in Brunei at Chinese-run projects;
- some traffickers use Brunei as a transit point for victims used for sex and labor trafficking in Malaysia and Indonesia;
- Anti-LGBTQI+ laws place some LGBTQI+ individuals at higher risk;
- trafficking experts in Brunei have received threats from traffickers (2023)
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List — Brunei does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so; the government enacted the 2019 Trafficking in Persons Order, which criminalized sex so, therefore Brunei was upgraded to Tier 2 Watch List; key achievements included referring two alleged traffickers for prosecution, including one Bruneian national, identifying and labor trafficking providing assistance to 14 victims, opening two shelters for victims, and separated trafficking crimes from migrant smuggling crimes; the government formalized its interagency anti-trafficking in persons committee; instituted signing a committee to review foreign worker bilateral Memorandum of Understanding with Bangladesh on recruitment practices, ratified the ASEAN Convention against Trafficking in Persons, and acceded to the UN TIP Protocol; of migrant workers; however, authorities did not formally identify any trafficking cases, the government did not initiate any new effectively screen for trafficking prosecutions, among foreign nationals in commercial sex and did not convict any traffickers; migrant workers; officials handled some potential trafficking victims continued to be cases administratively, if at all, and probably inappropriately detained, deported, prosecuted, and charged with crimes without law enforcement determining if they were forced to commit deported potentially unidentified sex and labor trafficking victims; for the illegal acts by traffickers; sixth consecutive year, the government again did not allocate money to a fund established in 2004 for victim compensation convict any traffickers under its anti-trafficking law, and repatriation; a draft national action plan other laws that could be used to combat trafficking was prosecute traffickers did not completed for the sixth consecutive year (2020) provide sufficiently stringent sentences (2023)
trafficking profile: human traffickers exploit foreign victims in Brunei; some men and women who migrate to Brunei to work as domestics or in retail domestic service, retail, or construction work are subject to involuntary servitude, debt-based coercion, contract switching, non-payment of wages, passport confiscation, physical abuse, or confinement; some female migrants entering Brunei on tourist visas are forced into prostitution; prostitution, and some Kenyan women reportedly faced forced labor in Brunei; workers from Bangladesh and China may have been forced to work in Brunei at Chinese-run projects; some traffickers use Brunei as a transit point for victims used for sex and labor trafficking in Malaysia and Indonesia Indonesia; Anti-LGBTQI+ laws place some LGBTQI+ individuals at higher risk; trafficking experts in Brunei have received threats from traffickers (2023)
- tier rating:
- Tier 3 — Brunei does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so, therefore, Brunei was downgraded to Tier 3;
- for more details, go to: https://www.state.gov/reports/2024-trafficking-in-persons-report/brunei/
Rewritten: too little of the 2023 text remains to mark the changes.
tier rating: Tier 3 — Brunei does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so, therefore, Brunei was downgraded to Tier 3; for more details, go to: https://www.state.gov/reports/2024-trafficking-in-persons-report/brunei/
- tier rating:
- Tier 2 Watch List — Brunei does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so, therefore Brunei was upgraded to Tier 2 Watch List;
- for more details, go to: https://www.state.gov/reports/2025-trafficking-in-persons-report/brunei/
tier rating: Tier 3 2 Watch List — Brunei does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and but is not making significant efforts to do so, therefore, therefore Brunei was downgraded upgraded to Tier 3; 2 Watch List; for more details, go to: https://www.state.gov/reports/2024-trafficking-in-persons-report/brunei/ https://www.state.gov/reports/2025-trafficking-in-persons-report/brunei/
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Cite this page
Central Intelligence Agency. “Brunei: Trafficking in persons.” The World Factbook, 2011–2025 editions. Archived by The Factbook, thefactbook.org/brunei/trafficking-in-persons.