Trafficking in persons Cuba, in 20 editions.

current situation:
Cuba is principally a source country for women and children trafficked within the country for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation and possibly for forced labor; the country is a destination for sex tourism, tourism including child sex tourism, which is a problem in many areas of the country; some Cuban nationals willingly migrate to the United States, States but are subsequently exploited for forced labor by their smugglers; Cuba is also a transit point for the smuggling of migrants from China, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Lebanon, and other nations to the United States and Canada
tier rating:
Tier 3 - Cuba does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; exact information about trafficking in Cuba is difficult to obtain because the government does not acknowledge or condemn human trafficking as a problem in Cuba; tangible efforts to prosecute offenders, protect victims, or prevent human trafficking activity do not appear to have been made during 2007; Cuba has not ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol (2008)

current situation:
Cuba is principally a source country for women and children trafficked within the country for the purpose of subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically commercial sexual exploitation and possibly for forced labor; the country is a destination for sex tourism including child sex tourism, which is a problem in many areas of within the country; some Cuban nationals willingly migrate to the United States but are subsequently exploited for forced labor by their smugglers; scope of trafficking within Cuba is also a transit point for difficult to gauge due to the smuggling closed nature of migrants from China, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Lebanon, and other nations to the United States government and Canada sparse non-governmental or independent reporting
tier rating:
Tier 3 - Cuba does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; exact in a positive step, the Government of Cuba shared information about human trafficking in Cuba is difficult and its efforts to obtain because address the issue; the government does did not acknowledge or condemn human prohibit all forms of trafficking as a problem in Cuba; tangible efforts to prosecute during the reporting period, nor did it provide specific evidence that it prosecuted and punished trafficking offenders, protect victims, protected victims of all forms of trafficking, or implemented victim protection policies or programs to prevent human trafficking activity do not appear to have been made during 2007; Cuba has not ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol (2008) (2010)

current situation:
Cuba is principally a source country for adults and some children subjected to trafficking forced labor and sex trafficking; prostitution of children reportedly occurs in persons, specifically commercial sexual exploitation within the country; Cuba as prostitution is not criminalized for anyone above 16 years old; the scope of trafficking within Cuba is particularly difficult to gauge due to the closed nature of the government and sparse non-governmental or independent reporting
tier rating:
Tier 3 - Cuba does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; in a positive step, the Government of Cuba shared government did not publicize information about human trafficking and its efforts government measures to address the issue; the government did not prohibit all forms of human trafficking through prosecution, protection, or prevention efforts during the reporting period, nor did it provide specific evidence that it prosecuted and punished trafficking offenders, protected victims of all forms of trafficking, or implemented victim protection policies or programs to prevent human trafficking (2010) period (2011)

current situation:
Cuba is a source country for adults and some children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking; prostitution of children reportedly occurs in Cuba as prostitution is not criminalized for anyone above 16 years old; the scope of trafficking within Cuba is particularly difficult to gauge due to the closed nature of the government and sparse non-governmental or independent reporting
tier rating:
Tier 3 - Cuba does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; the government did not publicize information about government measures to address human trafficking through prosecution, protection, or prevention efforts during the reporting period (2011) (2010)

current situation:
Cuba is a source country for adults and some children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking; child prostitution of children and child sex tourism reportedly occurs in Cuba as prostitution is Cuba, and laws do not criminalized for anyone above appear to penalize the prostitution of children between the ages of 16 years old; and 18; allegations have been made of Cubans being subjected to forced labor, particularly with Cuban work missions abroad; the scope of trafficking within Cuba is particularly difficult to gauge due to the closed nature of the government and sparse non-governmental or independent reporting
tier rating:
Tier 3 - Cuba does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; the government did has not publicize publicized information about government measures to address human trafficking through prosecution, protection, or prevention efforts during but did share information about its general approach to protection for children and youth; the reporting period (2010) government has a network of shelters for victims of domestic violence and child abuse but has not verified if trafficking victims receive care in those centers (2013)

current situation:
Cuba is a source country for adults and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking; trafficking and forced labor; child prostitution sex trafficking and child sex tourism reportedly occurs occur in Cuba, and laws do not appear to penalize the while some Cubans are forced into prostitution of children between the ages of 16 in South America and 18; the Caribbean; allegations have been made of that some Cubans being subjected to have been forced labor, particularly with Cuban or coerced to work at Cuban medical missions abroad; assessing the scope of trafficking within Cuba is particularly difficult to gauge due to the closed nature because of the government and sparse non-governmental or independent reporting lack of information
tier rating:
Tier 3 2 Watch List - Cuba does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and trafficking; however, it is not making significant efforts to do so; the government has Cuba’s penal code does not publicized information about government measures to address criminalize all forms of human trafficking through prosecution, protection, or prevention efforts trafficking, but did share information about the government reported that it is in the process of amending its general approach criminal code to protection for children and youth; comply with the 2000 UN TIP Protocol, to which it acceded in 2013; the government has a network of shelters for victims of domestic violence in 2014 prosecuted and child abuse but has not verified if trafficking convicted 13 sex traffickers and provided services to the victims receive care in those centers (2013) cases but does not have shelters specifically for trafficking victims; the government did not recognize forced labor as a problem and took no action to address it; state media produced newspaper articles and TV and radio programs to raise public awareness about sex trafficking (2015)

current situation: human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Cuba and Cubans abroad; individuals are forced or coerced into participating and threatened to stay in labor export programs, most notably foreign medical missions; sex trafficking and sex tourism occur within Cuba; traffickers exploit Cubans in sex trafficking and forced labor in South America, the Caribbean, Asia, Africa, the Mediterranean, and the US; foreigners from Africa and Asia are subject to sex trafficking and forced labor in Cuba to pay off travel debts; the government uses high school students in some rural areas to harvest crops without pay, claiming that the work is voluntary
tier rating: Tier 3 — Cuba does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; the government made some efforts to investigate, prosecute, and convict sex traffickers and sex tourists and identified and provided assistance to some victims; however, no efforts were made to address forced labor; there was a government policy or pattern to profit from labor export programs with strong indications of forced labor, particularly in foreign medical missions; authorities did not protect potential trafficking victims, leaving them at risk of being detained or charged for crimes their traffickers forced them to commit (2020)
trafficking profile: human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Cuba and Cubans abroad; individuals are forced or coerced into participating and threatened to stay in labor export programs, most notably foreign medical missions; sex trafficking and sex tourism occur within Cuba; traffickers exploit Cubans in sex trafficking and forced labor in South America, the Caribbean, Asia, Africa, the Mediterranean, and the US; foreigners from Africa and Asia are subject to sex trafficking and forced labor in Cuba to pay off travel debts; the government uses high school students in some rural areas to harvest crops without pay, claiming that the work is voluntary

tier rating: Tier 3 — Cuba does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; the government made some efforts to investigate, prosecute, and convict sex traffickers and sex tourists and identified traffickers, and provided assistance to some identify victims; however, no efforts were made to address forced labor; there was a government policy or pattern to profit from labor export programs with strong indications of forced labor, particularly in its foreign medical missions; authorities missions program; the government continued to deploy Cuban workers to foreign countries using deceptive and coercive tactics, and failed to address an increasing number of allegations from credible NGOs and foreign governments of labor violations and trafficking, and of Cuban officials’ involvement in abuses; Cuban law did not protect potential explicitly prohibit labor trafficking victims, leaving them at risk of being detained or charged for crimes their traffickers forced them to commit (2020) as defined in international law (2022)
trafficking profile: human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Cuba and Cubans abroad; individuals are forced or coerced into participating and threatened to stay in labor export programs, most notably foreign medical missions; sex trafficking and sex tourism tourism, including child victims, occur within Cuba; traffickers exploit Cubans in sex trafficking and forced labor in South America, Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Asia, Africa, the Mediterranean, Latin America, and the US; United States; foreigners from Africa and Asia are subject to sex trafficking and forced labor in Cuba to pay off travel debts; officials identified children, young women, elderly, and disabled persons as the most vulnerable to trafficking; the government uses high school students in some rural areas to harvest crops without pay, claiming that the work is voluntary (2022)

tier rating: Tier 3 — Cuba does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so, therefore, Cuba remained on Tier 3; for more details, go to: https://www.state.gov/reports/2024-trafficking-in-persons-report/cuba/ https://www.state.gov/reports/2025-trafficking-in-persons-report/cuba/