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Mauritius’ strong service economy and political stability coexist with migrant labor vulnerabilities in key export sectors. Governed as a stable multiparty hybrid republic noted for generally free elections, Mauritius is classified as an upper-middle-income economy with major growth in services, especially tourism, financial services, and apparel manufacturing. Despite its economic strength and high ease-of-doing-business ranking,...

Africa’s fruit and nut sector offers export potential, but seasonal labor spikes and weak oversight raise trafficking risks. Major exporters—South Africa, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Benin, and Cameroon—produce key crops like coconuts, cashews, citrus, pineapples, bananas, and mangoes, though only about 5% of output reaches global markets. The harvesting process depends heavily on casual and migrant...

Rapid expansion of Africa’s apparel sector is creating jobs but also exposing workers to trafficking and other forms of exploitation. Exports from Kenya, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Lesotho, and Mauritius are growing under trade incentives, yet heavy subcontracting and low-cost labor leave workers—especially women—in unsafe conditions with poor pay and limited protections. These factors heighten the risks...

Cabo Verde faces trafficking risks tied to child labor in agriculture and fishing, alongside vulnerabilities among migrant and informal workers. Although Cabo Verde is relatively stable with key exports in fish, garments, and animal hides, trafficking risk persists, particularly among children in export supply chains such as agriculture and fishing. Migration, both outgoing and incoming,...

Growing demand for rubber across Sub‑Saharan Africa brings economic opportunity—but underlying labor vulnerabilities heighten trafficking risks. Production is concentrated among smallholder farms in countries such as Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Ghana, Cameroon, and Nigeria, making the supply chain long, opaque, and difficult to trace. Tasks like planting, tapping, pruning, and processing are labor-intensive and hazardous, with...

Decades of conflict, displacement, and economic instability leave Sudan critically exposed to trafficking across its primary labor sectors. Ongoing unrest has produced over a million displaced people and severely weakened governance. Sudan’s economy relies heavily on gold (about 70% of exports) and livestock, but remains fragile, with negative capital flows, poor business environment, and low...

Eritrea’s compulsory national service and fragile institutional framework leave its sectors particularly vulnerable to government facilitated forced labor. Conscripts, including youth and former service members, are frequently deployed to work in mining, agriculture, and public infrastructure without adequate protections or demobilization. Reports indicate these forced labor dynamics are sustained by state policies, with no evidence...

Equatorial Guinea’s abundant resources and systemic corruption create fertile ground for trafficking risks across both formal and informal sectors. Despite efforts to diversify away from oil into agriculture, fishing, mining, and timber, governance weaknesses open the door to exploitation in coffee, cocoa, livestock, and mineral supply chains. Indigenous populations, migrants, and informal workers face heightened...

Tea cultivation in Sub‑Saharan Africa relies on a labor-intensive, perishable harvest that stretches worker vulnerabilities to trafficking. Across key producers like Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Malawi, and Tanzania, smallholders and estate workers face seasonal surges in demand, piece-rate pay, and weak bargaining power—especially for small-scale farmers competing against commercial estates. Hazardous tasks such as weeding, plucking,...

Ghana’s reliance on exports and a dominant informal labor market stretch protections and deepen trafficking risks across its key supply chains. As a lower-middle-income country with significant gold, cocoa, oil, and gas exports, Ghana benefits from relative political stability and investment appeal. Yet nearly half the labor force works in agriculture and roughly 90% in...