[2] Over the years, victims of trafficking in Singapore have come from many countries throughout Asia such as India, Thailand, the People's Republic of China, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, Burma and Malaysia.
The use of deception about working conditions, debt bondage, the unlawful confiscation of travel documents, confinement and/or physical or sexual abuse is utilized by traffickers to force victims into involuntary servitude.
TIP Report also notes a small quantity of Singaporeans engaging in and/or promoting child sex tourism abroad.
TIP Reports denotes the Singaporean government's compliance with international standards to reduce and prevent human trafficking in the country.
[2][5] This ranking means that the Singaporean government sufficiently complies with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000's minimum standards.
[2] The frequent use of repatriation companies by abusive employers has meant that many victims do not get the chance to find retribution within the legal system of Singapore.
TIP Reports, there also exists a small presence of Singaporean citizens taking part in child sex tourism abroad whether as consumers or facilitators.
TIP Reports, many of those who fall victim to trafficking are initially voluntary migrants to Singapore for work opportunities in the many different industries in the country.
[2] Agencies that are responsible for recruiting employees can also play a role as some take part in imposing fees on workers over the legalized maximum amounts and also the unlawful practice of contract switching.
Contracts that are entered into abroad or the payment of exorbitant fees to recruitment agencies at home make foreign workers susceptible to trafficking through misrepresentation of working conditions and debt bondage.
[2] The operation of brothels is permitted in Singapore and these can be sites for trafficking activities that leave victims hidden in plain sight.
TIP Report it was noted that the estimated number of girls and women trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation is small but greater than 100 annually.
[7] In 2008, in an effort to curb prostitution in the country, law enforcement arrested many foreign women without taking the steps to properly identify possible victims of trafficking.
TIP Report, it was noted that child sex trafficking of both foreign and domestic children is confirmed to be occurring in Singapore.
[4] However, there have also been instances of Singaporean men participating in child sex tourism abroad, including in the neighboring Batam, Indonesia.
[4][10][11][12][13][20][21][22][23] The newly achieved Tier 1 ranking is based on the evaluation of three areas of governmental efforts: prosecution, protection, and prevention.
[2][5] The U.S. government's TIP Report aids in creating a timeline of how governmental efforts to address and prevent human trafficking in Singapore have developed over the years.
[17] Legislation was put into motion to criminalize child sex tourism participated in abroad by Singaporeans as well as the prostitution of 16 and 17 year-olds within the country.
TIP Report gave nearly identical recommendations as the year prior and included a suggestion to enact a law that outlaws all forms of trafficking.
[25] As the first case of imprisonment under the Act, Muhammad Khairulanwar bin Rohmat, a 25-year-old final-year student at the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM), was found guilty and sentenced on 19 February 2016 of four charges of recruiting a child for sexual exploitation, receiving payment from this exploitation, and sexual penetration of a minor, alongside 14 charges that were taken into consideration.
TIP Report included prioritized recommendations that include: increasing resources for prosecution of offenders and victim identification, proactive victim identification, providing of legal alternatives to deportation for migrant workers who may face hardships in their origin countries, and reform of the work permit sponsorship system to counteract unfair power dynamics being taken advantage of by abusive employers.
[2] Action was also taken by authorities against those accused of using excessive force when arresting individuals participating in commercial sex during police raids of brothels without the proper licensing.
The Women's Charter is an act "to provide for monogamous marriages and for the solemnization and registration of such marriages; to amend and consolidate the law relating to divorce, the rights and duties of married persons, the protection of family, the maintenance of wives and children and the punishment of offences against women and girls; and to provide for matters incidental thereto".
[5] The Ministry of Social and Family Development funded four NGO-run shelters while the government issued special immigration visas allowing for the stay of foreign victims during investigations and court proceedings.
[5] It was in this same year that the MOM started enforcing a new work permit policy that no longer allowed for employers to withhold the wages of domestic workers.
[2] Despite this however, according to a report done by an NGO “contrary to current policy, which would allow a foreign victim to apply for new employment and a work permit after the proceedings are over, authorities most likely required foreign victims to leave the country in practice.”[2] Another key element to governmental efforts surrounding combating human trafficking are prevention efforts.
[19] During this reporting period, the MOM conducted random interviews of foreign domestic workers to get a sense of the impacts of their policies and efforts.
TIP Report that the Singaporean government made no discernible progress in working to mitigate human trafficking in the country.
[5] The COVID-19 pandemic imposed certain restrictions on everyday activities that also impacted governmental and non-governmental efforts toward prosecution, protection and prevention as it relates to human trafficking in the country.
[2] The efforts of frontline workers were shifted to pandemic mitigation measures and the government maintained cooperation with NGOs to provide services to victims.