Human trafficking in Guatemala

Guatemala is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically sexual servitude and forced labor. Guatemalan women and children are found in forced prostitution within the country, as well as in Mexico and the United States. Guatemalan men, women, and children are subjected to forced labor within the country, often in agriculture or domestic service, and particularly near the border with Mexico and in the highland region. Guatemalan men, women, and children are also found in conditions of forced labor in Mexico and the United States in agriculture and the garment industry. Indigenous Guatemalans are particularly vulnerable to labor exploitation. In the Mexican border area, Guatemalan children are exploited for forced begging on streets and forced labor in municipal dumps. Guatemala is a destination country for women and girls from El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua, in forced prostitution. Migrants from these Central American countries transit through Guatemala en route to Mexico and the United States; some may become human trafficking victims. Child sex tourism is a problem in certain tourist areas such as Antigua and Lake Atitlan, and child sex tourists predominately come from Canada, Germany, Spain, and the United States. The border with Mexico remains a top concern due to the heavy flow of irregular migrants, some of whom are trafficked.

The Government of Guatemala does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. Despite these significant efforts, including prosecuting its first trafficking cases under the recent anti-trafficking law and establishing a new anti-trafficking office, the government did not show overall evidence of increasing efforts to address human trafficking through providing adequate victim services or addressing official complicity in trafficking; therefore, Guatemala is placed on Tier 2, for the fourth consecutive year. Despite the significant number of foreign trafficking victims identified by the government, foreign victims were not generally offered asylum or temporary residency, although the anti-trafficking law provides that authority. As such, most foreign trafficking victims were deported or required to remain in locked migrant detention facilities with no access to specialized victim services. U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons placed the country in "Tier 2 Watchlist" in 2017.

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