Trinidad and Tobago Issues - 2023

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Disputes - international

Trinidad and Tobago-Barbados: Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago abide by the April 2006 Permanent Court of Arbitration decision delimiting a maritime boundary and limiting catches of flying fish in Trinidad and Tobago's EEZ

Trinidad and Tobago-Barbados-Guyana-Venezuela: in 2005, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago agreed to compulsory international arbitration under UN Convention on the Law of the Sea challenging whether the northern limit of Trinidad and Tobago's and Venezuela's maritime boundary extends into Barbadian waters; Guyana has expressed its intention to include itself in the arbitration, as the Trinidad and Tobago-Venezuela maritime boundary may also extend into its waters

Refugees and internally displaced persons

refugees (country of origin): 28,500 (Venezuela) (economic and political crisis; includes Venezuelans who have claimed asylum, are recognized as refugees, or have received alternative legal stay) (2021)

Trafficking in persons

tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List — Trinidad and Tobago does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so; officials increased investigations and prosecutions, identified more victims, and expanded training; however, the government did not demonstrate overall increasing efforts compared to the previous year to expand its anti-trafficking capacity; the government has never convicted a trafficker under its 2011 anti-trafficking law; corruption and official complicity in trafficking remained significant concerns, inhibiting law enforcement, and the government did not take action against senior officials alleged in 2020 to be involved in trafficking; victim identification and services remained weak, and the government did not formally adopt the National Action Plan for 2021-2023; therefore, Trinidad and Tobago remained on Tier 2 Watch List for the second consecutive year (2022)

trafficking profile: human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Trinidad and Tobago, and also exploit victims from Trinidad and Tobago abroad; the country serves as a transit point for Venezuelan refugees and migrants en route to Europe, North Africa, and elsewhere in the Caribbean, and large numbers of Venezuelans in particular continued to arrive in large numbers on a daily basis; unaccompanied or separated Venezuelan children are at increased risk for sex trafficking; migrants from the Caribbean region and from Asia are at risk for forced labor in domestic service and the retail sector; women and girls primarily from Venezuela, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, and Guyana are at risk of sex trafficking; traffickers also exploit victims from Puerto Rico, the Philippines, China, India, Nepal, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and they increasingly target vulnerable foreign women and girls; LGBTQI+ persons are at risk for sex trafficking; Cuban medical professionals may have been forced to work in Trinidad and Tobago by the Cuban government; Corruption by police, immigration and customs, and coast guard officials has been associated with facilitating labor and sex trafficking; transnational organized crime may increasingly be involved in trafficking; Trinidad and Tobago is likely a sex tourism destination (2022)

Illicit drugs

a transit point for drugs destined for Europe, North America, and the rest of the Caribbean;  drug trafficking organizations use  the country’s proximity to Venezuela, its porous borders, vulnerabilities at ports of entry, a limited law enforcement capacity and resources, and corruption

 

NOTE: The information regarding Trinidad and Tobago on this page is re-published from the 2023 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Trinidad and Tobago 2023 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Trinidad and Tobago 2023 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.