Trafficking in persons (TIP) is a transnational crime which exploits vulnerable victims.
What We Do
In Singapore, the national efforts in formulating and coordinating national policies and programmes to prevent and combat human trafficking is spearheaded by the Inter-Agency Taskforce on Trafficking in Persons (TIP Taskforce).
TIP Taskforce is co-lead by Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Ministry of Manpower (MOM), with support from 7 other government agencies:
Regionally and globally, Singapore actively participates at anti-TIP platforms to generate awareness amongst the global and regional communities on Singapore’s efforts in combatting TIP. These platforms include:
INTERPOL, UNODC and Group of Friends against TIP, to tackle TIP at the global level.
ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime (AMMTC),
ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting on Transnational Crime (SOMTC),
ASEAN Directors-General of Immigration & Heads of Consular Affairs Meeting (DGICM),
Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) on Migratory Flows,
Pacific Rim Immigration Intelligence Conference, and
Bali Process
Initiatives
Read about national initiatives for dealing with TIP:
Launched in 2012, the NPA was the roadmap for Singapore’s Whole-of-Government approach to dealing with TIP
from 2012 to 2015.
Key NPA initiatives included:
The training of officers to raise competencies to detect human trafficking
Partnerships with regional and international bodies to better combat transnational crime
The introduction of the TIP Public Awareness Grant
The TIP Public Awareness Grant seeks to encourage public education initiatives that help raise awareness of TIP crimes.
Another significant outcome of the NPA was the passing
of the Prevention of Human Trafficking Act, which was introduced in Parliament in November 2014 and took effect in March 2015.
With the initiatives under the NPA completed, the Taskforce launched the National Approach Against TIP in March 2016. Building on the success of the NPA, the National Approach
sets out key strategies and outcomes to guide the Taskforce and its stakeholders as they develop work plans to combat TIP.
These are the four desired outcomes of the National Approach Against TIP:
Prevention: A public that is aware of TIP crimes and actively takes steps to prevent, combat and suppress TIP. Government officials and stakeholders who are well-trained, competent and professional in identifying and dealing with
TIP cases.
Prosecution: An effective end-to-end criminal justice response to TIP crimes, involving comprehensive investigations and prosecution of all offenders who may be involved in trafficking or the exploitation of victims.
Protection: An appropriate victim care and support framework that looks after the needs of all victims of trafficking.
Partnership: A strong ecosystem comprising domestic and international stakeholders to put forth a whole-of-Singapore response against TIP.
The UN TIP Protocol lays out international standards for the elimination of TIP, and seeks to prevent, suppress and punish TIP perpetrators while protecting victims and promoting cooperation among state parties to meet these objectives.
Singapore is fully in compliance with the Protocol.
In 2015, Singapore also passed
the Prevention of Human Trafficking Act (PHTA) to deter TIP and support the rehabilitation of trafficked victims, especially vulnerable individuals.
The PHTA explicitly criminalises TIP, defines
the offences, and sets out actions which constitute abetment of the TIP offence. It also makes it an offence for a person to knowingly receive payment in connection with the exploitation of a trafficked victim, with severe penalties for doing so.
The TIP Public Awareness Grant is aimed at encouraging public education initiatives that would help raise awareness of TIP crimes, so that such initiatives can be detected early and reported to the authorities.
Applications are now open from 1 June 2022 to 30 September 2022.
If you're interested, we would like you to submit proposals that aim to increase public awareness on TIP, and shape public attitudes about their roles in combating TIP. You can refer to the application form for more details.
Report a Trafficking Case
You can report suspected trafficking-in-persons activity through:
