Contact Admin. Nicaragua is principally a source and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor. Nicaraguan women and children are subjected to sex trafficking within the country as well as in neighboring countries, most often in other Central American states, Mexico, and the United States.
Trafficking victims are recruited in rural areas for work in urban centers — particularly Managua, Granada, and San Juan del Sur — and subsequently coerced into prostitution. Nicaraguan girls are subjected to sex trafficking in locations along the country's Atlantic Coast, where the lack of strong law enforcement institutions, a higher crime rate, and presence of drug trafficking increases the vulnerability of the local population.
Nicaraguan adults and children are subjected to conditions of forced labor in agriculture, the informal sector, and domestic servitude within the country and in Costa Rica, Panama, and other countries. Children in artisanal mining and quarrying are vulnerable to labor trafficking within the country. Male migrants from other Central American countries transit Nicaragua en route to Panama in search of employment; some of them are vulnerable to labor trafficking in Panama. Nicaragua is a destination for child sex tourists from the United States, Canada, and Western Europe.
The Government of Nicaragua fully complies with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. Authorities maintained strong efforts to investigate trafficking cases and prosecute and convict trafficking offenders, and continued robust prevention efforts, particularly through strengthening regional anti-trafficking working groups.
The government continued to provide limited services to trafficking victims, though it was unclear how many victims were referred to specialized services during the year and services were weaker outside the capital.
