Brunei Darussalam

359. Kidnapping.

Kidnapping is of two kinds — kidnapping from Brunei Darussalam, and kidnapping from lawful guardianship.

360. Kidnapping from Brunei Darussalam.

Whoever conveys any person beyond the limits of Brunei Darussalam, without the consent of that person, or of some person legally authorised to consent on behalf of that person, is said to kidnap that person from Brunei Darussalam.

361. Kidnapping from lawful guardianship.

Whoever takes or entices any minor under 14 years of age if a male, or under 16 years of age if a female, or any person of unsound mind, out of the keeping of the lawful guardian of such minor or person of unsound mind, without the consent of such guardian, is said to kidnap such minor or person from lawful guardianship.

Explanation — The words “lawful guardian” in this section include any person lawfully entrusted with the care or custody of such minor or other person.

Exception — This section does not extend to the act of any person who in good faith believes himself to be the father of an illegitimate child, or who in good faith believes himself to be entitled to the lawful custody of such child, unless such act is committed for an immoral or unlawful purpose.

362. Abduction.

Whoever by force complies, or by any deceitful means induces, any person to go from any place, is said to abduct that person.

366. Kidnapping or abducting woman to compel her marriage etc.

Whoever kidnaps or abducts any woman with intent that she may be compelled, or knowing it to be likely that she will be compelled, to marry any person against her will, or in order that she may be forced or seduced to illicit intercourse, or knowing it to be likely that she will be forced or seduced to illicit intercourse, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 30 years and with whipping with not less than 12 strokes.

366B. Importation of girl from foreign country.

Whoever imports into Brunei Darussalam from any country outside Brunei Darussalam any girl under the age of 21 years with intent that she may be, or knowing it to be likely that she will be, forced or seduced to illicit intercourse with another person shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 30 years and with whipping with not less than 12 strokes.

367. Kidnapping or abducting in order to subject person to grievous hurt, slavery etc.

Whoever kidnaps or abducts any person in order that such person may be subjected, or may be so disposed of as to be put in danger of being subjected to grievous hurt or slavery, or to the unnatural lust of any person, or knowing it to be likely that such person will be so subjected or disposed of, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 30 years and with whipping with not less than 12 strokes.

370. Buying or disposing of any person as a slave.

Whoever imports, exports, removes, buys, sells or disposes of any person as a slave, or accepts, receives, or detains against his will any person as a slave, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 30 years and with whipping with not less than 12 strokes.

371. Habitual dealing in slaves.

Whoever habitually imports, exports, removes, buys, sells, traffics, or deals in slaves, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term not exceeding 30 years and with whipping with not less than 12 strokes.

372. Selling minor for purposes of prostitution etc.

Whoever sells, lets to hire, or otherwise disposes of any person underthe age of 18 years with intent that such person shall at any age be employed or used the purpose of prostitution or illicit intercourse with any person or for any unlawful and immoral purpose, or knowing it to be likely that such person will at any age be employed or used for such purpose, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 30 years and with whipping with not less than 12 strokes.

Explanation 1 — When a female under the age of 18 years is sold, let for hire, or otherwise disposed of to a prostitute or to any person who keeps or manages a brothel, the person so disposing of such female shall, until the contrary is proved, be presumed to have disposed of her with the intent that she shall be used for the purpose of prostitution.

Explanation 2 — For the purpose of this section “illicit intercourse” means sexual intercourse between persons not united by marriage or by any union or tie which, though not amounting to a marriage, is recognised by the personal law or custom of the community to which they belong or, where they belong to different communities, of both such communities, as constituting between them a quasi-marital relation.

373. Buying minor for purposes of prostitution.

Whoever buys, hires or otherwise obtains possession of any person under the age of 18 years with intent that such person shall at any age be employed or used for the purpose of prostitution or illicit intercourse with any person or for any unlawfully and immoral purpose, or knowing it to be likely that such person will at any age be employed or used for any such purpose, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 30 years and with whpping with not less than 12 strokes.

Explanation 1 — Any prostitute, or any person keeping or managing a brothel, who buys, hires, or otherwise obtains possession of a female under the age of 18 years shall, until the contrary is proved, be presumed to have obtained possession of such female with the intent that she shall be used for the purpose of prostitution.

Explanation 2 — “Illicit intercourse” has the same meaning as in

section 372.

373A. Importing for purposes of prostitution etc.

Whoever, by any false pretence, false representation, or fraudulent or deceitful means, brings, or assists in bringing, into Brunei Darussalam any woman with intent that such woman may be employed or used for the purpose of prostitution; and whoever brings, or assists in bringing, into Brunei Darussalam any woman with intent that such woman may be sold or bought for the purpose of prostitution; and whoever sells or buys any woman for the purpose of prostitution, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term not exceeding 30 years and with whipping with not less than 12 strokes.

374.Forced labour

Whoever unlawfully compels any person to labour against the will of that person shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 3 years and with fine.

2. Interpretation

In this Order, unless the context otherwise requires –

"exploitation" includes all forms a sexual exploitation (including sexual servitude and exploitation of another person's prostitution), forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude and the removal of organs;

"people trafficking" means the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a person for the purposes of exploitation, as set out in section 4 or 5;

"trafficked person" means any person who is the victim or object of an act of people trafficking regardless of whether that person consented or not;

4. Offence of people trafficking

Any person who recruits, transports, transfers, harbours or receives any person or persons for the purpose of exploitation by one or more of the following means –

(a) threat;

(b) use of force or other forms of coercion;

(c) abduction;

(d) fraud;

(e) deception;

(f) abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability;

(g) the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person,

shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000,000, imprisonment for a term of not less than 4 years but not exceeding 30 years and whipping.

5. Offence of children trafficking

Any person who recruits, transports, transfers, harbour or receives a child by any means for the purposes of exploitation shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000,000, imprisonment for a term of not less than 4 years but not exceeding 30 years and not less than 5 strokes of whipping.

6. Offence of exploiting a trafficked person.

Any person who - (a) engages in; or (b) profits from, the exploitation of a trafficked person shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000,000, imprisonment for a term of not less than 4 years but not exceeding 30 years and whipping.

10. Consent of trafficked person irrelevant.

For the purpose of sections 4, 5 and 6, it shall not be a defence if the trafficked person has consented to the people trafficking or to the exploitation.

13. Attempts, abetment and conspiracy

 (1) Whoever attempts to commit any offence punishable under this Order or any regulations made thereunder, or abets the commission of such offence, shall be punished with the punishment provided for such offence.

(2) A person who conspires with another person to commits an offence under this Order or any regulations made thereunder shall be guilty of theoffence of conspiracy to commit that offence and may be punished as if the offence to which the conspiracy relates had been committed.

Note:

Creates the offences of:

• Selling , letting, hiring, buying or obtaining woman or girl for the purposes of prostitution, whether in Brunei or elsewhere;
• Selling, buying, procuring, trafficking in or importing into Brunei woman or girl, whether or not for present or subsequent prostitution;
• By threat or intimidation procures any woman or girl to have carnal connection within Brunei or elsewhere;
• Procuring by or under false pretence, false representation, or fraudulent or deceitful means within or without Brunei, bringing or assisting in bringing into Brunei any woman or girl with intent that such woman or girl shall be employed or used for the purpose of prostitution either within or without Brunei, or knowing or having reason to believe thatsuch woman or girl will be employed or used;
• Bringing into Brunei, receiving or habouring any woman or girl under the age of 21 years or any woman or girl of or above that age not being a prostitute or of a known immoral character knowing or having reason to believe that such woman or girl has been procured for the purpose of carnal connection except by way of marriage , with any other person or for purpose of prostitution either within or without Brunei and with intent to aid such purpose;
• Detaining any woman or girl in a brothel against her will;
• Detaining any woman or girl in any place against her will with intent that she be used or employed for the purpose of prostitution or any unlawful or immoral purposes;
• Living wholly or in part on the earnings of prostitution of any other person;
• Persistently soliciting or importunes on behalf of any woman or girl in a public place, for immoral purposes.

Note: Absolutely prohibits the employment of a child (in the Act defined as a person under the age of 14 years) in any industrial.

Provides that the employer are required to meet the costs of repatriating migrant workers and their dependants in certain circumstances.

Interpretation- 2.

In this Order, unless the context otherwise requires

"abduct" means in relation to an individual, to compel by force, or induce by any deceitful means, the individual to go from any place; "abuse of a position of vulnerability" means taking advantage of the vulnerable position a person is placed in as a result of –

(a) having entered the country illegally or without proper documentation;

(b) pregnancy or any physical or mental disease or disability of the person, including addiction to the use of any substance;

(c) reduced capacity to form judgments by virtue of illness, infirmity or a physical or mental disability;

"abuse of power" means any situation where a public officer uses his position or takes advantage of his position in order to commit an offence;

"child" means a person who is under 18 years of age;

"coercion” means use of force or threat thereof, and some forms of non-violent or psychological use of force or threat thereof, including but not limited to –

(a) threats of harm or physical restraint of any person;

(b) any scheme, plan or pattern intended to cause a person to believe that failure to perform an act would result in serious harm to or physical restraint against any person;

(c) abuse or any threat linked to the legal status of a person;

…

"debt bondage" means a status or condition arising from –

(a) the pledging by a debtor of the personal services of the debtor or an individual under the debtor's control, as security for a debt; and

(b) the reasonable value of such services not being applied towards the discharge of the debt, or the length or nature of such services not being limited or defined, respectively;

"deception" means any deception by words or by conduct as to –

(a) the nature of work or services to be provided;

(b) the conditions of work;

(c) the extent to which the person will be free to leave his place of residence;

"exploitation" includes all forms of sexual exploitation (including sexual servitude and exploitation of another person's prostitution), forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude and the removal of organs;

"forced labour or services" means all work or service that is extracted from any person under the threat of any penalty and for which the person concerned has not offered himself voluntarily;

…

"servitude", in relation to an individual, means any condition or obligation, not authorised by any written law, to work or to render services from which the individual cannot escape or which the individual is not free to change;

"sexual exploitation" means involving the individual in prostitution, sexual servitude or the provision of any other form of sexual service, including the commission of any obscene or indecent act by the individual or the use of the individual in any audio or visual recording or representation of such act;

"slavery" means the status or condition of a person over whom control is exercised to the extent that the person is treated like property.

OFFENCES

5- People trafficking

(1) Any person who recruits, transports, transfers, harbours or receives any person or persons for the purpose of exploitation by one or more of the following means –

(a) abduction;

(b) abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability;

(c) deception;

(d) fraud;

(e) the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person;

(f) threat;

(g) use of force or other forms of coercion, is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000,000 and not less than $10,000 in respect of each trafficked person, imprisonment for a term of not less than 4 years but not exceeding 30 years and whipping.

(2) Where the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt under subsection

(1) for the purpose of exploitation is in respect of a child, it shall be considered trafficking in persons even if it does not involve any of the means referred to subsection (1), the person is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000,000 and not less than $10,000 in respect of each trafficked child, imprisonment for a term of not less than 4 years but not exceeding 30 years and whipping with not less than 5 strokes.

(3) Where any of the following aggravating circumstances are present during the commission of an offence under this section –

(a) the offence involves serious injury or death of the trafficked person or another person, including death as a result of suicide;

(b) the offence involves a trafficked person who is particularly vulnerable such as a person who is unable to fully take care of or protect himself because of a physical or mental disability or condition;

(c) the offence exposed the trafficked person to a life-threatening illness, including Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS);

(d) the offence involves more than one trafficked person;

(e) the offence was committed as part of the activity of an organised criminal group;

(f) the offender has been previously convicted for an offence against this Order or any regulations made thereunder;

(g) the offence was committed by a public servant in the performance of his public duties;

(h) the offender used drugs, weapons or medication in the commission of the offence;

(i) the offender used a child as an accomplice or participant in the offence;

(j) the offender used or threatened to use any form of violence against the trafficked person or his family;

(k) the offender confiscated, destroyed or attempted to destroy the travel or identity documents of the trafficked person,

the offender is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000,000 and not less than $10,000 for each trafficked person, imprisonment for a term of not less than 4 years but not exceeding 30 years and whipping with not less than 5 strokes.

Sexual trafficking- 6.

Any person who, with the intention of inducing another person to enter into an engagement to provide sexual services, deceives that other person about –

(a) the fact that the engagement will involve the provision of sexual services;

(b) the nature of sexual services to be provided;

(c) the extent to which the person will be free to cease providing sexual services;

(d) if there is or will be a debt owed or claimed to be owed by the person in connection with the engagement, the quantum, or the existence, of the debt owed or claimed to be owed;

(e) the fact that the engagement will involve debt bondage or the confiscation of the person's travel documents, is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000,000, imprisonment for a term of not less than 4 years but not exceeding 30 years and whipping with not less than 5 strokes.

Exploitation of trafficked person- 7.

Any person who –

(a) engages in; or

(b) profits from, the exploitation of a trafficked person is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000,000, imprisonment for a term of not less than 4 years but not exceeding 30 years and whipping.

Trafficked person in transit- 8.

Any person who brings in transit a trafficked person through Brunei Darussalam by land, sea or air, or otherwise arranges or facilitates such act is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000,000, imprisonment for a term of not less than 4 years but not exceeding 30 years and whipping

Consent of trafficked person irrelevant 9.

For the purposes of sections 5jl), 5(2), 5(3), 6, 7 and 8, it shall not be a defence if the trafficked person has consented to people trafficking.

ANTI-TRAFFICKING ORDER 2019 (PDF)