Timor-Leste

Article 25. State of exception 

1. Suspension of the exercise of fundamental rights, freedoms and guarantees shall only take place if a state of siege or a state of emergency has been declared as provided for by the Constitution.

5. In no case shall a declaration of a state of siege affect the right to life, physical integrity, citizenship, non-retroactivity of the criminal law,defensein a criminal case and freedom of conscience and religion, the right not to be subjected to torture, slavery or servitude, the right not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and the guarantee of non-discrimination.

Section 30. Right to personal freedom, security and integrity 

1. All have the right to freedom, security and personal integrity.

4. No one shall be subjected to torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

Section 39. Family, marriage and maternity 

3. Marriage is based upon free consent by the parties and on terms of full equality of rights between spouses, in accordance with the law.

Article 44. Freedom of movement 

1. Every individual has the right to move freely and to settle anywhere in the national territory.
2. Every citizen is guaranteed the right to emigrate freely, as well as the rights to return to the country.

Section 50. Right to work 

1. Every citizen, regardless of gender, has the right and the duty to work and to choose freely his or her profession.
2. The worker has the right tolaborsafety and hygiene, remuneration, rest and vacation. 
3. Dismissal without just cause or on political, religious and ideological grounds is prohibited.
4. Compulsory work, without prejudice to the cases provided for under penal legislation, is prohibited.
5. The State shall promote the establishment of co-operatives of production and shall lend support to household businesses as sources of employment.

CONSTITUTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF EAST TIMOR (PDF)

Article 124. Crimes against humanity  

Any person who, within the context of a widespread or systematic attack against any civilian population, commits acts that result in :  

c)Enslavement ;

g) Rape, sexual enslavement, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy, forced sterilization or any other form of sexual violence of comparable seriousness;

is punishable with 15 to 30 years imprisonment. 

Article 125. War crimes against individuals  

1. Any person who, within the context of an armed conflict of an international ornoninternationalnature, commits against a person protected by international humanitarian law :  

l) Any of the acts described in paragraph (g) of the previousarticle ;

is punishable with 12 to 25 years imprisonment. 

Article 155. Mistreatment of a minor  

1. Any person who provides guardianship or custody, or is responsible for the upbringing of a minor aged less than 17 years, or does so under employment, and: 

a) Causes harm to the minor's body or health, or inflicts physical or mental mistreatment or cruel treatment; 

b) Subjects the minor to economic exploitation, hazardous work or work capable of compromising his or her education or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development; 

c) Subjects the minor to any form of slavery or analogous practice; 

d) Uses, recruits or offers the minor for purposes of prostitution, production of pornographic material or pornographic shows; or 

e) Uses, recruits or offers the minor for practicing unlawful acts or activities, namely production and trafficking in narcotics as defined by international conventions, 

is punishable with 2 to 6 years imprisonment, if no heavier penalty is applicable by force of another legal provision.  

2. Any person who, under similar circumstances, uses a minor for begging is punishable with up to 3 years imprisonment, if no heavier penalty is applicable by force of another legal provision. 
3. If the victim is a descendant, collateral kin, relative or similar to the second degree, has adopted or been adopted by the perpetrator or a person cohabiting with the perpetrator under similar conditions, the limits to the penalties referred to in the precedingsubarticlesshall be increased by one third.  

Article 161 Abduction 

1. Any person who, by means of violence, threat or deceit, transfers another person from one place to another with the intention to:

a) Subject the victim to extortion;

b) Commit crime of sexual exploitation, assault or abuse;

c) Obtain ransom or reward; or

d) Compel public authorities or any third party to commit or refrain from committing an act, or to coercively accept an activity,

is punishable with 4 to 12 years imprisonment. 

2. If any of the circumstances provided insubarticle2 of article 160 occurs, the applicable penalty is 5 to 15 years imprisonment. 

Article 162 Enslavement  

1. Any person who, by any means, places a fellow human being in a situation of enslavement or makes use of a person in such a condition is punishable with 8 to 20 years imprisonment. 
2. The consent of the victim is irrelevant if any of the means referred to in the following article were used. 
3. For purposes of application of provisions in this article, a person is considered to be in a condition of enslavement whenever, even if only de facto, said person is under submission to powers corresponding to those of property rights, or to any concrete right, or is bound to the disposal of anything. 

Article 163 Human trafficking  

Note: Article 163 has been amended by the 2017 Law on Prevention and Fight Against Trafficking in Persons at article 34, reproduced below: 

"Article 163 […] 

1. Whoever recruits, offers, delivers, accepts, transports, transfer, host or host a person for the purpose of exploitation, through: 

a) Threat or use of force or other forms of coercion; or 

b) Abduction; or 

c) Fraud or deception; or 

d) Abuse of authority or any situation of vulnerability; or 

e) Delivery or acceptance of payments or benefits to get the consent of a person who has authority over another; 

is punished with the penalty of 8 to 20 years in prison. 

2. For the purposes of the preceding paragraph, the holding, includes, at a minimum, exploitation of prostitution or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced marriage, 

exploitation of that person's work or services, the forced labor or debt bondage, begging, slavery, the removal of organs or the exploitation of other criminal activities or use in conflicts armed forces or civil insurrections. 

3. The penalty provided for in paragraph 1 shall apply to anyone who recruits, transport, transfer, lodge or host under the age of 18, for exploitation purposes, even if it does not involve any means referred to in paragraph 1. 

4. Who, having knowledge of the commission of the crimes envisaged innos  1 and 3, using the victim's services or organs is punished with imprisonment of 3 to 8 years, if more serious failure to do so under another legal provision. 

5. For the purposes of paragraph 1, the consent given to by the victim is irrelevant if any means referred to in paragraph 1.” 

Article 164 Aggravation (Note: 2017 amendment below)  

If the acts described in articles 162 and 163 are committed:  

a) As a means to facilitate sexual exploitation or use of the victim, by the perpetrator or a third party; 

b) The victim is a minor under the age of 17; 

c) The victim is in a foreign country or travelling to a foreign country; 

d) The victim is used, against his/her will, in the commission of crimes; or 

e) The perpetrator is engaged in an activity that grants the same public or religious authority before a group, region or entire country; 

Said perpetrator shall be punishable with 12 to 25 years imprisonment.  

2017 amendment: “Article 164 […] 

[…] 

a) [...]

b) Being the victim under 18 years of age;

c) [...]

d) [...]

e) [...]

f) Has endangered the life of the victim;

(g) was committed by an official or public servant in the performance of his duties; 

(h) was committed within the framework of a criminal association; 

is the agent punished with imprisonment from 12 to 25 years.” 

Article 165 Trafficking in human organs  

1. Any person who obtains, sells, assigns, purchases, transports or transfers tissues, organs, substances or parts of the human body of third parties without consent or through use of threats, force or other forms of coercion, kidnapping, fraud, deceit, abuse of authority or situation of vulnerability, or by means of delivery or acceptance of payments orbenefits, or assists in the collection, transaction, transport or storage of the above shall be punishable with 3 to 10 years imprisonment. 
2. If commission of any of the acts mentioned in the sub-article above results in any of the effects provided for in article 146 or the death of the victim, the perpetrator shall be punishable with 4 to 12 years imprisonment and 5 to 20 years imprisonment, respectively. 
3. Consent of the victim is criminally irrelevant, if any of the means referred to in sub-article 1 were used.

Article 166 Sale of persons  

1. Any person who, apart from the cases provided in article 163, by any act or other means of transaction, transfers a person, or group of persons, to another person or group of persons against payment of any sum or any other exchange, reward or advantage, is punishable with 2 to 8 years imprisonment. 
2. If the acts referred to in the previous sub-article are committed: 

a) Against a minor aged less than 17 years; 

b) Through abuse of authority arising from a family relationship, ward or guardianship, or hierarchical, economic orlabor-related dependence; 

c) Through taking advantage of any office or authority held, in any capacity, in a prison, educational or correctional establishment, hospital, mental institution, rest home, clinic or other health establishment or establishment intended toprovide assistanceor treatment; or  

d) Upon an unconscious or incapable person who is particularly vulnerable by virtue of disease, physical or mental deficiency; 

Said perpetrator is punishable with 4 to 12 years imprisonment.  

3. Consent of the victim or third party who exerts any form of power over the victim is criminally irrelevant.

PENAL CODE OF TIMOR LESTE(PDF)

Article 8: Prohibition of forced labour  

1. Forced or compulsory labourisprohibited.  
2. Forced or compulsory labouris understood to mean all work or service which is exactedfrom any person under menace or coercion and which has not been offered voluntarily, in such cases as:  

a) forced or compulsory labour as a way of repaying an actually incurred or inherited debt; 

b)forced or compulsory labour as a means of political coercion or as a punishment for expressing certain political or ideological views;

c)forced or compulsory labour as a method of mobilising and utilising labour economic development purposes; 

d)forced or compulsory labour as a measure of racial, social, national or religious discrimination;

3. The following shall not constitute forced or compulsory labour:

a) Work or service exacted in virtue of compulsory military service laws for work of a purely military character;

b) Work or services that are part of the civic obligations of community members;

c) Work or service exacted from a person as a consequence of a conviction in a court of law, provided that the work or service is carried out under the supervision and control of a public authority and that the person is not hired to, or placed at the disposal of private individuals, companies or associations;

d) Work or service exacted in cases of emergency, such as in the event of war or a calamity, fire, flood, famine, epidemic, or any other circumstance that would endanger the life or safety of the entire, or part of, the population;

e) Minor services in the community that are undertaken by members of the community itself and for the benefit of the community itself. Theseare seen ascommunity members' normal civic obligations, provided that thecommunity members or their direct representatives are entitled to be consulted about the need for such services. 

Article 99. Penalties 

1. Breaches of this Code's regulations are punishable with fines and other types ofpenalty, andtake into account the importance of the interests affected, in the terms to be determined by specific legislation. 
2. Violations of the rights of the child and infliction of forced labour, as provided for in this law and in international conventions ratified by East Timor, shall be reported to the Public Prosecutor's office so that legal proceedings may be started to determine the civil and criminal responsibilities of those involved.

LAW 4/2012 LABOUR CODE (PDF)

Law of Prevention and Fight Against Trafficking People 

Article 2: Trafficking in persons  

For the purposes of this law, trafficking in persons means the recruitment, transportation, transfer, delivery, acceptance, accommodation or reception of persons through threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, kidnapping, fraud, deception, abuse of authority or a position of vulnerability, or the surrender or acceptance payments or benefits to obtain consent from one person who has authority over another for the purposes of exploitation, including at least the exploitation of prostitution or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced marriage, 

exploitation of that person's work or services, the forced labor or debt bondage, begging, slavery, the removal of organs or the exploitation of other criminal activities or use in armed conflicts or civil uprisings 

Article 6: Responsibility of legal persons 

1. Legal persons, even if irregularly constituted and de facto associations, are responsible for the crime of trafficking in persons when committed to their benefit, by anyone holding a position of either acting individually or as of respective organ member. 

2. For the purposes of this law, it holds a position of authority who has the power to represent, to supervise or making decisions on behalf of the legal person. 

3. Legal persons are still responsible for the crime of trafficking in persons whenever the lack of supervision or supervision by a person referred to in paragraph 1 has committed the crime per person under his or her authority for the benefit of that legal person. 

4. The liability of legal persons is excluded when the agent acted against orders or instructions expressed by those in law.  

Article 7: Penalties applicable to legal persons 

1. For the commission of the crimes provided for in this law applicable to the entities referred to in the preceding article following main penalties: 

a) fine; 

b) Judicial dissolution. 

2. The penalty of fine is fixed in days, minimum of 100 dollars US dollars and a maximum of US $ 1000.  

3. Each fine day corresponds to an amount between 1 000 to 10,000 US dollars.  

4. If the fine is imposed on an unincorporated association it is responsible for its heritage and, in the absence or jointly and severally inadequate the assets of each of the associated.  

5. The penalty of judicial dissolution shall be applied only when founders of the entities referred to in paragraph 1 have had intention, exclusive or predominant, through them to commit the crimes provided for therein or when the repeated practice of such a crime shows that the entity is being used, exclusively or predominantly for that purpose, whether by its members, or by those who exercise their respective administration. 

Article 34: Amendment to the Penal Code 

Articles 163 and 164 of the Penal Code, approved by Decree No. 19/2009 of 8 April, and amended by Laws No. 6/2009 of July 15, 2011, December 28, and 5/2013, December 14, August are replaced by the following: 

"Article 163 […] 

1. Whoever recruits, offers, delivers, accepts, transports, transfer, host or host a person for the purpose of exploitation, through: 

a) Threat or use of force or other forms of coercion; or 

b) Abduction; or 

c) Fraud or deception; or 

d) Abuse of authority or any situation of vulnerability; or 

e) Delivery or acceptance of payments or benefits to get the consent of a person who has authority over another; 

is punished with the penalty of 8 to 20 years in prison. 

2. For the purposes of the preceding paragraph, the holding, includes, at a minimum, exploitation of prostitution or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced marriage, 

exploitation of that person's work or services, the forced labor or debt bondage, begging, slavery, the removal of organs or the exploitation of other criminal activities or use in conflicts armed forces or civil insurrections. 

3. The penalty provided for in paragraph 1 shall apply to anyone who recruits, transport, transfer, lodge or host under the age of 18, for exploitation purposes, even if it does not involve any means referred to in paragraph 1. 

4. Who, having knowledge of the commission of the crimes envisaged innos  1 and 3, using the victim's services or organs is punished with imprisonment of 3 to 8 years, if more serious failure to do so under another legal provision. 

5. For the purposes of paragraph 1, the consent given to by the victim is irrelevant if any means referred to in paragraph 1. 

Article 164 […] 

a) [...] 

b) Being the victim under 18 years of age; 

c) [...] 

d) [...] 

e) [...] 

f) Has endangered the life of the victim; 

(g) was committed by an official or public servant in the performance of his duties; 

(h) was committed within the framework of a criminal association; 

is the agent punished with imprisonment from 12 to 25 years.” 

Article 81 Human Trafficking  

1. All persons who under threat of force or any other form of coercion, fraud, deceit, abuse of power or by taking advantage of the victim’s vulnerability, recruit, transfer, lodge or keep persons with the purpose of exploiting them or placing them in sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery or human organ trafficking networks, shall be punished by imprisonment of not more than 8 years or fewer than 3 years. 
2. The same penalties shall apply to those who, through payment either in cash or in kind, buy consent from a third party in control of the victim, to perform the activities provided for in item 1 of the present Article. 
3. If the victim of the activities provided for in items 1 and 2 of the present Article is a minor under 18 years of age, the mere transportation, recruitment, transfer, lodging or keeping of these persons for the purposes described in item 1, constitutes a crime that shall be punishable by imprisonment of not more than 12 years or fewer than 5.

Immigration and Asylum Act Law 9/2003 (PDF)