Vanuatu

101. Prostitution  

No person shall procure, aid or facilitate the prostitution of another person or share in the proceeds of such prostitution whether habitual or otherwise, or be subsidised by any person engaging in prostitution.  

101B. Promoting or engaging in acts of child prostitution 

(1) A person must not – 

(a) by any means, cause or induce a child to participate in an act of child prostitution; or 

(b) participate as a client with a child in an act of child prostitution. 

Penalty: Imprisonment for 10 years or, if the child is under the age of 14 years, to imprisonment for 14 years. 

(2) The consent of a child is not a defence to a charge relating to an offence under this section. 

Penalty: Imprisonment for 5 years. 

102. Slavery  

No person shall –  

(a) take or keep another in slavery; or  

(b) engage in any traffic in persons. Penalty:  

Penalty: Imprisonment for 20 years. 

Penal Code 2006 (PDF)

7. Forced or compulsory labour 

(1) No person shall exact, procure, or employ forced or compulsory labour.  

(2) The expression "forced or compulsory labour" in subsection (1) means all work or service which is exacted from any person under the threat of any penalty and for which that person has not offered himself voluntarily except –  

(a) any work or service exacted in the course of compulsory military service for work of purely military character;  

(b) any work or service which forms part of the normal civic obligations of citizens;  

(c) any work or service exacted from any person as a consequence of a conviction by a court:  

Provided that such work or service shall be carried out under the supervision and control of a public authority and that no person shall be hired to, or placed at the disposal of, private individuals, companies or associations;  

(d) any work or service exacted in cases of emergency, that is to say, in the event of war, or of a calamity or threatened calamity such as fire, flood, famine, earthquake, violent epidemic or animal disease, invasion by animal or vegetable pests, and, in general any circumstances that would endanger the existence or the well-being of the whole or part of the community;  

(e) any minor communal services of a kind performed by members of a community in the direct interest of such community and which is therefore a normal civic obligation incumbent upon members of such community:  

Provided that before exaction of such minor services consultation shall have been had with the members of the community or their representatives in regard to the need for such services. 

78. Offences  

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2) any person who contravenes or fails to comply with any provisions of this Act or with any order or direction made by the Commissioner or a labour officer acting in the exercise of his functions under this Act shall be guilty of an offence.  

(2) Any person who –  

(a) contravenes the provisions of section 7 which relates to forced or compulsory labour or section 16(3) which relates to payment of remuneration in intoxicating liquor or noxious drugs;  

(b) obstructs the Commissioner or a labour officer in the exercise of his functions under this Act;  

(c) knowingly makes a statement false in any material particular when required to make a statement under this Act;  

(d) makes, or knowingly allows to be made, any entry in a record required to be kept by an employer which he knows to be false or misleading in a material particular,  

shall be guilty of an offence. Penalty: VT 100,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or both. 

Employment Law (PDF)

2. Interpretation 

(1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears: 

“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; 

“specified means” means any of the following: 

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

“trafficking in persons” means the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a person for the purpose of exploitation; 

34. Offence of trafficking in persons 

(1) A person must not engage in trafficking in a person or be involved in the arranging of trafficking in a person, knowing that the person’s entry into Vanuatu or any other state is or was arranged by specified means. 

(2) If a person contravenes subsection (1), the person is guilty of an offence punishable on conviction by a term of imprisonment of not more than 10 years or a fine of not more than VT 50 million, or both. 

35. Offence of trafficking in children 

(1) A person must not intentionally engage in trafficking in a person who is a child or be involved in the arranging of trafficking in a person who is a child, regardless of whether the child’s entry into Vanuatu or any other state is or was arranged by specified means. 

(2) If a person contravenes subsection (1), the person is guilty of an offence punishable on conviction by a term of imprisonment of not more than 15 years or a fine of not more than VT 75 million, or both. 

37. Consent of trafficked person 

For sections 35 and 36 it is not a defence that: 

(a) the trafficked person consented to the intended exploitation; or 

(b) the intended exploitation did not occur. 

COUNTER TERRORISM AND TRANSNATIONAL ORGANISED CRIME ACT (PDF)