Prevention of Human Trafficking Act 2014

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Coming into Force: 01 March 2015
• Record Number: Act 45 of 2014

REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE

GOVERNMENT GAZETTE

ACTS SUPPLEMENT

Published by Authority

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NO. 51] Wednesday, December 31 [2014

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The following Act was passed by Parliament on 3rd November 2014 and assented to by the President on 12th December 2014:—

Prevention of Human Trafficking Act 2014

(No. 45 of 2014)

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I assent.

TONY TAN KENG YAM, President. 12th December 2014.

Date of Commencement: 1st March 2015

An Act to deter and punish trafficking in persons and to protect and assist trafficked persons, and to make consequential amendments to the Children and Young Persons Act (Chapter 38 of the 2001 Revised Edition).

Be it enacted by the President with the advice and consent of the Parliament of Singapore, as follows:

PART 1 PRELIMINARY Short title and commencement 1. This Act may be cited as the Prevention of Human Trafficking Act 2014 and shall come into operation on such date as the Minister charged with the responsibility for home affairs may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint. Interpretation 2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires — “abduct”, in relation to an individual, means to compel by force, or induce by any deceitful means, the individual to go from any place; “abuse of the position of vulnerability”, in relation to an individual, means taking advantage of the vulnerable position the individual is placed in as a result of — (a) the individual entering or remaining in Singapore illegally; (b) the individual’s pregnancy; (c) the individual’s physical or mental illness, infirmity or disability; or (d) the impairment (permanently or temporarily) of the individual’s decision-making ability by reason of the individual’s physical or mental illness, infirmity or disability; “child” means an individual below the age of 18 years; “coercion”, in relation to an individual, means the use of force or threat, whether violent or otherwise, against the individual or another individual, including — (a) any threat of harm to or physical restraint of the individual or the other individual; (b) any scheme, plan or pattern intended to cause the individual to believe that the failure to perform an act would result in serious harm to or physical restraint of the individual or the other individual; or (c) any abuse or threat related to the legal status of the individual or the other individual; “conjugal partner”, in relation to a trafficked victim at a given point in time, means the individual with whom the trafficked victim was in a relationship as if the individual were the trafficked victim’s spouse at that point in time; “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; “document” has the same meaning as in section 29 of the Penal Code (Cap. 224); “exploitation” means sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery or any practice similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of an organ; “Minister” means the Minister charged with the responsibility for home affairs; “practice similar to slavery” includes debt bondage, serfdom or any servile form of marriage; “premises” includes — (a) any building or structure, whether permanent or temporary; (b) any land, whether built on or not; (c) any place, whether open or enclosed, including any place situated underground or underwater; (d) any vehicle, train, vessel or aircraft; and (e) any part of the premises; “prostitution” means the offering of an individual’s body for hire, whether for money or in kind, for the purpose of sexual penetration; “public servant” has the same meaning as in section 21 of the Penal Code, and includes any person who is deemed under this Act or any other written law to be a public servant for the purposes of the Penal Code; “serfdom” means the condition or status of a tenant who is, by law, custom or agreement, bound to live and labour on land belonging to another person and to render any determinate service to that other person, whether for reward or not, and is not free to change that condition or status; “servile form of marriage” means any institution or practice in which — (a) a woman or female child, without the right to refuse, is promised or given in marriage on payment of a consideration in money or in kind to her parent, guardian, family or any other person or group of persons; (b) the husband of a woman or female child, or his family or clan, has the right to transfer her to another person, whether for value received or otherwise; or (c) a woman or female child on the death of her husband is liable to be inherited by another person; “servitude”, in relation to an individual, means any condition or obligation, not authorised by any written law, to work or render services from which the individual cannot escape or which the individual is not free to change; “sexual exploitation”, in relation to an individual, means the involving of 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; “trafficked victim” means an individual against whom an offence under section 3 is committed, and includes an alleged victim of the offence.

PART 2 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS Trafficking in persons 3.—(1) Any person who recruits, transports, transfers, harbours or receives an individual (other than a child) by means of — (a) the threat or use of force, or any other form of coercion; (b) abduction; (c) fraud or deception; (d) the abuse of power; (e) the abuse of the position of vulnerability of the individual; or (f) the giving to, or the receipt by, another person having control over that individual of any money or other benefit to secure that other person’s consent, for the purpose of the exploitation (whether in Singapore or elsewhere) of the individual shall be guilty of an offence. (2) Any person who recruits, transports, transfers, harbours or receives a child for the purpose of the exploitation (whether in Singapore or elsewhere) of the child shall be guilty of an offence. (3) In determining whether an offence has been committed under this section, the following shall be irrelevant: (a) in the case where the alleged victim of the offence is a child, whether the child, or the child’s parent or guardian, consented to the actual or intended exploitation; (b) in any other case, whether the alleged victim of the offence consented to the actual or intended exploitation. (4) For the purposes of subsection (1) or (2), it does not matter whether the act of trafficking in persons described in that subsection is done partly in and partly outside Singapore provided that the act, if done wholly in Singapore, would constitute an offence under that subsection. Punishment for trafficking in persons 4.—(1) Any person who is guilty of an offence under section 3, upon conviction — (a) in the case of a first offence, shall be punished with a fine not exceeding $100,000 and with imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years, and shall be liable to caning not exceeding 6 strokes; and (b) in the case of a second or subsequent offence, shall be punished with a fine not exceeding $150,000, with imprisonment for a term not exceeding 15 years and with caning not exceeding 9 strokes. (2) In determining the appropriate sentence for an offence under section 3, the court may take into account the aggravating factors relevant to the offence including the following: (a) the offence involved serious injury to or the death (including death by suicide) of the trafficked victim or another individual; (b) the trafficked victim was particularly vulnerable due to pregnancy, illness, infirmity, disability or any other reason, and the offender was aware of the trafficked victim’s particular vulnerability; (c) the trafficked victim was a child; (d) the offence exposed the trafficked victim to a life-threatening illness; (e) the offence involved actual or threatened use of a weapon or drug; (f) the offender was a public servant; (g) the offender was the trafficked victim’s spouse or conjugal partner; (h) the offender was abusing a position of trust or authority in relation to the trafficked victim. Abetment of trafficking in persons 5.—(1) For the purposes of Chapter V of the Penal Code (Cap. 224), a person abets the commission of an offence under section 3 if — (a) the person gives instruction to another person to commit the offence; (b) the person provides or arranges any form of financing, transport, shelter, accommodation or any other facility with the intention of facilitating the commission of the offence; or (c) the person — (i) participates or assists in the recruitment, transport, transfer, harbouring or receiving of an individual; (ii) employs or assists in the employment of any of the means specified in section 3(1)(a) to (f) in respect of the individual; or (iii) does any act to promote or in furtherance of the actual or intended exploitation of the individual, with the intention of facilitating the commission of the offence against the individual. (2) To avoid doubt, this section is without prejudice to the generality of the term “abetment” under the Penal Code. Persons who receive payments in connection with exploitation of trafficked victims 6.—(1) Any person who knowingly receives any payment in connection with the actual or intended exploitation in Singapore of a trafficked victim shall be guilty of an offence. (2) Any person who is guilty of an offence under subsection (1), upon conviction — (a) in the case of a first offence, shall be punished with a fine not exceeding $100,000 and with imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years, and shall be liable to caning not exceeding 6 strokes; and (b) in the case of a second or subsequent offence, shall be punished with a fine ...