THE ROLE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL IN COUNTERING THE
TRAFFICKING OF PEOPLE AND MIGRANTS AS A TRANSIT ROUTE DUE
TO THE GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION OF PANAMA
Julio Alberto Campines Córdoba*

I. THE COMMITMENT OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL’S OFFICE TO BATTLE
TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME IN PANAMAThe Isthmus of Panama is a historic link between North and South America. It has been a strategicinternational commercial location due to its terrestrial and maritime accessibility, which place this Central
American nation as a transit point for different markets, some of them being illicit markets served byorganized crime groups. The Attorney General’s Office, hand in hand with its auxiliaries, carries out daily
operations throughout the country, the purpose of which is to dismantle groups dedicated to illicit drugtrafficking, the illicit arms trade, money laundering, human and migrant trafficking among others. Thesecriminal activities greatly affect the human rights of all people within the national territory.
The Attorney General and Public Prosecutor’s Offices, as the entities responsible for criminal prosecution,
are at the forefront of the progress that is being made in the area of criminal investigation in other countries.
Best practices that benefit justice administration must be adopted, respecting the rights of the victims ofthese crimes, and thus strengthening international cooperation through the possibility of sharing experiences
and acquiring knowledge that benefits prosecution.
A. Current Status of Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants
With respect to trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants, the Republic of Panama can serve as atransit territory in which criminal organizations use the different maritime and land borders to transport
victims from their country of origin to their intended destination.
- Regarding trafficking in persons, organized crime groups exploit victims by forcing them into prostitution
or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour, servitude, begging, as well as the extraction oforgans, so it is important to know exactly the different forms of exploitation that exist today.
- However, the purpose of smuggling of migrants is different: to obtain a material or economic benefit
based on the illegal entry of a person to a country in which they do not have a stable migratory
situation, for which migrants grant their “consent”, in order to reach their destination.
- Transnational organized crime groups play roles in both trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants,
which represents a threat against the state in which they are carried out, since in order to carry out
these crimes they have an operative team willing to do anything necessary to achieve their objective,
even if these “techniques” endanger the lives of the victims, This includes the commission of various
acts of corruption that undermine the legal security of the state.
B. Criminalization of Trafficking in Persons, Smuggling of Migrants and Related Offences
In Panama, trafficking in persons is criminalized and understood as the means by which the capture,transportation or transfer of people is made through the use of threats, deception, or vulnerability of thevictim, to carry out their exploitation, for which a penalty of 15 to 20 years in prison will be imposed if thevictim is subject to sexual exploitation, labour, slavery, forced labour, begging and the illegal extraction oforgans. Nevertheless, the crime is classified as aggravated, and penalty will be enhanced from 20 to 30 years,
if the victim is a minor, is in a vulnerable situation, if the victim is used in acts of exhibitionism throughphotographic means, if the act is executed by deception, if it is performed by a close relative or is performed＊

Circuit Prosecutor, Decision and Early Litigation Section in Bocas del Toro, Public Ministry, Panama.

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by a public servant.
The smuggling of migrants, on the other hand, is directed to any person who promotes, finances or
facilitates the entry or exit of people from the national territory, for the purpose of smuggling migrants, evenwhen they give their consent. A sentence of 15 to 20 years in prison will be assigned to the investigated,while the penalty will be aggravated from 20 to 30 years, when the migrant is a minor, when their life is at
risk, when they are pregnant, have a mental or physical disability, as well as having the act committed by apublic servant.
C. Investigation, Prosecution and Adjudication of Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants
Cases
1. Challenges in the Investigations
The investigation and prosecution of crimes of trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants is an
important challenge given the clandestine nature in which the events take place. Handling such cases iscomplex, precisely because of the empathic relationship that may arise between the trafficker and thevictims; in many cases the trafficker is the only contact the victim has with her place of origin. Similarly, theinvestigation of these crimes poses a challenge to the prosecutors since the victims of these crimes are
distrustful of the law, the police, migration and any other intervening authority, due to the manipulation thatcan be carried out by the trafficker.
Effective measures are necessary to identify, investigate and prosecute the masterminds and the true
beneficiaries and to deprive them of their illicit gains. Panama, through Law No. 121 of 2013, has adopted a
specialized Law against Organized Crime, in which the purpose is to identify, investigate, pursue and punish
organized crime. The law enables the use of special investigation techniques for the purpose of dismantling
criminal organizations by using covert operations, surveillance and monitoring, controlled delivery, controlled
purchases, and interception of communications. These techniques must be tailored to the nature of eachparticular case in which care must be taken to protect the lives of the victims and witnesses of the events
while obtaining valuable information on the operations of organized crime groups.
In the same sense, in order to obtain better results in the different investigations, the application ofpenalty agreements can be adopted. Penalty agreements are carried out between the prosecutor, the person
under investigation and their legal representatives, so that the masterminds of the criminal organizations canbe identified through effective collaboration. This should be the main object of the investigation, because if
we limit ourselves to investigating the people who make the transfers and not those in charge of making
these connections, the investigations will not have any purpose, since these people in charge of executing theorders can be replaced by the criminal organization. That is why penalty agreements are promoted byprosecutors. Such agreements help prosecutors determine the structure of the criminal organization, allowing
it to be attacked at its core. However, in order to carry out these investigative strategies, it is necessary to
promote reciprocal international assistance through joint investigation among nations so that progress canbe achieved in parallel.
2. Ensuring Cooperation of Trafficked/Smuggled Persons and Securing Their Testimony
The protection of witnesses and victims must occur comprehensively at each stage of the process.
Different protocols for cases of human trafficking and migrant smuggling have been adopted for the victims
who are in need of protection when detained while transiting through Panama. These protocols provide forthe physical and psychological recovery of the victims, witnesses and other intervening parties. The protocols
are administered by the Victim Attention Unit, which ensures that victims receive the legal, psychologicaland social support that facilitates an understanding of the real situation of the victim and what supportshould be provided to avoid revictimization. In this way, taking into account the seriousness of the events inwhich the victims are immersed, protection measures are applied to ensure the safety of the victims andwitnesses throughout the process, such as:- Holding closed-door hearings- Non-disclosure of information- Preventing contact between the suspect and the victim- Testimony through video or other technologies- The use of pseudonyms
64172ND INTERNATIONAL TRAINING COURSEPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS- Use of Gesell chambers to obtain victim testimony while protecting their integrity and avoiding their
participation on repeated occasions throughout the process- Avoiding revictimization- Not treating victims as criminals
It is of the utmost importance that the victims of human trafficking and migrant smuggling can beprotected through the cooperation of different agencies, among which the application of all measures of
security to remain in the territory can be carried out first during the Prosecutor’s investigation, without any
type of attack against their physical integrity, protecting them from a new risk of victimization. Thus,
through international cooperation, the process of repatriation must be secure, which requires extensive
communication with the country of origin that guarantees the security of the person upon return, as well as
granting the corresponding permits and documents of travel without delay.
3. Suppression of Related Crimes, Investigation, Prosecution and Adjudication of Those Involved in the
Exploitation of Trafficked/Smuggled Persons
The criminal laws punish all people who knowingly assist a trafficker engaged in trafficking in persons or
smuggling of migrants. Those people are investigated and punished with a sentence of imprisonment even
if they provide assistance with the consent of the victim.
In the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Panama, the crimes of trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants
are handled by different regional agencies in charge of the investigations. Officials from these agencies mustbe trained to identify the different peculiarities of trafficking and smuggling crimes and to handle the victims
with dignity, because not knowing how to handle these investigations at the initial stage can result in theloss of evidence, or the case might be treated as another type of crime. Trafficking in persons can be
confused with the forced labour of minors or pimping, which can lead to an investigation of a less serious
offence, and those under investigation may be punished with inappropriate penalties. Once the case has been
identified as smuggling of migrants or trafficking in persons, the Republic of Panama has at the investigation
stage a Superior Specialized Prosecutor’s Office against Organized Crime, which has jurisdiction throughout
Panama to conduct investigations, and with the support of the different regional offices, it is possible to obtain
good results.
In the area of procedure, Panama has adopted a system of oral prosecution, which entails a constantprocess of adaptation and preparation of investigations based on a theory of the case which should be tested
at the trial stage which corresponds to practice the tests and demonstrate the responsibility of the person
investigated. With regard to trafficking in persons, penalty agreements have been reached in which thepersons investigated have admitted responsibility and have accepted prison sentences to avoid being brought
to trial.
The Trafficking in Persons Section is currently investigating a case of Internal Labor Trafficking of a
victim of 17 years of age, female and indigenous, which is originally from the Province of Bocas del Toro,
where it was caught, the report was filed by a neighbour, where she relates that the girl was brought fromthe province of Bocas de Toro by a family as a domestic worker, working specifically in the care of 4
underage children as well as all the household chores without receiving a payment for 5 months, until she
was able to escape after having been threatened by the owner of the home with a knife to continue doing
her job, many times. The minor indicated that she had been mistreated, humiliated and insulted by her boss
because she was an indigenous person, she pointed out that her working day was over 14 hours. She waseven forbidden to talk to neighbours or tell someone that she had not been paid or communicate with herfamily, so she decided to flee and seek help.
On the other hand, the type of trafficking that occurs most frequently in Panama is trafficking for the
purpose of sexual exploitation, in which in many cases the victims are foreigners, usually from Colombia and
Venezuela, because of the economic situation and social issues facing these countries, the victims are captured
for prostitution, first they are confined in hostels and they profit through the sexual relations service, where
they provide all the elements to receive the clients from whom they obtain great economic benefits, that inmany occasions it is tolerated by the victims because they require the economic income to help their families,
to carry out this activity they completely control the documents of the young people and they watch themto avoid having economic losses, for which here I am going to include some pictures of different centres
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where this activity took place.

In relation to the crime of migrant trafficking, Panama is an international transit route, being the accessroute to North America. People enter South America through Brazil or Bolivia, and they transit through
Peru to Ecuador. Subsequently, through the Colombian and Ecuadorian border, they leave for Panama, then
Costa Rica. They pass through Guatemala and Mexico, with their final destination in the USA, for which
Panama uses a Biometric Analysis System to verify the entry and exit from the country.

For the year 2016, a joint operation called ‘Mesoamerica’ was carried out, which integrated the police
teams of five nations (Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Panama), which aimed to put an end
to an associated criminal structure with migrants and their illegal transfer to US territory. Through thiscollaboration, 33 subjects were captured. They used to traffic people of Asian and African origin who wishedto enter the United States using ‘green roads’.

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D. International Cooperation
It is of the utmost importance that the judicial bodies of the different nations create links where cooperation
can be effective through officials who have full knowledge of the vanguard techniques, where each state
handles the same tools that facilitate timely communication and in real time to minimize the consequencesof transnational criminal groups, to achieve effective mutual legal assistance.
Cooperation with related agencies in other jurisdictions is also important. Achieving judicial communication
between the different states that are victims of the scourge of organized crime is a joint task that involves
a lot of coordination; however, if it is carried out in a timely manner, it will be a mechanism through which
the different migration institutions will have open communication channels, and administrative bureaucracy
will be reduced, which translates into better care for victims within these crimes.
E. Prevention and Detection of Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants
As part of a management programme for these crimes of high international impact, it is very important,
as a representative in this course of the Attorney General’s Office, to act as a multiplying entity of knowledge
through institutional academic spaces in which we will support comrades in the different criminal investigations
that arise from the crimes of human and migrant trafficking.
In the same way, as representatives of society, we carry out periodic training for the community indifferent crimes of impact such as sexual crimes, for which campaigns of the crimes of human and migranttrafficking in the different medical centres may be initiated, educational establishments, institutions in which
they collaborate providing information on the importance of assessing the emotional reactions presented by
the victims of these crimes, always having gender as a central perspective.
Sensitizing the community to the possible signs of people who are victims of such crimes—such as
depression, hopelessness, numbness, detachment, loss of interest in life, as well as panic attacks, fear andhyper-vigilance—can help detect possible acts of human trafficking. In this sense, the approach that institutions
must provide must be focused on guaranteeing the safety, protection and assistance for victims without
judging them or accusing them of crimes, as they have no responsibility for the events that led to theirtrafficking. This requires a high degree of professionalism of the staff.

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Currently, the role I play is as prosecutor in charge of the Decision and Early Litigation Section in theProvince of Bocas del Toro. My section is in charge of ordering the apprehension of the persons underinvestigation, formulating charges and adopting the precautionary measures and measures that help theprocess to be carried out without any interruption. Within this section we have had the opportunity to
conduct high-profile investigations for crimes of possession of weapons, extortion, sexual crimes in which wehave achieved good results through teamwork. Our aim is to protect the victim of the crime througheffective collaboration.
Among the victims that we have had to attend, we have been able to work with victims in a great stateof vulnerability, for which we apply protection measures against the aggressor, as well as the making
advances within our jurisdiction by using Gesell chambers—with the presence of judges, defenders and otherinterveners—which serve as a method to avoid revictimization. The video recording of interviews andwitness testimony given in Gesell chambers also avoids revictimization because the recordings are played as
evidence at trial, thus avoiding the need for the victim to testify again.
As well as in the cases in which operability has been required, there have been searches, visual inspections
and covert operations aimed at the clarification of the different investigations, which have been positive, andthe facts investigated have been clarified.
The province of Bocas del Toro faces geographical challenges with broad maritime and land access,which is a key point in Panamanian tourism, in which the crimes of trafficking in persons can occur throughthe mode of traffic and destination of the victims, in the different hotel and leisure spaces, for which I
consider it is important to have the trained human resources in this vulnerable area, who can count on theskills and the current techniques for the detection and attention to the victims.
With respect to the crime of trafficking in persons, the territory in which we operate borders on Costa
Rica, making it a vulnerable area to be used as a transit point for migrants to North America, since many ofthe border crossing points may be trafficking migrants without the proper controls that organized groups
can take advantage of so that teamwork with immigration officials and the Border Police, together with the
Public Prosecutor’s Office are key in the follow-up of these international crimes.
It is very important to have a space where colleagues from the international community can shareexperiences. By the nature of our geographical position, the participation of the Attorney General’s Office ofPanama is very important because we can illustrate to origin and destination countries our approach topeople who are in transit and how our approaches have evolved by placing emphasis on victim protection
from the first contact with law enforcement authorities though the investigation phase, trial and repatriation.
Being able to share our experiences allows us to acquire knowledge and to be able to adopt concrete
strategies that may be effective in another part of the world. This directly influences the adoption of bestpractices in justice systems, and leading of objective investigations in which the rights of all participants arerecognized, always remembering that we work willingly to respond to society.

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