Cyber-trafficking is a growing and serious concern in Fiji, posing risks to vulnerable individuals and national security.

The Head of the International Organization for Migration in Fiji, Solomon Kantha, warns that as more people gain access to the internet, traffickers are increasingly using online platforms to exploit individuals.

He says that women, young people, and migrant workers are particularly at risk due to limited financial resources, lack of information, and low digital literacy.

The IOM stresses the urgent need for stronger regional cooperation and increased public awareness to effectively address the evolving tactics used by traffickers in cyberspace.

“This is a trend that we are seeing increasingly, not only in Fiji and the Pacific, but across the globe. Social media, messaging applications, and online job advertisements are being used or misused to lure individuals with false promises of employment, education, or travel, often leading to situations of forced labor or sexual exploitation.”

Kantha says victims are sometimes forced to create harmful content online, and it is difficult to catch the perpetrators because the internet conceals their identities.

Permanent Secretary for Immigration, Aliki Salusalu, emphasized the importance of investing in prevention.

“We must have embedded anti-corruption measures in our counter-trafficking strategy, vet personnel, enhance transparency, and hold those complicit to account at every level. Ensuring a victim-centered approach, survivors must be at the heart and center of our response, with access to safety, justice, and reintegration.”

Salusalu adds that efforts such as poverty reduction, education, gender equality, and the provision of legal migration pathways are essential to reducing vulnerabilities and disrupting the systems that traffickers exploit.

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