Antigua and Barbuda

People

Antigua and Barbuda is a destination and transit country for human trafficking, with adults and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labour. Criminal syndicates employ methods such as false promises of legitimate jobs in the hospitality sector to entice women and young people from abroad, primarily from Saint Lucia, Jamaica and Guyana. Once in the country women are forced into prostitution, domestic servitude or retail work. Travel agencies are also known to offer employment and to pre-pay the costs incurred by employees, leaving many in debt bondage and forced to work long hours. Criminal groups reportedly bribe corrupt immigration officers and senior officials to cooperate with them. There are also allegations that off-duty police officers are complicit in human trafficking, helping criminal groups by impeding investigations or persuading victims not to report crimes. Anecdotal evidence suggests that caregivers and parents force children into sexual exploitation in Antigua, which is a child-sex-tourism destination for both locals and tourists.

There is little evidence of human smuggling in Antigua and Barbuda. When it does occur, it is reported to be enabled through forgery of Antiguan and Barbudan passports. There are no significant reports evidencing the existence of widespread extortion and protection racketeering in the country.

Trade

Arms trafficking in Antigua and Barbuda is relatively moderate. Having said that, the use of firearms continues to be among the country’s primary challenges. Although the gun homicide rate in the country is still relatively low, compared to that in other Caribbean nations, it doubled between 2020 and 2021. This could be attributed to the decline in resources available to combat arms trafficking when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the government to reassign funds to other economic and health priorities. Reports suggest that security services either provide the weapons themselves or facilitate gun crime by allowing organized groups to traffic weapons into the country. In addition, with gang activity on the increase it is likely that arms could be trafficked into the country by criminal networks from nearby Jamaica, using maritime routes.

International websites selling counterfeit goods are accessible from Antigua and Barbuda. Locals have also reported trade in counterfeit goods and items from China that arrive via Cuba. However, no trade in counterfeit goods controlled by organized criminal actors has been identified. There is no significant evidence of the existence of illicit trade in excise goods in the country.

Environment

The environmental criminal market in Antigua and Barbuda is small in reach and size. While no evidence supports the existence of flora crime activities, there is a small market for fauna related crimes, which mainly revolves around illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and trafficking of conch. Another important area might be trade in exotic birds. However, more data is needed to recognize this issue as a large-scale fauna crime market. There is no evidence to suggest the presence of non-renewable-resources crime activities carried out by organized crime groups.

Drugs

Heroin is neither produced nor commonly shipped through the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) route, which implies that there is no significant heroin market in Antigua and Barbuda. However, the country has been identified as a transit hub for the cocaine trade, since it is located at the centre of the flow of narcotics from drug producing countries in South America to the large consuming countries in the north. This, alongside the lack of monitoring and policing of territorial waters, makes it a key transshipment point for the drug, which is trafficked via maritime routes in small speedboats, yachts, fishing vessels and large freighters. Traffickers usually deliver and offload their drug shipments either on beaches or offshore, where the loads are moved to smaller boats, from which they make their way to destination markets. Drug traffickers also transport cocaine and cannabis to Antigua and Barbuda on commercial airlines. There have been allegations of state actors facilitating the drug trade to some extent. Although the cocaine market appears to be still relatively moderate in the country, both the trade in and consumption of the drug are a concern.

Small quantities of cannabis are cultivated in the hilly and sparsely populated areas of the countryside, mainly for local consumption. Production alone, however, is unable to satisfy the demand, which is why the drug is trafficked from Jamaica, St Vincent and Colombia by sea and air routes, taking advantage of the country’s territorial vulnerability. There have been reports of synthetic drug seizures, but these have been isolated incidents, with the smuggling carried out by individuals. It is therefore difficult to verify a possible link between synthetic drugs and organized crime.

Cyber Crimes

There is no evidence of any persistent threat of cyber-dependent crimes or substantial cybercrime network operating in Antigua and Barbuda, although cyberattacks targeting government websites and originating from Jamaica have been reported.

Financial Crimes

As a substantial offshore centre with a larger financial sector than there is in other countries in the Eastern Caribbean, Antigua and Barbuda continues to be vulnerable to financial crimes. Moreover, citizenship through investment schemes provides further opportunities for financial crimes, such as Ponzi schemes. Despite this vulnerability, there is limited evidence to suggest that these activities are linked to local and/or international organized crime.

Criminal Actors

It is likely that foreign actors are heavily engaged in the drug trade in Antigua and Barbuda, as the island country is too small to organize trafficking flows on its own. Guatemalans, Jamaicans and Guyanese are supposedly involved in cocaine and cannabis trafficking operations as well as human trafficking. Meanwhile, local criminal networks appear to be concentrated in poorer areas and mostly engage in theft, car break-ins and home invasions. Nevertheless, reports indicate that loose networks are becoming more involved in trafficking women from abroad and forcing them into sexual exploitation. Local criminal networks allegedly also cooperate with transnational organizations in trafficking drugs. Officials maintain that mafia-style groups that operate in the country typically involve young men and are not highly organized. Despite the increase in youth gangs, mafia-style groups do not monopolize violence, control territory, or otherwise dominate society.

Antigua and Barbuda has had a history of corruption since it gained independence from the United Kingdom, but current reports suggest that only low-level state actors allegedly facilitate criminal markets, including arms, drugs and human trafficking. There is no information indicating the involvement of private sector actors in the criminal markets in the country.

Leadership and governance

The current government appears to take a strong stance against organized crime, with the administration raising the bar in terms of addressing high-level corruption and more general organized crime. In addition, public sentiment about the government is positive and the democratic process is free of criminal influence. However, despite improvements in terms of transparency and the presence of oversight mechanisms, the country’s vulnerability to low-level corruption continues to undermine government capacity. Public access to information is well established, but, although the anti-corruption legal framework is fairly resilient it has its shortcomings and there is no guarantee of anonymity and security for whistleblowers. Moreover, the government lacks the resources to investigate corruption cases.

Antigua and Barbuda is party to all relevant international treaties and conventions pertaining to organized crime. It is also well represented in CARICOM and cooperates effectively with its international counterparts over security issues. The country is also known to cooperate with regional counterparts in attempts to eradicate criminal markets, especially human trafficking. The legal framework is robust enough to respond to the organized crime threats the country faces, with most of the regulatory efforts dedicated to the use and trafficking of drugs.

Criminal justice and security

Despite the independence of the judiciary, inadequacies in the judicial process have created distrust both in the judicial system and, more generally, in the authorities. Criminal proceedings are often lengthy, creating a backlog of cases. There is only one prison in Antigua and Barbuda, with living conditions that do not comply with international standards. The prison is overpopulated, making formal control difficult and creating opportunities for high levels of corruption among prison guards.

The Royal Antigua and Barbuda Police Force has the principal responsibility for maintaining law and order in the country. Corruption, particularly the practice of accepting bribes, is present within police ranks, but allegations of misconduct are investigated and action is taken against transgressors. An INTERPOL office in Saint John’s serves as the national cooperation platform for sharing and collecting intelligence about the crimes that most affect the country. Although it is a transit point for drug trafficking and border control is weak no law enforcement unit has the specific task of countering organized crime. Instead, sniffer-dog units are deployed and searches conducted on all inbound flights from Jamaica. Additional measures have recently been introduced to improve security by exerting better control over sea borders.

Economic and financial environment

Antigua and Barbuda is a well-known tax haven, which is why there is a high level of political commitment to identifying and mitigating money laundering and terrorist financing risks. There is some degree of enforcement in the country and efforts have been made to enact new legislation to combat money laundering and comply with international standards. The United States Office of National Drug and Money Laundering Control Policy (ONDCP) cooperates with financial institutions in the country, supervising and encouraging the creation of mechanisms to identify and prevent money laundering. The ONDCP also supervises financial institutions and monitors whether they are being employed as depositories for illegitimate or criminal funds that might be used to finance terrorism. Overall, great efforts have been made to enact new legislation to fight money laundering.

The government has mechanisms to ensure that legitimate businesses are able to operate free from criminal activities. Foreign and domestic investment is encouraged and the authorities provide aftercare and monitoring for established investors. In general, the available evidence does not suggest that specific sectors of the economy are controlled by organized crime.

Civil society and social protection

Antigua and Barbuda has an office that supports victims of domestic violence and shelters are funded by the directorate of gender affairs. Positive steps have been taken to increase victim support, including training law enforcement officers in preventing human trafficking, as well as increased investigations into human trafficking by the Antigua and Barbuda Trafficking in Persons Prevention Committee Cases Task Force, the agency responsible for coordinating national anti-human-trafficking efforts. The agency, which has also created a national education campaign that provides information about red flags and trends in organized crime and human trafficking, includes regional partnerships with Belize, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and the Bahamas to formalize and strengthen regional cooperation. The Substance Abuse and Prevention Division of the Ministry of Health, Social Transformation and Consumer Affairs plays a vital role in raising public awareness about the risks of drug abuse. An anti-drug plan focuses on awareness and education programmes, counselling and treatment initiatives and rehabilitation and reintegration.

There is good synergy between the government and non-state actors, including the media, in combatting organized crime. This is mostly achieved through outreach in terms of education programmes, television and radio. The country’s few NGOs are active but they often face inadequate funds and political influence. The media also play an important role in the fight.