Documentation

Aruba penal code for
human trafficking

Human trafficking in all its forms is a criminal offense within the Aruba Penal Code (article 2:239 and article 2:240 of the ‘Landsverordening van 27 april 2012 houdende de vaststelling van een nieuw Wetboek van strafrecht van Aruba’, AB 2012 no. 24, wijzigingen: AB 2014 no 11, AB 2016 no 601, AB 2020 no 100.   Article 2:239 of the Aruba Penal Code states:  
  1. Guilty of trafficking in human beings and as such liable to a term of imprisonment not exceeding eight (8) years or a fifth category fine*, is any person who:
      1. by force, violence or other act, by the threat of violence or other act, by extortion, fraud, deception or the misuse of authority arising from the actual state of affairs, by the misuse of a vulnerable position or by giving or receiving remuneration or benefits in order to obtain the consent of a person who has control over this other person recruits, transports, moves, accommodates or shelters another person, with the intention of exploiting this other person or removing his or her organs;
      2. recruits, transports, moves, accommodates or shelters a person with the intention of exploiting that other person or removing his or her organs, when that person has not yet reached the age of eighteen years;
      3. recruits, takes with him or abducts a person with the intention of inducing that person to make himself/herself available for performing sexual acts with or for a third party for remuneration in another country;
      4. forces or induces another person by the means referred to under (a) to make himself/herself available for performing work or services or making his/her organs available or takes any action in the circumstances referred to under (a) which he knows or may reasonably be expected to know will result in that other person making himself/herself available for performing labor or services or making his/her organs available;
      5. induces another person to make himself/herself available for performing sexual acts with or for a third party for remuneration or to make his/her organs available for remuneration or takes any action towards another person which he knows or may reasonably be expected to know that this will result in that other person making himself/herself available for performing these acts or making his/her organs available for remuneration, when that other person has not yet reached the age of eighteen years;
      6. wilfully profits from the exploitation of another person;
      7. wilfully profits from the removal of organs from another person, while he knows or may reasonably be expected to know that the organs of that person have been removed under the circumstances referred to under (a);
      8. wilfully profits from the sexual acts of another person with or for a third party for remuneration or the removal of that person’s organs for remuneration, when this other person has not yet reached the age of eighteen years;
      9. forces or induces another person by the means referred to under (a) to provide him with the proceeds of that person’s sexual acts with or for a third party or of the removal of that person’s organs;
     
    1. Exploitation comprises at least the exploitation of another person in prostitution, other forms of sexual exploitation, forced or compulsory labour or services, slavery, slavery like practices or servitude.
     
    1. The following offences shall be punishable with a term of imprisonment not exceeding twelve (12) years or a fifth category fine:
     
      1. offences as described in the first paragraph if they are committed by two or more persons acting in concert;
      2. offences as described in the first paragraph if such offences are committed in respect of a person who is under the age of sixteen.
     
    1. The offences as described in the first paragraph, committed by two or more persons acting in concert under the circumstance referred to in paragraph 3 under b, shall be punishable with a term of imprisonment not exceeding fifteen (15) years or a fifth category fine.
     
    1. If one of the offences described in the first paragraph results in serious physical injury or threatens the life of another person, it shall be punishable with a term of imprisonment not exceeding twelve (12) years or a fifth category fine.
     
    1. If one of the offences referred to in the first paragraph results in death, it shall be punishable with a term of imprisonment not exceeding eighteen (18) years or a fifth category fine.
        Article 2:240 of the Aruba Penal Code states:   A person who is guilty of using the services of a victim of an offence as referred to in article 2:239 paragraph 1, in the knowledge that that person is forced or induced to make himself available to perform those services with one of the means referred to in article 2:239, paragraph 1 under a, shall be punished by a term of imprisonment not exceeding four years or a fine of the fourth category.     *Article 1:54, paragraph 4 of the Aruba Penal Code states that there are six (6) categories of fines ranging from Awg. 500, = (category 1) till Awg. 1.000.000, = (category 6). The fine of the fifth category as stated in article 2:239 APC is in the amount of Awg. 100.000, = (approximately $50.000, =). The fine of the fourth category as stated in article 2:240 APC is in the amount of Awg. 25.000,= (approximately $12.500,=)
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Link to Download “Afkondigingsblad AB2023No.021”: Click here