Understanding the Global Challenge of Human Trafficking through the Trafficking in Persons Report

The Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP) is published annually by the U.S. Department of State and is a valuable tool used by the U.S. government, foreign governments, NGOs, and the international community to understand how countries respond to trafficking, note where gaps exist, and provide recommendations to more effectively combat trafficking. The report is based on data and information provided by government agencies, NGOs, and other key stakeholders and evaluates the concrete actions taken in prevention, protection, and prosecution efforts to meet the minimum standards in combatting human trafficking. Each country is assigned a Tier Ranking. The full 2022 report can be downloaded here.

Below is an explanation of the tier system and a list of tier placement for countries across the globe.

 

Tier 1

Countries whose governments fully meet the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s (TVPA) minimum standards

Tier 2

Countries whose governments do not fully meet the TVPA’s minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to meet those standards.

Tier 3

Countries whose governments do not fully meet the minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so.

Tier 2 Watch List

Countries whose governments do not fully meet the TVPA’s minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to meet those standards AND:

  1. The absolute number of victims of severe forms of trafficking is very significant or is significantly increasing;

  2. There is a failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons from the previous year, including increased investigations, prosecutions, and convictions of trafficking crimes, increased assistance to victims, and decreasing evidence of complicity in severe forms of trafficking by government officials; or

  3. The determination that a country is making significant efforts to meet the minimum standards was based on commitments by the country to take additional future steps over the next year.

Governments With a Policy or Pattern of Human Trafficking

The 2022 Trafficking in Persons Report includes the following 11 governments with a documented “policy or pattern” of human trafficking, trafficking in government-funded programs, forced labor in government-affiliated medical services or other sectors, sexual slavery in government camps, or the employment or recruitment of child soldiers:

Afghanistan
Burma
China, People’s Republic of
Cuba
Eritrea
Korea, Democratic People’s Republic of
Iran
Russia
South Sudan
Syria
Turkmenistan

Child Soldiers Prevention Act List

Section 402 of the Child Soldiers Prevention Act, as amended (CSPA) requires publication in the annual TIP Report of a list of foreign governments identified during the previous year as having governmental armed forces, police, or other security forces, or government-supported armed groups that recruit or use child soldiers, as defined in the CSPA. These determinations cover the reporting period beginning April 1, 2021 through March 31, 2022.

Afghanistan
Burma
Central African Republic
Congo, Democratic Republic of the
Iran
Mali
Russia
Somalia
South Sudan
Syria
Venezuela
Yemen

Countries in the 2022 TIP Report that are not Party to the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking In Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime

Bhutan
Congo, Republic of the
Iran
Korea, Democratic People’s Republic of
Marshall Islands
Pakistan
Papua New Guinea
Solomon Islands
Somalia
South Sudan
Tonga
Uganda
Vanuatu
Yemen