State Department releases 2026 trafficking report

The State Department released its 2026 Trafficking in Persons Report Oct. 8, warning that criminal organizations and repressive governments continue to profit from human trafficking and calling for accountability for governments that fail to protect victims and punish perpetrators. 

The annual report, required under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, assesses government actions from April 1, 2025, through March 31, 2026, to combat human trafficking, including forced labor and sex trafficking. This year’s findings include a downgrade for Hong Kong to the lowest ranking, continued criticism of China’s forced labor practices, and improved rankings for Israel and Ghana. 

State Department spokesman Thomas “Tommy” Pigott said in a statement accompanying the report that human trafficking is a “direct assault on the values of freedom and dignity that define America.”

“The 2026 Trafficking in Persons Report reveals new ways criminal organizations and repressive regimes use this abhorrent practice for financial gain,” Pigott added. “The report also calls for accountability for governments that fail to punish traffickers and protect their citizens. The Trump Administration will use all available tools to fight traffickers and their enablers and bring them to justice.”

The report ranks governments in three tiers. Tier 1 governments fully meet the minimum standards for eliminating trafficking established under U.S. law. Tier 2 governments fall short but are making significant efforts to comply, while Tier 3 governments neither meet the standards nor make significant efforts to do so.

The department placed 20 countries and jurisdictions on its Tier 3 list: Afghanistan, Belarus, Burma, Cambodia, Chad, China, the Republic of Congo, Cuba, Eritrea, Hong Kong, Iran, North Korea, Laos, Macau, Nicaragua, Russia, Sint Maarten, South Sudan, Sudan, and Venezuela. 

Hong Kong fell to Tier 3 after receiving a Tier 2 Watch List ranking in 2025. The State Department said its government prosecuted fewer trafficking cases and did not adequately prosecute employment agency operators or moneylenders for facilitating labor trafficking. 

Israel and Ghana moved up from Tier 2 in 2025 to Tier 1, while Papua New Guinea advanced from Tier 3 to Tier 2.

The report compiled estimates of 24,254 trafficking prosecutions, 7,576 convictions, and 156,912 identified victims worldwide in 2025, drawing on foreign government data and other sources.

Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., an author of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, welcomed the report, saying it serves as a “stark reminder that modern-day slavery remains a global scourge.” 

He pointed to China’s continued Tier 3 ranking, which it has held since 2017, and condemned the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) use and enabling of forced labor. Smith singled out the CCP’s exploitation of Uyghurs, a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority, and other persecuted minorities. 

“Moreover, the horrific, ongoing consequences of China’s one-child per couple policy can still be seen and felt today, as the Report notes that a gross disparity — tens of millions more boys than girls — has driven the demand for commercial sex trafficking and coercive marriages in the country,” Smith added. 

He also called Hong Kong’s drop to Tier 3 a “serious warning sign about the erosion of protections against trafficking under Beijing’s increasingly authoritarian rule.” 

Governments on Tier 3, Smith said, “can and must do more.” 

“Tier 3 must never become a permanent designation,” he added. “It should serve as a dire warning and a call to action.”