Hong Kong rejects US downgrade to lowest tier in human trafficking report
A general view of the skyline in Hong Kong. (Photo: Reuters/Tyrone Siu)
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The United States has downgraded Hong Kong to the lowest tier in its annual human trafficking report, citing shortcomings in prosecutions and victim identification, an assessment the city’s government rejected as “entirely unfounded”.
The US State Department’s 2026 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, released on Thursday, moved Hong Kong from the Tier 2 watchlist, where it had been listed for two consecutive years, to Tier 3.
That places the city alongside mainland China and Macau among 20 jurisdictions in the bottom tier, which also includes North Korea, Russia, Iran and Afghanistan.
The Hong Kong government rejected the downgrade in a statement issued early on Friday, calling the rating “entirely unfounded” and “a blatant attempt to tarnish Hong Kong’s sterling reputation”.
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“TIP has never been a prevalent problem in Hong Kong, and there has never been any sign that Hong Kong is being actively used by syndicates as a destination or transit point for TIP,” a government spokesman said, referring to trafficking in persons.
The US report said the Hong Kong government did not fully meet minimum standards for eliminating trafficking and “is not making significant efforts to do so”. The rankings assess governments’ efforts to combat trafficking, not the crime’s prevalence.
According to the report, Hong Kong authorities investigated 11 trafficking cases in 2025, all involving forced labour, up from seven a year earlier.
However, they prosecuted one suspect, down from two, and convicted two sex traffickers, one of whom was jailed for less than a year.
All 15 victims identified last year were Hong Kong residents who had been forced to work in scam centres in Myanmar and Cambodia.
Authorities did not identify any victims exploited within Hong Kong, despite conducting about 12,100 initial screenings.
HONG KONG GOVERNMENT HITS OUT AT REPORT, ACCUSES US OF DOUBLE STANDARDS
The Hong Kong government confirmed the screening and victim figures, saying screenings had increased by seven per cent from 2024. It said bringing residents home safely, identifying them as victims and pursuing those implicated showed its commitment to fighting trafficking.
The spokesman accused Washington of double standards, pointing to studies and reports highlighting under-reporting of trafficking cases by US law enforcement.
The State Department acknowledged some progress in Hong Kong, including improvements to victim screening, training for about 2,400 officials and funding to bring home residents trapped in Southeast Asian scam operations. It also noted an anti-trafficking action plan budget of HK$80 million (US$10.20 million) for 2025-26.
The report renewed long-standing US criticism that Hong Kong lacks a single law criminalising all forms of trafficking, relying instead on offences covering prostitution, immigration, employment and physical abuse.
The government countered that more than 50 legal provisions provided safeguards comparable to dedicated trafficking laws elsewhere.
It cited Court of Final Appeal rulings that it had no positive obligation to enact a specific criminal offence covering the relevant activities prohibited under Article 4 of the Hong Kong Bill of Rights.
“There is simply no one-size-fits-all solution,” the spokesman said.
The report also criticised the live-in requirement and the “two-week rule” governing domestic workers’ stays after employment ends, saying they increased vulnerability to abusive employers and employment agencies.
It said agencies routinely charged fees above the legal cap and penalties were insufficient to deter them.
Hong Kong has about 380,000 foreign domestic workers, according to the government.
Defending the rules, the spokesman said abused or exploited workers could apply to change employers without first returning to their home countries. The live-in requirement supported the policy of giving local workers employment priority, he said.
The government said employment agencies could charge no more than 10 per cent of a worker’s first month’s salary upon successful placement.
It cited more than 1,700 inspections of agencies serving domestic workers in 2025 and the arrests of 37 employers in connection with physical or sexual abuse.
The US report also said the national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020 and the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance enacted in March 2024 had left non-governmental organisations unable to engage freely with authorities, including on trafficking.
The government rejected that assessment, saying both laws expressly protected human rights and targeted only organisations and individuals that endangered national security.
SCAM OPERATIONS FEATURE PROMINENTLY IN 2026 US HUMAN TRAFFICKING STUDY
Beyond Hong Kong, scam operations feature prominently in this year’s report, which describes them as a direct threat to US national security and says Chinese nationals mostly run the criminal organisations behind them in Southeast Asia.
Macau remained on Tier 3. The report said the casino hub had not reported a trafficking conviction since 2019 and again declined to provide information to US officials.
A Tier 3 designation can lead to restrictions on certain US help and US opposition to some multilateral financing. Such measures are subject to presidential determinations and can be waived on national interest grounds.
Source: South China Morning Post/nh
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