2022 Trafficking in Persons Report released
By Jeaneane Payne
July 21, 2022


This week the Department of State released the 2022 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report. The report is meant to effect positive change and encourage governments to increase and improve their anti-trafficking efforts each year.

Image by Katie Orlinsky; courtesy of Department of State

The report assesses how 188 countries and territories, including the United States, are performing in terms of preventing trafficking, protecting victims, and prosecuting traffickers. It is one of the most comprehensive sources of information anywhere on anti-trafficking efforts by governments – what works, what doesn’t, and how we can continue to do better.

"There are nearly 25 million people currently victims of trafficking. The United States is committed to fighting it because trafficking destabilizes societies, it undermines economies, it harms workers, it enriches those who exploit them, it undercuts legitimate business, and most fundamentally, because it is so profoundly wrong," said Secretary Blinken.

Image by Elisabeth Zavoli; courtesy of Department of State

Twenty-one countries were upgraded a tier, because those governments made significant, increasing efforts to combat trafficking at home as well as for their citizens abroad. Eighteen countries were downgraded a tier, indicating that they either didn’t make significant, increasing efforts to combat trafficking – or worse, that their governments have a state-sponsored policy or pattern of trafficking.

There are nearly 25 million people currently victims of trafficking. "The United States is committed to fighting it because trafficking destabilizes societies, it undermines economies, it harms workers, it enriches those who exploit them, it undercuts legitimate business, and most fundamentally, because it is so profoundly wrong," said Blinken.

Image by Panos Pictures/Nyani Quarmyna; courtesy of Department of State

As the report details, corruption continues to be a top tool of traffickers. Complicit government officials may turn a blind eye to illicit activities, provide false documents for workers, tip off traffickers to impending raids. Corruption allows traffickers to continue to act with impunity.

Meanwhile, in 11 countries, the government subjects its own people to trafficking – for example, as retaliation for political expression or through forced labor on projects of national interest.

"That can look like subjecting people, including children, to forced labor in key sectors – mining, logging, manufacturing, farming – or sending members of ethnic minority groups to be "deradicalized" in camps," Blinken commented.

Image by Matilde Simas; courtesy of Department of State

"It can also mean deploying workers around the world without telling them where they’re going or what they’ll be doing, confiscating passports and salaries, forcing them into dangerous work conditions, and constantly monitoring their movements."

That’s what happened to Zhang Qiang, a Chinese laborer who signed onto a Belt and Road project in Indonesia last year. He was drawn by the higher pay, which he promised his daughter would be used to buy her a bed. But when he arrived in Indonesia, he was stripped of his passport, instructed to sign a contract for a longer duration and lower pay than he’d been promised. Armed guards patrolled the workers’ camp, making escape virtually impossible. After failing to get help from the Chinese embassy in Jakarta, he managed to board a boat to escape Indonesia via Malaysia, but then was apprehended by Malaysian authorities. By the last reporting, he was on track to be deported back to China.

"Traffickers don’t respect borders. The harm caused by this crime is vast; it’s varied. And it will continue to take relentless diplomacy, coordination, advocacy, and commitment if we’re going to stop it," said Blinken.

Read the 2022 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report.