Hong Kong rejects US downgrade to lowest tier in human trafficking report

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The United States has downgraded Hong Kong to Tier 3 in its 2026 Trafficking in Persons report, citing weaknesses in prosecutions and victim identification. Hong Kong’s government rejected the assessment as unfounded.

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 Watch List, where it had been listed for two consecutive years, to Tier 3. That places the city alongside mainland China and Macau among 20...