The Trafficking in Persons Report, or the TIP Report, is an annual report issued since 2001 by the U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. It ranks governments based on their perceived efforts to acknowledge and combat human trafficking.[1][2]
The map presents the distribution of human trafficking victims across different forms of exploitation within the European Union in 2022. Germany reported the highest number of victims, totaling 992, whereas Slovenia reported the lowest count, with only 3 victims. The data have been sourced from Eurostat, the official statistics office of the European Union.
The report divides nations into tiers based on their compliance with standards outlined in the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA). These tiers are:
There are also a few special cases (Special Tier) such as Yemen, where their civil conflict and humanitarian crisis make gaining information difficult; and Sint Maarten, where the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma has made reporting difficult.
Some critics of the Trafficking in Persons Report focus on how its methodology could be improved. For example, one recent academic paper suggests how the rankings could better incorporate risk factors of trafficking in order to focus more on prevention.[16] Another critic argues that the Report should better incorporate "international rules that states (including the USA) have collectively developed and freely accepted," rather than focusing on criteria drawn up solely by U.S. politicians.[17]
Other critics more fundamentally question its methodology and sources, such as anthropologist Laura Agustín, who writes that the Report "relies on CIA, police and embassy guesstimates of situations that are not understood the same way across all cultures and social classes."[18]
As part of the report the Department of State announces the awarding of the Hero Acting to End Modern Slavery Awards to a number of individuals.[19] The first such awards were made in 2004.[20] Awards are made for actions taken to protect victims, bring offenders to justice or to raise awareness of modern slavery. More than 110 individuals from more than 60 countries have been honored so far.[19][20] Award winners are invited to a large reception in the United States followed by a tour of several American cities.[20]