T&T has maintained its Tier 2 ranking in the US government’s Trafficking in Persons Report, published yesterday.
This tier means the country does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, but is making efforts to do so.
Last year, T&T was upgraded from being on a Tier 2 watchlist to Tier 2, following increased efforts to combat the problem.
According to a Newsday report, T&T’s Counter Trafficking Unit’s director said since inception in 2013, 80 persons have been charged, with two convictions.
Up to 2024, over 300 victims have been recorded, and here, such persons are mostly from Venezuela, Haiti and Jamaica.
The report noted that global efforts to combat trafficking are far stronger in 2025 than they were in 2000, strengthened by the number of laws passed, traffickers prosecuted, victims protected, and potential crimes prevented.
It adds that the anti-trafficking community must continue to be even more creative, drawing on the determined spirit of those who launched the anti-trafficking movement as it presses onward into the next quarter century.
