Human trafficking report reveals 'growing role of digital technology'

June 24 (UPI) -- The U.S. State Department's annual Trafficking in Human Persons Report, which assesses worldwide trafficking trends and was released Monday in Washington, D.C., has revealed this year's "growing role of digital technology" as networks target and recruit victims online.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the 2024 report an "objective assessment of the state of anti-trafficking efforts across 188 countries and territories, including the United States."

In the report, the State Department returned South Korea to the top-tier list of 33 countries and territories that are working to eliminate human trafficking, which also includes the United States, Britain, Taiwan, France, Germany, Australia, Singapore, Poland and Sweden.

Malaysia was upgraded to Tier 2 in this year's report for the first time since 2017. Countries in Tier 2 are defined as not fully meeting the minimum standards to eliminate human trafficking, but making "significant efforts."

"Malaysia's systemic inability to meaningfully combat labor trafficking, ensure remediation of victims and accountability of perpetrators does not deserve an upgrade," said migrant rights activist Andy Hall in response to the country's upgraded standing.

Bangladesh was also cited as making "significant efforts" as it remained in the Tier 2 category, but failed to "meet the minimum standards in several key areas."

"Although the government increased local law enforcement efforts it did not take adequate steps to address internal trafficking crimes -- including sex trafficking and forced child labor," the U.S. State Department wrote in the report.

Egypt, Indonesia, India, Japan, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam were all designated as Tier 2, according to the report.

North Korea remained in the lowest third for the 22nd straight year, according to the report, which also placed the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region at the bottom.

"We vehemently oppose and firmly reject the unfounded and false remarks in the report against the situation in Hong Kong," said a spokesman for the HKSAR government.

"Trafficking in persons is never a prevalent problem in Hong Kong. There has never been any sign that Hong Kong is being actively used by syndicates as a destination or transit point for TIP," the spokesman said, adding that the findings in the report "are groundless."

"The rating of Hong Kong at Tier 2 (Watch List) is utterly unfair, misconceived and not substantiated by facts," he added.

Afghanistan, China, Cuba, Belarus, Russia and Iran were also among those countries in the lowest tier.

Blinken said this year's annual human trafficking report reveals the growing role digital technology has played for traffickers.

"Around the world, trafficking networks target and recruit victims online -- through social media, through dating apps, through gaming platforms," Blinken said.

"Perpetrators conduct financial transactions in opaque cryptocurrencies. They use encryption to make it harder to detect their activities or ascertain the countries where they're operating. And increasingly, traffickers coerce their victims into participating in online scams."

While the report focuses on how trafficking networks are using technology to target victims, it also reveals how those same technologies are being used to uncover and disrupt traffickers.

"Civil society and the private sector are collaborating to create and apply AI-enabled tools that detect trafficking operations," Blinken said, while introducing this year's 10 TIP Heroes who are "survivors, government leaders, law enforcement officials, lawyers, social workers."

"Today we honor ten people working to combat human trafficking around the globe. They are courageous individuals who are driving change in the face of daunting obstacles, often at great personal risk," Blinken wrote Monday in a post on X.