October 23, 2025
For 25 years, the annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report has been a cornerstone of global anti-trafficking efforts. Born from the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), passed in October 2000, the report embodies more than two decades of international collaboration to combat human trafficking. This groundbreaking bipartisan legislation established a framework for prosecuting traffickers, protecting victims and preventing the crime — setting new global standards and inspiring the UN TIP Protocol, adopted the following month.
Discover this year’s findings.
The TIP Report: A Global Benchmark
Federal law mandates that the TIP Report be delivered to Congress by June 30 each year. Yet in 2025, for the first time in its history, its release was delayed following significant staffing cuts to the U.S. Department of State’s TIP Office.
Despite this setback, the TIP Report remains an essential tool for understanding the scope and evolution of human trafficking. Today, it assesses government efforts in 188 countries and territories, focusing on the “3Ps”: Prosecution, Protection and Prevention.
The TVPA also led to the creation of several critical initiatives:
- The President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (PITF), coordinating federal anti-trafficking efforts.
- The Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, which produces the annual TIP Report and collaborates globally to fight this crime.
- The U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking, composed of survivors who shape federal anti-trafficking policy.
Evolving Understanding of Human Trafficking
Over the past 25 years, our understanding of human trafficking has deepened, thanks to survivor leaders, civil society and frontline workers. One of the most important lessons: trafficking does not require movement. It occurs within countries as often as across borders.
Trafficking remains largely hidden. Victims may interact with medical professionals or law enforcement but not identify as victims due to fear, trauma or coercion. Misconceptions persist — many still conflate trafficking with migrant smuggling or other forms of exploitation.
Governments have learned to confront trafficking within their own borders. Yet some officials profit from trafficking, others compel labor to punish dissent and in some cases, citizens are exploited by their own governments. To combat this, governments must:
- Pass and enforce laws that prohibit and punish official complicity.
- Enhance international cooperation and training.
- Strengthen prevention through effective policies and education.
The Role of Healthcare Workers
Healthcare professionals are often the first point of contact for victims of violence and trafficking. The TIP Report emphasizes:
- Creating safe and supportive environments through effective support systems.
- Ensuring accessible, culturally sensitive care.
- Respecting patient autonomy and informed consent.
Governments should ensure consistent identification and referral procedures, provide unconditional access to protection and social benefits, and separate victim services from criminal case outcomes.
Forced Criminality: Recognizing Victims, Not Criminals
When traffickers use force, fraud or coercion to compel victims into criminal acts, the justice system must recognize them as victims —
not offenders. Governments are urged to:
- Update victim identification guidelines to include indicators of forced criminality.
- Train first responders, prosecutors and judges on the non-punishment principle.
- Enact expungement and vacatur laws to clear victims’ records.
- Guarantee access to protection and support.
AI and Emerging Challenges
Artificial intelligence presents both opportunities and threats in the fight against trafficking.
Traffickers exploit AI tools for deception, using deepfakes, voice generation and language translation to manipulate or extort victims.
At the same time, AI can detect harmful content, analyze online sex ads and educate at-risk communities in multiple languages. Harnessing AI responsibly will be essential in the next phase of anti-trafficking work.
Forced Labor in Global Supply Chains
Trafficking in the fishing industry and global supply chains remains pervasive. Migrant seafarers endure forced labor through debt, coercion and abuse, often aided by powerful corporations. Governments and industry leaders must:
- Prioritize victim identification and protection for seafarers.
- Strengthen labor standards through regional fisheries management.
- Ensure workers’ rights to association, communication and grievance mechanisms at sea.
Eliminating forced labor ensures fair trade and global prosperity. Import bans on goods made with forced labor are one tool, but corporate transparency and due diligence are equally vital.
Centering Survivor Leadership
Survivors bring essential insight and expertise. Establishing advisory bodies — like the U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking—creates meaningful channels for survivor engagement in policymaking. Their guidance ensures that anti-trafficking efforts remain grounded, compassionate and effective.
A Call to Continue the Fight
To streamline services for victims of human trafficking, governments should:
- Ensure identification and referral procedures are consistent and involve government and civil society.
- Grant all trafficking victims, without exception, immediate access to protection, social benefits and individualized support.
- Create a path for referral to services focused on protection rather than criminal justice; offer unconditional support to victims who don’t wish to cooperate with law enforcement.
- Divorce considerations about the strength of a legal case from provision of services.
Human traffickers are relentless and adaptive — and so must we be in fighting them. The anti-trafficking movement, strengthened by the legacy of the TVPA and the TIP Report, must continue to evolve, innovate and center survivors as it presses onward into the next quarter century.