Trafficking in persons China, in 20 editions.

current situation: China is a source, transit, and destination country for women, men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor; the majority of trafficking in China is internal, occurs within the country's borders, but there is also considerable international trafficking of Chinese citizens; citizens to Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and North America; Chinese women are lured abroad through false promises of legitimate employment employment, only to be forced into commercial sexual exploitation exploitation, largely in Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, and Japan; Chinese men and women are smuggled to countries throughout the world at enormous personal expense and then forced into commercial sexual exploitation or exploitative labor to repay debts to traffickers; women and children are trafficked into to China from Mongolia, Burma, North Korea, Russia, and Vietnam for forced labor, marriage, and sexual slavery; most North Koreans enter northeastern China voluntarily, but others reportedly are trafficked into China from North Korea; domestic trafficking remains the most significant problem in China, with an estimated minimum of 10,000-20,000 victims trafficked each year; the actual number of victims could be much greater; prostitution; some experts believe that the serious North Korean women and prolonged imbalance in the male-female birth ratio may now be contributing children seeking to Chinese and foreign girls leave their country voluntarily cross the border into China and women being trafficked as potential brides are then sold into prostitution, marriage, or forced labor
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - China failed is on the Tier 2 Watch List for the fourth consecutive year for its failure to show provide evidence of increasing efforts to address transnational trafficking; while combat human trafficking, particularly in terms of punishment of trafficking crimes and the government provides reasonable protection to internal victims of trafficking, protection for Chinese and foreign victims of transnational trafficking; victims are sometimes punished for unlawful acts that were committed as a direct result of their being trafficked, such as violations of prostitution or immigration/emigration controls; the Chinese Government continued to treat North Korean victims of trafficking remain inadequate solely as economic migrants, routinely deporting them back to horrendous conditions in North Korea; additional challenges facing the Chinese Government include the enormous size of its trafficking problem and the significant level of corruption and complicity in trafficking by some local government officials (2008)

current situation:
China is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor; the majority of trafficking in China occurs within the country's borders, but there is also considerable international trafficking of Chinese citizens to Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and North America; Chinese women are lured abroad through false promises of legitimate employment, only to be forced into commercial sexual exploitation, largely in Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, and Japan; women and children are trafficked to China from Mongolia, Burma, North Korea, Russia, and Vietnam for forced labor, marriage, and prostitution; some North Korean women and children seeking to leave their country voluntarily cross the border into China and are then sold into prostitution, marriage, or forced labor
tier rating:
Tier 2 Watch List - China is on the Tier 2 Watch List for the fourth consecutive year for its failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat human trafficking, particularly in terms of punishment of trafficking crimes and the protection of Chinese and foreign victims of trafficking; victims are sometimes punished for unlawful acts that were committed as a direct result of their being trafficked, such as violations of prostitution or immigration/emigration controls; the Chinese Government continued to treat North Korean victims of trafficking solely as economic migrants, routinely deporting them back to horrendous conditions in North Korea; additional challenges facing the Chinese Government include the enormous size of its trafficking problem and the significant level of corruption and complicity in trafficking by some local government officials (2008)

current situation:
China is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor; the majority of trafficking in China occurs within the country's borders, but there is also considerable international trafficking of are reports in recent years that Chinese citizens to Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, men, women, and North America; Chinese women are lured abroad through false promises of legitimate employment, only to children may be subjected to conditions of sex trafficking and forced into commercial sexual exploitation, largely labor in Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, numerous countries and Japan; territories worldwide; women and children are trafficked to China from Mongolia, Burma, Vietnam, Laos, Mongolia, Russia, North Korea, Russia, Romania, and Vietnam Zimbabwe for forced labor, marriage, and prostitution; some North Korean women and Chinese children seeking to leave their country voluntarily cross the border into China and are then sold forced into prostitution, marriage, or and various forms of forced labor labor, including begging, stealing, and work in brick kilns and factories
tier rating:
Tier 2 Watch List - China is on does not fully comply with the Tier 2 Watch List minimum standards for the fourth consecutive year for its failure to provide elimination of trafficking and did not demonstrate evidence of increasing significant efforts to combat human trafficking, particularly in terms of punishment address all forms of trafficking crimes and the protection of Chinese and foreign victims of trafficking; victims are sometimes punished for unlawful acts that were committed as a direct result of their being trafficked, such as violations of prostitution or immigration/emigration controls; the Chinese Government continued effectively protect victims; however, China has increased its attention to treat North Korean victims of trafficking solely as economic migrants, routinely deporting them back to horrendous conditions in North Korea; additional challenges facing the Chinese Government include the enormous size of its trafficking problem women and the significant level children nationwide; China continues to lack a formal, nationwide procedure to systematically identify victims of corruption and complicity in trafficking by some local government officials (2008) (2011)

current situation:
China is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor; the majority of trafficking in China occurs within the country's borders, there are reports in recent years that Chinese men, women, and children may be subjected to conditions of sex trafficking and forced labor in numerous countries and territories worldwide; women and children are trafficked to China from Burma, Vietnam, Laos, Mongolia, Russia, North Korea, Romania, and Zimbabwe for forced labor, marriage, and prostitution; some Chinese children are forced into prostitution, and various forms of forced labor, including begging, stealing, and work in brick kilns and factories
tier rating:
Tier 2 Watch List - China does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and did not demonstrate evidence of significant efforts to address all forms of trafficking or effectively protect victims; however, China has increased its attention to trafficking of women and children nationwide; China continues to lack a formal, nationwide procedure to systematically identify victims of trafficking (2011) (2008)

current situation:
China is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor; the majority of trafficking in China occurs within the country's borders, there are many reports in recent years that Chinese men, women, and children may be subjected to conditions of sex trafficking and forced labor in numerous countries and territories worldwide; women and children are trafficked to China from Burma, Vietnam, Laos, Mongolia, Russia, North Korea, Romania, and Zimbabwe even as far away as Europe and Africa for forced labor, marriage, labor and prostitution; some Chinese adults and children are forced into prostitution, prostitution and various forms of forced labor, including begging, stealing, and work working in brick kilns kilns, coal mines, and factories
tier rating:
Tier 2 Watch List 3 - China does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and did not demonstrate evidence was downgraded to Tier 3 after the maximum of two consecutive annual waivers; the government has not demonstrated significant efforts to address comprehensively prohibit and punish all forms of trafficking or effectively protect victims; however, China has increased its attention to trafficking of women and children nationwide; China continues to lack a formal, nationwide procedure prosecute traffickers; the government also has not reported providing comprehensive victim protection services to systematically identify domestic or foreign, male or female victims of trafficking (2008) trafficking; in 2013, the government released an eight-year national action plan, which includes measures to improve interagency and other internal coordination among anti-trafficking stakeholders and victim protection (2013)

current situation: China is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor; Chinese adults and children are forced into prostitution and various forms of forced labor, including begging and working in brick kilns, coal mines, and factories; women and children are recruited from rural areas and taken to urban centers for sexual exploitation, often trafficked lured by criminal syndicates or gangs; gangs with fraudulent job offers; state-sponsored forced labor labor, where detainees work for up to four years often with no remuneration, continues to be an area of a serious concern; Chinese men, women, and children also may be subjected to conditions of sex trafficking and forced labor worldwide, particularly in overseas Chinese communities; women and children are trafficked to China from neighboring countries, as well as Europe Africa and Africa, the Americas, for forced labor and prostitution
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - China does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however however, it is making significant efforts to do so; official data for 2014 states that 194 alleged traffickers were arrested and at least 35 were convicted, but the government’s conflation of human trafficking with other crimes in 2013 made makes it difficult to assess law enforcement efforts to investigate and to prosecute trafficking offenses according to international law; despite reports of complicity, no government officials were investigated, prosecuted, or convicted for their roles in trafficking offenses; authorities did not adequately protect victims and did not provide the data needed to ascertain the number of victims identified or assisted or the services provided; the National People’s Congress ratified a decision to abolish “reform through labor” (RTL); reports indicate some detainees were released and many RTL camps ceased operations, in 2013, but others show that some RTL facilities have been converted into different types of continued to operate as state-sponsored drug detention centers; or “custody and education” centers that force inmates to perform manual labor; some North Korean refugees continued to be forcibly repatriated as illegal economic migrants, despite reports that some were trafficking victims (2014) (2015)

current situation: China is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor; Chinese adults and children are forced into prostitution and various forms of forced labor, including begging and working in brick kilns, coal mines, and factories; women and children are recruited from rural areas and taken to urban centers for sexual exploitation, often lured by criminal syndicates or gangs with fraudulent job offers; state-sponsored forced labor, where detainees work for up to four years often with no remuneration, continues to be a serious concern; Chinese men, women, and children also may be subjected to conditions of sex trafficking and forced labor worldwide, particularly in overseas Chinese communities; women and children are trafficked to China from neighboring countries, as well as Africa and the Americas, for forced labor and prostitution
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - China does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so; official data for 2014 states that 194 alleged traffickers were arrested and at least 35 were convicted, but the government’s conflation of human trafficking with other crimes makes it difficult to assess law enforcement efforts to investigate and to prosecute trafficking offenses according to international law; despite reports of complicity, no government officials were investigated, prosecuted, or convicted for their roles in trafficking offenses; authorities did not adequately protect victims and did not provide the data needed to ascertain the number of victims identified or assisted or the services provided; the National People’s Congress ratified a decision to abolish “reform "reform through labor” labor" in 2013, but some continued to operate as state-sponsored drug detention or “custody "custody and education” education" centers that force inmates to perform manual labor; some North Korean refugees continued to be forcibly repatriated as illegal economic migrants, despite reports that some were trafficking victims (2015)

current situation: human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in China and Chinese people abroad; Chinese men, women, and children are victims of forced labor and sex trafficking in at least 60 countries; traffickers also use China as a transit point to subject foreign individuals to trafficking in other countries throughout Asia and in international maritime industries; state-sponsored forced labor is intensifying under the government’s mass detention and political indoctrination campaign against Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region; well-organized criminal syndicates and local gangs subject Chinese women and girls to sex trafficking within China; women and girls from South Asia, Southeast Asia, and several countries in Africa experience forced labor in domestic service, forced concubinism leading to forced childbearing, and sex trafficking via forced and fraudulent marriage to Chinese men; African and Asian men reportedly experience conditions indicative of forced labor aboard Chinese-flagged fishing vessels; many North Korean refugees and asylum-seekers living in China illegally are particularly vulnerable to trafficking
tier rating: Tier 3 — China does not fully meet the minimum standards for elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; the government prosecuted and convicted some traffickers and continued to cooperate with international authorities to address forced and fraudulent marriages in China; however, there was a government policy or pattern of widespread forced labor, including the continued mass arbitrary detention of more than one million Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, ethnic Kyrgyz, and other Muslims in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region; the government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of law enforcement officials allegedly complicit despite continued reports of officials benefiting from, permitting, or directly facilitating sex trafficking; authorities did not report identifying any trafficking victims or referring them to protective services; it is likely that law enforcement arrested and detained unidentified trafficking victims for crimes traffickers compelled them to commit; for the third consecutive year, the government did not report the extent to which it funded anti-trafficking activities in furtherance of the 2013-2020 National Action Plan on Combating Human Trafficking (2020)
trafficking profile: human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in China and Chinese people abroad; Chinese men, women, and children are victims of forced labor and sex trafficking in at least 60 countries; traffickers also use China as a transit point to subject foreign individuals to trafficking in other countries throughout Asia and in international maritime industries; state-sponsored forced labor is intensifying under the government’s mass detention and political indoctrination campaign against Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region; well-organized criminal syndicates and local gangs subject Chinese women and girls to sex trafficking within China; women and girls from South Asia, Southeast Asia, and several countries in Africa experience forced labor in domestic service, forced concubinism leading to forced childbearing, and sex trafficking via forced and fraudulent marriage to Chinese men; African and Asian men reportedly experience conditions indicative of forced labor aboard Chinese-flagged fishing vessels; many North Korean refugees and asylum-seekers living in China illegally are particularly vulnerable to trafficking

tier rating: Tier 3 — China does not fully meet the minimum standards for elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; so, therefore China remained on Tier 3; the government prosecuted initiated its first prosecution of a domestic trafficking case, approved a new national action plan for 2021-2030, and convicted conducted some traffickers and continued to cooperate with international authorities to address forced and fraudulent marriages in China; anti-trafficking training; however, there was a government policy or pattern of widespread forced labor, including the continued mass arbitrary detention of more than one million Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, ethnic Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslims Turkic and Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region; the government also implemented similar policies against other religious minorities and Tibetans in other provinces; Chinese nationals reportedly suffered forced labor in several countries in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe hosting Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects; for the fifth consecutive year, the government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of complete law enforcement officials allegedly complicit despite continued reports of officials benefiting from, permitting, or directly facilitating sex trafficking; authorities data, nor did not report identifying it identify any trafficking victims or referring them to protective services; it is likely that law enforcement arrested and detained unidentified trafficking victims for crimes traffickers compelled refer them to commit; for the third consecutive year, the government did not report the extent to which it funded anti-trafficking activities in furtherance of the 2013-2020 National Action Plan on Combating Human Trafficking (2020) protection services (2022)
trafficking profile: human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in China and China, as well as Chinese people abroad; Chinese men, women, and children are victims of forced labor and sex trafficking in at least 60 more than 80 countries; traffickers also use China as a transit point to subject foreign individuals to trafficking in other countries throughout Asia and in international maritime industries; state-sponsored forced labor is intensifying persists under the government’s mass detention and political indoctrination campaign against Muslim and Turkic minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region; well-organized authorities in some localities subject families of men arbitrarily detained in Xinjiang to forced labor; highly organized criminal syndicates and local gangs subject Chinese women and girls to sex trafficking within China; women and girls from South Asia, Southeast Asia, and several countries in Africa experience forced labor in domestic service, forced concubinism leading to forced childbearing, and sex trafficking via forced and fraudulent marriage to Chinese men; African and Asian men reportedly experience conditions indicative of forced labor aboard Chinese-flagged fishing vessels; many North Korean refugees and asylum-seekers living in China illegally are particularly vulnerable to trafficking trafficking, while some of the women are forced into commercial sex, forced marriage, or forced labor; North Korea exploits some of its citizens in forced labor in China as part of its proliferation finance system (2022)

tier rating: Tier 3 — China does not fully meet the minimum standards for elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so, therefore, China remained on Tier 3; for more details, go to: https://www.state.gov/reports/2024-trafficking-in-persons-report/china/ https://www.state.gov/reports/2025-trafficking-in-persons-report/china/