News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Tues. Sept. 30, 2025: The U.S. Department of State’s 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report has placed two Caribbean nations in its lowest category – Tier 3 – while ranking others across Tier 2 and the Tier 2 Watch List, underscoring the region’s ongoing struggle to meet global anti-trafficking standards.
The Dutch Caribbean territory of Sint Maarten joins Cuba on the Tier 3 list this year again this year, signaling governments failed to meet the minimum standards of the US’ Trafficking Victims Protection Act, (TVPA), and are not making significant efforts to do so. According to the report, Tier 3 nations can face restrictions on U.S. foreign assistance and reduced support in accessing international financing.
Tier 3 is considered the most serious category under the TVPA. Countries in this ranking are judged not only to have widespread trafficking challenges but also to lack the political will or sufficient measures to combat the issue. Sanctions may include withholding of non-humanitarian aid and blocking loans from multilateral institutions like the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, unless waived by the U.S. President for strategic or humanitarian reasons.
For Sint Maarten and Cuba, the listing highlights systemic failures in protecting vulnerable populations and prosecuting traffickers. It also raises concerns about complicity or inaction among government officials in addressing the crisis.
While only two Caribbean nations landed on Tier 3, many others remain under close scrutiny.
Tier 2 countries include:
- Antigua & Barbuda
- Belize
- Jamaica
- Curaçao
- Dominican Republic
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Aruba
- Trinidad and Tobago.
These governments “do not fully meet the TVPA’s minimum standards but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance.” That effort includes passing laws, prosecuting cases, or supporting victims, though progress remains uneven. Last year, Curacao was on the Tier 3 level but has managed to move into Tier 2 this year.
Meanwhile, Saint Lucia and Barbados were placed on the Tier 2 Watch List. Countries on this list face additional warning signs: significant increases in estimated trafficking victims, insufficient evidence of progress compared to prior years, or troubling signs of complicity by government officials. A Watch List designation is often a precursor to Tier 3 if sustained improvements are not made.
Under the TVPA and the UN’s Palermo Protocol, human trafficking encompasses:
- Acts: recruiting, transporting, or harboring people for labor or sex.
- Means: using force, fraud, or coercion.
- Purpose: exploiting victims for commercial sex, forced labor, or slavery-like practices.
Notably, a person does not need to be moved across borders for trafficking to occur. Victims can be exploited within their own communities.
The TIP Report is compiled from a wide range of sources, including U.S. embassies, international NGOs, survivor testimony, government data, and investigative journalism. The 2025 report covers efforts between April 1, 2024, and March 31, 2025.
According to the State Department, governments are judged not on the size of the trafficking problem, but on their concrete efforts to combat it. These efforts are assessed based on prosecutions, victim protections, prevention campaigns, and budgetary resources devoted to anti-trafficking measures.
The findings come as a warning for Caribbean governments that remain vulnerable to human trafficking due to porous borders, reliance on migrant labor, and tourism-driven economies. Sint Maarten’s downgrade to Tier 3 alongside Cuba raises particular concern given its role as both a tourist destination and transit point.
For nations on Tier 2 and the Watch List, the report serves as both recognition of progress and a cautionary note that efforts must be scaled up. The U.S. emphasized that countries failing to demonstrate measurable progress may face automatic downgrades in future reports.
Human trafficking continues to pose a grave threat across the Caribbean, with women, children, and migrant workers especially at risk. The 2025 TIP Report makes clear that while some governments are moving in the right direction, others risk international isolation for their failure to act.
British Caribbean News
