US TIP Report Tier 2 Watch List

The US Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report classifies each country into Tier 1 (fully meeting minimum standards), Tier 2 (making significant efforts), Tier 2 Watch List (making efforts but not proportional to the trafficking increase), or Tier 3 (not making significant efforts). Placement drives real consequences: Tier 3 triggers automatic restrictions on non-humanitarian, non-trade US assistance under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. Thailand sat at Tier 3 in 2014 and moved back through Tier 2 Watch List (2018) and Tier 2 (2022 onwards). The Tier system's emphasis on measurable outputs — investigations, prosecutions, convictions — is documented as a driver of the Thai government's conviction-count focus.