GREAT BAY--St. Maarten remains among the countries and territories receiving the lowest ranking in the United States' annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, with the 2026 assessment finding that the Government has still not demonstrated significant efforts to meet minimum international standards for combating human trafficking. The latest report, released October 8 by the U.S. Department of State, confirms that St. Maarten has now gone six consecutive years without officially identifying a trafficking victim, prosecuting a trafficker or securing a new trafficking conviction.
St. Maarten remains classified as Tier 3, the lowest of the four categories used by the United States to assess government responses to human trafficking. The country was downgraded to Tier 3 in 2022 and has remained there in every annual assessment since.
The continued classification raises concerns about the country's ability to identify people subjected to forced labor or sexual exploitation, investigate suspected trafficking offenses and provide appropriate protection and assistance to victims.
The 2026 assessment acknowledges that the Government has taken some steps to address trafficking. However, the United States concluded that these efforts have not amounted to the significant progress necessary to improve St. Maarten's standing.
Six Years Without an Identified Victim
One of the most concerning findings is the continued absence of officially identified trafficking victims.
According to the U.S. assessment, St. Maarten authorities did not identify any trafficking victims for the sixth consecutive year. The report also states that no new trafficking prosecutions or convictions were reported during that period.
These findings do not mean that human trafficking has not occurred on the island. Rather, they raise questions about the effectiveness of the systems responsible for detecting exploitation, recognizing potential victims and bringing cases before the courts.
The 2026 report notes that labor and immigration officials identified three possible trafficking cases and referred them to prosecutors. Nevertheless, the Government did not report initiating trafficking investigations, prosecutions or convictions during the assessment period.
The report also identifies continuing shortcomings in victim protection.
Authorities did not provide services to trafficking victims, and the country continues to lack specialized shelters dedicated to people who have experienced trafficking.
The absence of established procedures for identifying and referring victims remains another concern.
These deficiencies are particularly important because trafficking victims are not always immediately recognizable. Individuals subjected to exploitation may appear to be ordinary employees or migrants while experiencing threats, withheld wages, restricted movement, debt-related coercion or other forms of control.
Without effective screening and protection arrangements, victims may remain unidentified even when they come into contact with immigration officers, labor inspectors, police or social services.
Is St. Maarten Making Progress?
A comparison of the 2025 and 2026 assessments suggests that St. Maarten has yet to demonstrate meaningful improvement in the principal outcomes measured by the United States.
The 2025 report similarly recorded no identified victims, prosecutions or convictions for five consecutive years. It also criticized weaknesses in coordination, the absence of formal victim identification procedures and inadequate services for people subjected to trafficking.
The 2026 findings extend several of those concerns into another reporting year.
Although the Government has continued working on its institutional response, including coordination and policy development, the latest assessment indicates that these efforts have not yet produced measurable improvements in victim identification or criminal prosecution.
One example is the country's National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking.
The 2026 report states that the Government continued reviewing a proposed plan covering 2025 to 2027 but had neither formally adopted it nor implemented its objectives. The previous national action plan expired in 2018.
Consequently, the country remains without a fully implemented national policy framework addressing the prevention of trafficking, investigation of offenders, identification of victims and provision of assistance.
The U.S. findings point to a continuing gap between administrative preparations and operational results.
St. Maarten has undertaken activities intended to improve its response, but the assessment indicates that these have not yet translated into the level of enforcement and victim protection necessary to justify a higher classification.
Who Is Vulnerable to Trafficking?
Previous U.S. assessments have identified several groups considered particularly vulnerable to human trafficking in St. Maarten.
These include migrant workers employed in construction, domestic service, housekeeping, retail businesses, food service and landscaping.
Women working in bars, clubs and the commercial sex industry have also been identified as vulnerable to sexual exploitation, particularly those recruited from Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and other Caribbean and Latin American countries.
The reports have highlighted situations in which employers or recruiters may use financial dependence, immigration status, threats or other forms of coercion to exploit individuals.
Migrants transiting St. Maarten on their way to other destinations may also face trafficking risks.
Human trafficking is separate from migrant smuggling. Smuggling generally concerns facilitating unauthorized entry into a country, while trafficking involves exploiting people through force, fraud or coercion. Trafficking can occur without international travel and can affect citizens as well as migrants.
The distinction is important because previous U.S. assessments have criticized St. Maarten authorities for sometimes treating the two offenses as interchangeable, potentially undermining the identification of trafficking victims.
What Do the U.S. Rankings Mean?
The annual Trafficking in Persons Report assesses governments according to their efforts to prevent human trafficking, protect victims and investigate and prosecute offenders.
Tier 1 is the highest classification and indicates that a government fully meets the minimum standards established under U.S. anti-trafficking legislation.
Tier 2 applies to governments that do not fully meet those standards but are making significant efforts to do so.
The Tier 2 Watch List identifies countries making significant efforts but facing additional concerns, including insufficient evidence of increased action or a particularly serious or growing trafficking problem.
Tier 3, where St. Maarten remains, applies to governments that do not meet the minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so.
Importantly, these classifications measure government action rather than the actual number of people being trafficked. A higher classification does not mean trafficking has been eliminated, just as a low classification does not establish the total number of victims within a jurisdiction.
Netherlands Retains Highest Ranking Despite Concerns on BES Islands
The 2026 report presents a markedly different classification for the Netherlands, which retains its Tier 1 ranking.
The United States considers the Dutch Government to be meeting the minimum standards for combating human trafficking, although the report continues to identify areas requiring improvement.
Of particular relevance to the Caribbean are the findings concerning Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba, collectively known as the BES islands.
The U.S. report states that authorities on the BES islands failed to identify any trafficking victims for the fourth consecutive year.
The last reported victim identifications were two people on Bonaire in 2021.
The assessment continues to raise concerns about insufficient expertise, weaknesses in investigating possible trafficking offenses and the possibility that human trafficking is underreported or insufficiently recognized on the three islands.
Earlier assessments have identified foreign workers, women vulnerable to sexual exploitation and undocumented migrants among the groups facing trafficking risks.
The United States has repeatedly called for stronger training, improved victim identification and better independent oversight of anti-trafficking efforts on the islands.
The contrast is significant. While the Netherlands retains the highest overall classification, the assessment acknowledges continuing difficulties in detecting and investigating trafficking within the Caribbean territories for which it is directly responsible.
