The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government vehemently and categorically rejects the city's grading in the US Department of State's 2016 Trafficking in Persons Report.
In a statement tonight, the Security Bureau expressed regret over the findings saying it totally disregards its continuous and strenuous efforts to tackle human trafficking.
It said: "The report is not doing justice to the HKSAR Government. It understates the improvements to the operational procedures in victim identification and the successful identification of trafficking victims. The report misquotes the level of assistance provided to trafficking victims, and contains an agglomeration of mere allegations, from unverified information, concerning the protection of foreign domestic helpers.
"Hong Kong's effectiveness in combating this crime should better be judged by the extent and nature of human trafficking in Hong Kong. Contrary to the report's allegation, it has never been the HKSAR Government's stance that human trafficking is limited to the movement of people for prostitution. We have reiterated on many occasions, including exchanges with the US Department of State, that conduct referred to as 'human trafficking' in the Palermo Protocol is prohibited by various pieces of domestic legislation, encompassing offences such as physical abuse, false imprisonment, criminal intimidation, unlawful custody of personal valuables, child abduction, child pornography and exploitation of children, illegal employment, withholding of wages, rest days, and statutory holidays.
"The Palermo Protocol concept of 'human trafficking' has also been incorporated into the Prosecution Code issued by the Department of Justice in September 2013. An example of the present approach is the successful conviction of a foreign domestic helper employer in 2015 which involved a total of 21 charges of criminal and labour offences. The prosecution resulted in the sentence of a six-year imprisonment and a fine.
"Since 2015, there has been in place a standard procedure under which law enforcement agencies conduct debriefings for vulnerable persons to identity whether they may be victims of human trafficking."
It said there is no indication, from official sources or otherwise, that Hong Kong is being used by syndicates as a destination or transit point for human trafficking.
