Hong Kong Issues - 2023

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Disputes - international

Hong Kong plans to reduce its 2,800-hectare Frontier Closed Area (FCA) to 400 hectares by 2015; the FCA was established in 1951 as a buffer zone between Hong Kong and mainland China to prevent illegal migration from and the smuggling of goods

Trafficking in persons

tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List — Hong Kong does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so; the government trained more officials, prosecuted more employers of foreign domestic workers for crimes including assault, and reported increased actions against illegal brothels and perpetrators who solicit child sex trafficking victims; however, officials did not demonstrate overall increased efforts in anti-trafficking capacity and did not prosecute or convict any traffickers; criminals convicted for sex trafficking crimes received inadequate penalties, and the government did not enact legislation to fully criminalize all forms of trafficking; fewer victims were identified, and ineffective implementation of victim identification continued to result in inadequate victim identification and penalizing victims for unlawful acts traffickers compelled them to commit; because the government has devoted sufficient resources to a written plan that, if implemented, would constitute significant efforts to meet the minimum standards, Hong Kong was granted a waiver per the TVPA from an otherwise required downgrade to Tier 3; therefore, Hong Kong remained on Tier 2 Watch List for the third consecutive year (2022)

trafficking profile: human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Hong Kong, and traffickers exploit victims from Hong Kong abroad; victims include citizens from mainland China, Indonesia, Kenya, the Philippines, Thailand, Uganda, and other Southeast Asian countries, as well as countries in South Asia, Africa, and South America; foreign women, including from Eastern Europe, Africa, and Southeast Asia are exploited in sex trafficking; traffickers exploit migrant workers in shipping, construction, electronic recycling, nursing homes, and private homes; foreign women are coerced to carry drugs into Hong Kong; some women in Hong Kong–often with the assistance of their families–deceive Indian and Pakistani men into arranged marriages involving forced domestic service, bonded labor in construction, and other physically demanding industries; traffickers recruit victims from the Philippines, South America, and mainland China under false pretenses and forced them into commercial sex (2022)

Illicit drugs

modern banking system provides conduit for money laundering; groups involved in money laundering range from local street organizations to sophisticated international syndicates involved in assorted criminal activities, including drug trafficking; major source of precursor chemicals used in the production of illicit narcotics

NOTE: The information regarding Hong Kong on this page is re-published from the 2023 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Hong Kong 2023 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Hong Kong 2023 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.