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Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking (MSHT) affect the lives of individuals, communities and the society all over the world. MSHT endangers victims, survivors, vulnerable individuals and communities, promote domestic and social violence, inequality, and undermine social cohesion and justice.
Human Trafficking is the unlawful act of transporting or coercing people in order to benefit from their work or service, typically in the form of forced labour or sexual exploitation. The United Nations defines Human Trafficking as “the recruitment, transport, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a person by means of threat, use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, or deception for the purpose of exploitation”.
Although the Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery are used interchangeably, we consider the former to be a form of modern-day slavery.
Human trafficking (HT) occurs everywhere, but people are mainly trafficked from lower-income to higher-income countries. Most victims, or 60 per cent, are detected domestically, while victims of cross-border trafficking are mainly found within the same region (18 per cent) or in nearby regions (6 per cent). Only 16 per cent are detected in transnational flows and end up in distant regions.
The true extent of the crime is difficult to ascertain. As many as 50 million people globally may be subject to various forms of exploitation. Human trafficking is one of the fastest-growing crimes, along with drugs and arms trafficking, and a highly profitable business generating an estimated $245 billion in profits each year. Traffickers and criminals are making an average of $10,000 per victim.
Human trafficking is driven by a complex interplay of social, economic and political factors.
Conflict and persecution, poverty and political instability, lack of access to education and jobs, migration and displacement, gender inequality and discrimination, natural disasters and climate change all create conditions that fuel human trafficking. With nearly half of the world’s population living on less than $6.85 per person per day, millions of individuals have become vulnerable to exploitation. Traffickers capitalize on this desperation, disparity and deficiency, targeting people who are vulnerable, marginalized or in difficult situations, including irregular or smuggled migrants and those in urgent need of work.
The true extent of the crime is difficult to ascertain. As many as 50 million people globally may be subject to various forms of exploitation. Human trafficking is one of the fastest-growing crimes, along with drugs and arms trafficking, and a highly profitable business generating an estimated $245 billion in profits each year. Traffickers and criminals are making an average of $10,000 per victim.
No one is immune to trafficking. People of all genders, ages, backgrounds and in all regions of the world fall prey to traffickers, who resort to a variety of means to recruit and exploit their victims. Women and girls make up the majority of victims. They are mainly trafficked for sexual exploitation and are three times more likely to suffer physical or extreme violence than men and boys. At the same time, the number of detected male victims has increased over the last years. They are mainly trafficked for forced labour. In the past 15 years, the proportion of children among identified victims of trafficking has tripled to 35%, or one third of all victims.
Some 58% of those convicted for human trafficking are men. At the same time, the involvement of women in this crime is higher than in other crimes – female offenders account for 40% of those convicted. People who engage in trafficking range from organized criminal groups to opportunistic individuals operating alone or in small groups. In addition to trafficking in persons, criminal organizations are frequently involved in other serious crimes, including drugs or arms trafficking, as well as corruption and the bribery of public officials. Such groups exploit more victims, often for longer periods, over greater distances and with more violence than non-organized criminals. However, traffickers can also be the victim’s family members, parents, intimate partners or acquaintances.
Because human trafficking is often under-reported and under-prosecuted, it is characterized by high rewards and low risks for its perpetrators, who reap substantial profits with little fear of punishment. Taking advantage of the high demand for cheap labour, commercial sex or other services, criminals exploit shortcomings in legislation and its enforcement, as well as corrupt actors and weak governance, to carry out their illegal activities. They fraudulently promise a better life in a new country, offer exciting jobs with great benefits, or use outright violence against vulnerable people to coerce them into exploitative practices, such as sexual exploitation or forced labour.