Human trafficking
Human trafficking is the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving individuals through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploiting them for profit. This exploitation may include forced labor, sexual slavery, or other forms of commercial sexual exploitation. It is considered a serious violation of human rights and a form of modern slavery, a crime against humanity. Human trafficking is different from adult voluntary sex work, in that it is not consensual and can involve minors. It is believed that human trafficking has become more common over the past two and a half decades. Efforts to combat human trafficking involve international laws, national policies, and non-governmental organizations.
Human trafficking can occur both within a single country or across national borders. It is distinct from people smuggling, which involves the consent of the individual being smuggled and typically ends upon arrival at the destination. In contrast, human trafficking involves exploitation and a lack of consent, often through force, fraud, or coercion.
Human trafficking is widely condemned as a violation of human rights by international agreements such as the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons. Despite this condemnation, legal protections and enforcement vary significantly across countries. Globally, millions of individuals, including women, men, and children, are estimated to be victims of human trafficking, enduring forced labor, sexual exploitation, and other forms of abuse.
Definition
The UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, which has 117 signatories and 173 parties, defines human trafficking as:Prevalence
There are many different estimates of the number of victims of human trafficking.File:Human Trafficking in Europe.svg|thumb|Diagram showing number of persons involved in human trafficking by legal status, divided by gender.
Women and children continue to make up the majority of victims worldwide. Child victims are increasingly detected globally; The United Nations Global Report on Trafficking in Persons estimates around 38% of trafficking victims to be boys and girls. In 2024, the U.S. Department of State estimates that 2 million children are exploited by the global commercial sex trade. In the same year, a study classified 14 million individuals worldwide as "forced laborers, bonded laborers or sex-trafficking victims". Approximately 2 million of these individuals are children working as commercial sex slaves, with women and girls comprised in 98% of that 2 million.
Although only 19% of victims are trafficked for sexual exploitation, it makes up 66% of the global earnings of human trafficking. The average annual profits generated by each woman in forced sexual servitude is estimated to be six times more than the average profits generated by each trafficking victim worldwide.
Human trafficking is the third largest crime industry in the world, behind drug dealing and arms trafficking, and is the fastest-growing activity of transnational criminal organizations.
In January 2024, UNODC published the new edition of the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons. The report reveals that 38% of all victims of human trafficking detected globally between 2020 and 2023 were children, with girls accounting for 22% and boys for 16% of all detected victims. This marks a 31% increase in child detections since 2019, with a sharper 38% increase among girls. The report documented victims of at least 162 different nationalities, detected in 128 countries, with 31% of all cross-border flows involving African victims—making Africa the region with the most internationally trafficked victims.
Around half of all trafficking took place within the same region with 42% occurring within national borders. One exception is the Middle East, where most detected victims are East and South Asians. Trafficking victims from East Asia have been detected in more than 64 countries, making them the most geographically dispersed group around the world. There are significant regional differences in the detected forms of exploitation. Countries in Africa and in Asia generally intercept more cases of trafficking for forced labour, while sexual exploitation is somewhat more frequently found in Europe and in the Americas.
Around 74% of traffickers operated within organized crime groups, especially in business- and governance-type structures, while 42% of trafficking occurred for forced labour, which has now surpassed sexual exploitation as the most common form. Notably, trafficking for organ removal was detected in at least 1% of cases, detected in 16 countries around the world. While significant progress has been made in legislation—with most countries having trafficking laws aligned with the UN Protocol—the report continues to raise concern about criminal justice outcomes: only 17% of global convictions in 2022 were for forced labour, despite its rise, and men made up 70% of convicted traffickers, with women comprising 28%.''''''
Overview
According to the 2018 through 2024 editions of the annual Trafficking in Persons Reports issued by the United States Department of State: Belarus, Iran, Russia, and Turkmenistan continue to remain among the worst countries when it comes to protecting against human trafficking and forced labour. These nations remain on Tier 3—the lowest ranking—due to inadequate efforts to meet minimum standards for eliminating trafficking.In 2024, the National Human Trafficking Hotline received approximately 2,000 reports of potential human trafficking cases in the U.S. Estimates suggest that about 24,000 individuals were victims of trafficking nationwide, with approximately 75% being women and 40% minors.
Singapore remains a destination for human trafficking, particularly involving women and girls from countries such as India, Thailand, the Philippines, and China. In 2024, reports indicated that victims are often lured under false pretenses and coerced into sex work in venues like KTV lounges, massage parlors, and even makeshift forest brothels. In November 2019, two Indian nationals were convicted for exploiting migrant women, making it the first conviction in the state.
In the 21st century, trafficking in persons continues to thrive, particularly where armed conflicts, economic recession, health emergencies, food insecurity, climate change-induced disasters and other humanitarian crises exacerbate existing underlying vulnerabilities.
Types of trafficking
Trafficking arrangements are sometimes structured as a work contract, but with no or low payment, or on terms which are highly exploitative. They may also be structured as debt bondage, with the victim not being permitted or able to pay off the debt. It may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extraction of organs or tissues, including for surrogacy and ova removal.Trafficking of children
involves the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of children for the purpose of exploitation. Commercial sexual exploitation of children can take many forms, including forcing a child into prostitution or other forms of sexual activity or child pornography. Child exploitation may also involve forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude, the removal of organs, illicit international adoption, trafficking for early marriage, recruitment as child soldiers, for use in begging or as athletes.Child labour is a form of work that may be hazardous to the physical, mental, spiritual, moral, or social development of children and can interfere with their education. According to the International Labour Organization, the global number of children involved in child labour fell during the twelve years to 2012 it has declined by one third, from 246 million in 2000 to 168 million children in 2012. Sub-Saharan Africa is the region with the highest incidence of child labour, while the largest numbers of child-workers are found in Asia and the Pacific.
IOM statistics indicate that a significant minority of trafficked persons it assisted in 2011 were less than 18 years of age, which is roughly consistent with estimates from previous years. It was reported in 2010 that Thailand and Brazil were considered to have the worst child sex trafficking records.
Traffickers in children may take advantage of the parents' extreme poverty. Parents may sell children to traffickers in order to pay off debts or gain income, or they may be deceived concerning the prospects of training and a better life for their children. They may sell their children into labour, sex trafficking, or illegal adoptions, although scholars have urged a nuanced understanding and approach to the issue - one that looks at broader socio-economic and political contexts.
The adoption process, legal and illegal, when abused can sometimes result in cases of trafficking of babies and pregnant women around the world. In David M. Smolin's 2005 papers on child trafficking and adoption scandals between India and the United States, he presents the systemic vulnerabilities in the inter-country adoption system that makes adoption scandals predictable.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child at Article 34, states, "States Parties undertake to protect the child from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse". In the European Union, commercial sexual exploitation of children is subject to a directive Directive 2011/92/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography.
The Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption is an international convention dealing with international adoption, that aims at preventing child laundering, child trafficking, and other abuses related to international adoption.
The Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict seeks to prevent forceful recruitment of children for use in armed conflicts.