The document prepared and released recently by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is based on data gathered from 155 countries, which offers the first global assessment of the scope of human trafficking and what is being dome to fight it.

According to the report, the victims of sexual exploitation are predominantly women and girls. Surprisingly, in 30% of the countries which provided information on the gender of traffickers, women make up the largest proportion of traffickers. In some parts of the world, women-trafficking is the norm.

Sufficient measure to tackle the problem is yet to be taken by the government of the countries under assessment. Even at the launch of the Report in New York, the Executive Director of UNODC, Antonio Maria Costa had said that “many governments are still in denial. There is even neglect when it comes to either reporting on, or prosecuting cases of human trafficking”.

The number of convictions for human trafficking is increasing, however, two out of every five countries covered by the UNODC Report had not recorded a single conviction.
The second most common form of human trafficking is forced labour (18%), the report said. However, this may be a misrepresentation because forced labour is less frequently detected and reported than trafficking for sexual exploitation.

Worldwide, almost 20% of all trafficking victims are children. However, in some parts of Africa and the Mekong region, Children are the majority (up to 100% in parts of West Africa).

Although trafficking seems to imply people moving across continents, most exploitation takes place close to home. Data show intra-regional and domestic trafficking are the major forms of trafficking in persons. Many countries even lack necessary legal instruments or political will.

“This report increases our understanding of modern slave markets, yet it also exposes our ignorance”, said Mr. Costa. “We have a big picture, but it is impressionistic and lacks depth. We fear the problem is getting worse, but we can not prove it for lack of data, and many governments are obstructing”, he admitted.” If we do not overcome this knowledge crisis we will be fighting the problem blindfolded”, he warned. “More must be done to reduce the vulnerability of victims, increase the risks to traffickers, and lower demand for the goods and services of modern-day slaves”, he said.

Most countries' conviction rates rarely exceed 1.5 per 100,000 people. This is even below the level normally recorded for rare crimes (like kidnapping is Western Europe), and proportionately much lower than the estimated number of victims. “Many criminal justice systems belittle the seriousness of this crime”, said Mr. Costa.

Women trafficking women

It's surprising that women make up the largest proportion of traffickers. Indeed, female offenders have a most prominent role in trafficking in persons than in any other crime. In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, females account for more than 60% of convictions for trafficking in persons. In these regions, women trafficking women is the norm and it is shocking that former victims become traffickers. We need to understand the psychological, financial, and coercive reasons why women do it to other women, the report wondered.

Forced labour under-reported and growing

The report admitted that forced labour is less frequently detected and reported than trafficking for sexual exploitation. One reason is that sexual exploitation is highly visible in cities or along highways while forced labour is hidden. How many hundreds of thousands of victims are slaving away in sweat shops, fields, mines, factories, or trapped in domestic servitude? Such questions are yet unanswered.

Exploiting innocent children

Children are being trafficked for many reasons that shame us all. Their nimble fingers are exploited to untangle fishing nets, sew luxury goods, or pick cocoa. Their innocence is abused for begging, or exploited for sex as prostitutes, paedophilia, or child pornography. Other are sold as child brides or camel jockeys. Children are also enslaved in war zones, for example in parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America where “boys learn to kill before they can read; girls are coerced to become sex slaves.

Although trafficking seems to imply people moving across continents, most exploitation takes place close to home. Data show intra-regional and domestic trafficking are the major forms of trafficking in persons. There are also noticeable cases of long-distance trafficking. Europe is the destination for victims from the widest range of origins, while victims from Asia are trafficked to the widest range of destinations. However, a large proportion of the traffickers detected were nationals of the countries where the trafficking took place. Criminals prey on their own kin, something even animals don't do.#