The number of victims of human trafficking in the world is growing again after a temporary decline during the pandemic Covid-19. This is stated in the report of the UN Office for drugs and crime (UNP UN).
A new report covering data from 156 countries emphasizes anxiety trends, the UN press service notes.
According to a global report on human trafficking, during the period from 2019 to 2022, the number of victims increased by 25 percent.
The main reasons are poverty, armed conflicts and climatic crisis, because of which people become vulnerable to criminals. It is especially noted to grow cases of the operation of children and forced labor.
“Criminals are increasingly involving people in forced labor, including for participation in difficult online abrasions and cybercrime. At the same time, women and girls are faced with a threat of sexual exploitation and violence on gender grounds,” said the Executive Director of the UNP UN Gada Vali.
It is necessary to strengthen measures for criminal prosecution in order to bring to justice those who are at the head of criminal networks, coordinate actions between countries to save the victims and provide support to the victims, she added.
According to UNP UN, the number of children affected by trading in 2022 increased by 31 percent compared to 2019, and among girls this figure increased by 38 percent.
“where there are more children who are separated from parents or unattended adults, boys are more likely to fall into the network of people’s traders,” the report says.
Children’s trading is also growing in countries with a high level of income where most often girls are sexual exploitation.
The study showed that women and girls still make up the majority, or 61 percent, victims identified throughout the world.
Most girls – 60 percent – people who lure people in their nets for sexual exploitation.
Among boys, 45 percent are involved in forced labor, and 47 percent are subjected to other operation, including criminal activity and begging.
People’s trafficking in order to engage in criminal activity, including online abuse, took third place among the identified types of operation. This indicator grew from one percent in 2016 to eight percent in 2022.
The report shows that the dynamics of human trafficking differs depending on the region.
While in the countries of North America, Western Europe and Africa south of Sahara there is a significant increase in identified cases, in regions such as South America, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, indicators are still not lower than the level recorded before the pandemic .
Africa is often ignored in research studies due to difficulties with data collection. In the UN UN, significant efforts were made to obtain information from all regions of the continent. In most countries, Africa of Africa of children is detected more often than adult trafficking, especially for forced labor, sexual exploitation and begging.