human trafficking

Children and women remain highly vulnerable to trafficking in Asia and the Middle East.
© UNICEF/Shehzad Noorani

First Person: Human trafficking, migrant smuggling, still significant threats in Asia

12 September 2021
Law and Crime Prevention

Human trafficking and the smuggling of migrants are going to remain significant threats to human security, that’s according to a trafficking and migrant expert working in the Middle East and Asia region for the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The COVID-19 pandemic has created conditions making it easier for vulnerable people to become victims of sexual exploitation and trafficking.
UNICEF/Michele Sibiloni

COVID-19 impact exposes millions to the risk of trafficking, UN agency says

2 February 2021
Human Rights

Although almost 50,000 victims of human trafficking were detected and reported in 2018 by 148 countries, the “hidden nature” of the crime means that the actual number of victims could be “far higher”, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said on Tuesday.  

Lilith, a 19-year-old woman, and her son fled Nicaragua after being trafficked and sexually abused.
UN Costa Rica/Danilo Mora

FROM THE FIELD: Trafficked teenager advocates for women’s rights in Central America

1 December 2020
Human Rights

A 19-year-old woman from Nicaragua in Central America has been telling the United Nations how she was traded as “currency” in a card game, and then trafficked and abused.

Refugee children show their support for a UN refugee agency anti-trafficking campaign at Wad Sharife camp in east Sudan.
© UNHCR/Osama Idriss

First Person: Fighting human trafficking in Malawi

15 November 2020
Law and Crime Prevention

Maxwell Matewere, a Malawian crime prevention expert with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), has been active in the anti-human trafficking field for more than two decades. Today, he trains officials throughout Malawi to prevent and combat this crime: this year alone, despite COVID-19 restrictions, his work has led to the rescue of around three hundred human trafficking victims and 31 arrests.  

Lunzu market in southern Malawi.
WFP/Greg Barrow

Forced labour, prostitution and child marriages: rescuing victims of trafficking in Malawi

29 July 2020
Human Rights

Human trafficking is a problem in Malawi, with teenage boys forced to work as farm labourers, and young women to sexual exploitation in nightclubs or bars. The UN is supporting the Malawian governments to end the practice and protect vulnerable people.

Two girls apply make-up at Kandapara, a brothel in the city of Tangail, Bangladesh. A man offered them to find them jobs, but instead sold them to Kandapara. (2009)
© UNICEF/UNI91025/Noorani

Human trafficking cases hit a 13-year record high, new UN report shows

29 January 2019
Law and Crime Prevention

The latest Global Report On Trafficking In Persons, released on Tuesday by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) at UN headquarters in New York, shows a record-high number of cases detected during 2016, but also the largest recorded conviction rate of traffickers.

Almost half of identified cases of child trafficking begin with some family member involvement, UN Migration Agency (IOM) reported.
IOM/Amanda Nero

Ahead of World Day against human trafficking, UN expert stresses States’ obligation to stop ‘gross human rights violations’

29 July 2018
Human Rights

Ahead of the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons on Monday, the UN human rights expert on the issue has emphasized that both victims and potential victims’ rights must be upheld – especially women and children – and appealed for all States to prevent and combat the global scourge.

Participants at a UNODC event in New York hold up photos of their missing loved ones.
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

Senior UN officials seek accountability for human trafficking crimes in forced migration

23 September 2016
Senior United Nations officials today called for those responsible for human rights violations and crimes associated with human trafficking and forced migration to be held accountable, noting that some of the crimes committed in this respect may amount to atrocity crimes.
The Mo Chit bus station in Bangkok, Thailand, which is an active hub for human traffickers.
UNICEF/Jim Holmes

Security Council urges action against human trafficking, sexual abuse by ISIL and other terror groups

16 December 2015
The Security Council today called on all United Nations Member States to do everything in their power to combat human trafficking, especially for sexual purposes, citing the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and Boko Haram as prime perpetrators.
New UN report says trafficking in children on the rise.
UNODC

Trafficking in children on the rise, says new UN report

24 November 2014
One in three known victims of human trafficking is a child, and girls and women are particularly targeted and forced into “modern slavery,” according to the 2014 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, released today by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Vienna.