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).

Lilith, not her real name, was trafficked from Nicaragua as a teenager and now lives in Costa Rica.
UN Costa Rica/Danilo Mora

New UN report reveals impact of COVID on human trafficking

8 July 2021
Law and Crime Prevention

A new study released on Thursday by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) illustrates the devastating impact of COVID-19 on victims and survivors of human trafficking and highlights the increased targeting and exploitation of children during the course of the pandemic.

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.  

UN human rights experts are warning of a direct link between the pandemic, socio-economic vulnerability and the risk of exploitation, including forced labour or being sold, trafficked and sexually exploited.
© UNICEF/Noorani

Shining a light on sexually exploited women and girls forced into crime

25 January 2021
Human Rights

Trafficked and sexually exploited woman and girls can find themselves facing prosecution and conviction for those very same crimes, in some countries, a new UN report shows. The study aims to help prosecutors to better handle these complex cases, and protect the genuine victims.

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.  

Farmer Nurul Haque stands near his 13-year-old daughter in Bangladesh, saying he may have to pull her from school and marry her off to an older man because he has few financial options left.
UNICEF/UN0159775/Nybo

Report reveals linkages between human trafficking and forced marriage

7 October 2020
Law and Crime Prevention

Across the world, girls as young as 12 are being forced or tricked into marrying men who exploit them for sex and domestic work, in what the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has called an “under-reported, global form of human trafficking”. 

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.

A sample of gold taken from a mine.
© UNICEF/Claudia Berger

Venezuela: UN report highlights criminal control of mining area, and wider justice concerns

15 July 2020
Human Rights

The Human Rights Council on Wednesday heard reports of serious exploitation and abuse of children and indigenous communities in Venezuela, where mining for gold and other minerals is booming.

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

COVID-19 crisis putting human trafficking victims at risk of further exploitation, experts warn

6 May 2020
Law and Crime Prevention

Lockdowns, travel restrictions, resource cutbacks and other measures to curb the spread of the new coronavirus are putting victims of human trafficking at risk of further exploitation, while organized crime networks could further profit from the pandemic, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).