One in three victims of trafficking in persons are girls and boys, reveals the new edition of the UNODC Global Report on Trafficking in Persons

According to the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2020, published on February 2, between 2004 and 2018, the share of girls among detected trafficking victims increased from 10 to 19% and boys increased from 3 to 15%, representing as a whole the 34% of the global total of detected trafficking victims. Globally, seven out of ten girl victims have been recruited for sexual exploitation; while among boys victims, the most identified form of exploitation is forced labor (66%).

For the 2020 edition of the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, information for 2018 was collected from around 50,000 detected victims of trafficking, in 148 countries. However, this crime remains hidden in many cases, so the number of victims is higher.

The world report presents the profiles of the victims and the different forms of exploitation to which they are subjected. Thus we know that, worldwide, 50% of victims suffer sexual exploitation and 38% are subjected to forced labor. Other forms of exploitation are also forced participation in criminal activities, begging, forced marriages, baby selling and removal of organs.

In addition to the profiles of the victims, the 2020 Report presents the profiles of the criminals and the flows of trafficking in persons, identifying 534 flows around the world, mainly within the countries of the victims, but also subregional and regional flows.

Regarding the forms of operation of criminals, four types of structures have been identified according to the levels of association between traffickers and even between organized crime groups. The main form of operation identified is organized crime groups that have one of their main criminal activities in trafficking in personas; second, individual traffickers have been identified who associate to work together occasionally in these types of crimes.

The 2020 report contains, in addition to the global overview of the phenomenon, thematic analyzes on the risks of the possible impact derived from COVID-19 and the use of the internet and digital technologies to commit these crimes.

It also provides regional overviews and country profiles with available information. In the case of the Americas, the overview is available for North America, Central America and the Caribbean, and South America. In total, the report contains data of 22 countries in the region.

To learn more about the topic, check out the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2020 site.