Writes Ares, Content Writer, Headline Diplomat eMagazine, LUDCI.eu
The United Nations, through its Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), has announced that the COVID-19 pandemic is fueling the rise in human trafficking cases – a type of modern slavery that primarily targets children and women.
According to the new report by the UNODC, the exploitation of minors has grown in the last three decades, and “about 50,000 human trafficking victims were detected and reported by 148 countries” just in 2018.
The proportion of children among detected trafficking victims has tripled in the last 15 years. Girls are often sexually exploited, while boys end up in forced labor, according to the latest UNODC Global Report on Human Trafficking.
Most of the victims are female; out of every ten people rescued from the mafias in 2018, five were adult women, and two were girls, representing 70% of the total.
“Over the last 15 years, the number of detected victims has increased, while their profile has changed,” the report reads. “The share of adult women among the detected victims fell from more than 70 percent to less than 50 percent in 2018, while the share of children detected has increased, from around 10 percent to over 30 percent. In the same period, the share of adult men has nearly doubled from around 10 percent to 20 percent in 2018.”
What is human trafficking?
Human trafficking is a crime that involves the capturing, transferring, and retaining of a person by force or threat, exploiting them illegally for a period of time.
Although sexual exploitation is the most known, other victims suffer conditions of slavery in domestic tasks, agriculture or are even forced to go into begging, contracted to forced marriages, or have organs removed for transplants.
In many cases, recruitment occurs with false job offers. Upon reaching the destination, criminals often steal their documentation and force victims to work or prostitute them to pay off an alleged debt.
According to the UNODC, there are two strategies used in recruiting victims. The first includes “hunting,” which involves following a potential victim – in many cases a minor – through social networks, and “fishing,” which consists of awaiting responses to false employment offers.
Victims sold for $414
It was reported that in 2018, 148 countries detected some 50,000 victims of human trafficking. However, that figure is just the tip of the iceberg of a sometimes transnational crime that can affect millions of people.
Traffickers often exploit the poorest and most vulnerable, both in their areas of origin and at their final destination, where they usually take advantage of their isolation and ignorance of their rights.
On numerous occasions, the victims are sold throughout their captivity. The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has documented sales of women for as low as US$414.
Most of the victims, captured from Africa, are promised house help jobs but turned to sex slaves at their destination, mainly in Libya and Italy, the HRW reports.
COVID-19 increases risk
The increase in poverty in the world for the first time in decades due to the crisis unleashed by the pandemic, the closure of schools, and the increase in hours exposed to the internet opened new opportunities for criminals, the report made by the UNODC shows.
“Millions of women, children, and men worldwide are out of work, out of school, and without social support in the continuing COVID-19 crisis, leaving them at greater risk of human trafficking. We need targeted action to stop criminal traffickers from taking advantage of the pandemic to exploit the vulnerable,” said UNODC Executive Director Ghada Waly.
“The UNODC Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2020, coupled with the technical assistance UNODC provides through its global programs and field network, aims to inform governments’ anti-trafficking responses, end impunity, and support victims as part of integrated efforts to build forward from the pandemic.”
The UNODC advises and encourages States to adopt legislation that specifically recognizes this crime and detects and assists victims to end impunity.
Child profile
Although most of the victims are still female in 2018, the detected cases of minors increased compared to the previous report, with data from 2016.
The proportion of adult women among those rescued fell from more than 70% to less than 50%, while minors increased from about 10% to more than 30%.
In the same period, the proportion of men has increased from 10 to 20%.
The profiles of the victims also changed according to the form of exploitation. In 2018, the majority of women and girls were victims of sexual exploitation, while the vast majority of men and boys were subjected to forced labor.
According to Waly, on a global scale, one of every three victims is a minor, but in low-income countries, children are half of the identified victims, most of them captured for forced labor.
UNICEF also reported recently that around 152 million children globally – about 1 in 10 – are in child labor and half of them work in hazardous conditions. According to the report, 30 million children live outside of their birth country, which increases their risk of getting trafficked for labor or sexual exploitation.
“The consequences are staggering. Child labor can result in extreme bodily and mental harm and even death. It can lead to slavery and sexual or economic exploitation,” UNICEF warns. “And in nearly every case, it cuts children off from schooling and health care, restricting their fundamental rights and threatening their futures. Migrant and refugee children – many of whom have been uprooted by conflict, disaster, or poverty – also risk being forced into work and even trafficked, especially if they are migrating alone or taking irregular routes with their families.”
Half of all the victims detected in 2018 suffered sexual exploitation, 38% were subjected to forced labor, 6% were forced to commit criminal activities, 1% were forced to beg, and, in smaller numbers, there were also cases aimed at forced marriages or for the removal of organs, the UN’s 2020 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons reveals.
Most of those convicted of trafficking are men, with around 64% of the total, the UN’s data reveals. Criminals can range from members of organized groups to individuals. The higher the organizational level, the longer the operating time.
“Traffickers see their victims as commodities without regard for human dignity and rights. They sell fellow human beings for a price that can range from tens of US dollars to tens of thousands, with large criminal organizations making the highest incomes,” the report reads in part.
Another notable aspect is that criminals have adapted their recruitment model and exploitation to the digital environment, especially in the search for vulnerable minors on social networks.
The Internet also allows criminals to broadcast live the sexual exploitation of their victims, multiplying the profits of the mafias, the report highlights as a cause for concern.
Technology adoption for trafficking
School closures due to COVID-19 have left thousands of children homeless. The impossibility of continuing face-to-face education has promoted the use of the Internet and networks. Criminals have adapted to this new normal and new technologies to maintain and even boost their business. This means that trafficking is becoming more clandestine and the victims more invisible, making detection and rescue even more difficult.
“Traffickers have integrated technology into their business model at every stage of the process, from recruiting to exploiting victims. Traffickers approach many children on social media, and they are an easy target in their search for acceptance, attention, or friendship,” the UNODC report explains.
Reasons why COVID is driving trafficking
COVID-19 has activated a new rise in trafficking for its different purposes: sexual, forced labor, forced begging, forced marriage, sale of children, child soldiers, or organ removal. The consequences of the current crisis are affecting people’s basic needs. In addition, the measures adopted by governments to prevent infections are being a double-edged sword for those at risk.
These are some of the reasons the pandemic is driving trafficking around the world:
- Confinement leaves the streets empty and turns them into a trap for those forced to go out looking for some way of life.
- The lack of resources fuels the interest of criminals to seek new sources of income.
- Violence increases due to social and economic instability.
- Routine changes in the mobility of people pushed to seek resources to support their families after losing their jobs.
- Disruption of educational services, places of refuge, and protection for many child girls further exposes them to trafficking.
- Increased use of the Internet and social media increases the possibility of attracting new victims.
- It changes the place where people were exploited and becomes a more private place and, therefore, more difficult to detect.
- Resources are being used to control the pandemic and not to stop trafficking networks or provide therapy for victims.
- Many traffickers have disposed of the victims due to the lack of clientele, and the service centers have closed for not being able to ensure the anti-covid protocols. Many of these victims do not have resources to get ahead, which leads them to fall into the hands of new traffickers.
Conclusions
The pandemic caused by the coronavirus has set the best scenario for human trafficking to increase. The socio-economic crisis and the measures taken by governments to minimize infections increase the opportunities for trafficking networks to find new victims.
This type of modern slavery mainly affects women and minors in vulnerable situations. In the past year, COVID-19 has exacerbated the already fragile situation of millions of people, putting them at increased risk of trafficking. Today, out of every ten trafficking cases, five are adult women, and two are girls. According to the latest report from the UNODC, one in three victims of trafficking is a minor.
In 2018, the UNODC pointed out that there were almost 50,000 victims detected. Today, the number is estimated to be much higher due to the economic setback the COVID-19 measures have caused. The new trend is comparable to that suffered after the Second World War – and it’s exposing more people to the risk of being trafficked.
