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Presentation of UNODC Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2018
The Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2018 puts the spotlight on human trafficking in armed conflict.
Human trafficking is always a crime, committed with the intention to exploit; in conflict situations, characterized by violence, brutality and coercion, traffickers can operate with even greater impunity. Trafficking in armed conflict has taken on horrific dimensions – child soldiers, forced labour, sexual slavery.
The need to take urgent action against these violations has been recognized by the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize, awarded to Nadia Murad, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking.
This year’s Global Report indicates that the overall number of reported trafficking victims has increased. This might mean that more people are being trafficked, but also that national capacities to detect this crime and identify victims are improving in some countries. Increases in trafficking convictions have also been recorded in Asia, the Americas, Africa and the Middle East, broadly tracking the rise in the number of reported victims.
While we are far from ending impunity, we have made headway in the 15 years since the Protocol against Trafficking in Persons entered into force. Nearly every country now has legislation in place criminalizing human trafficking. The international community needs to accelerate progress to build capacities and cooperation, to stop human trafficking in conflict situations and in all our societies where this terrible crime continues to operate in the shadows.
