STOP THE TRAFFIK

THE PROBLEM TODAY

What is trafficking?

A definition:

“Trafficking in human beings” shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.

Article 3 of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime (Palmero Protocol)

The scale of human trafficking

Men, women and children are trafficked within their own countries and across international borders. Trafficking affects every continent and most countries.

Due to the hidden and illegal nature of human trafficking, gathering statistics on the scale of the problem is a complex and difficult task. There are no reliable national or international estimates as to the extent of trafficking. Figures are usually counted in the countries that people are trafficked into and often fail to include those who are trafficked within their own national borders. The following statistics may represent an underestimation of trafficking, but are the most credible and frequently quoted.

  • More than one person is trafficked across borders every minute, which is equivalent to five jumbo jets every day. Stop The Traffik International 2008
  • Out of 12.3 million forced labour victims worldwide, around 2.4 million were trafficked. ILO Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings International Labour Organisation, 2008

  • 800,000 people are trafficked across national borders, which does not include millions trafficked within their own countries. Approximately 80 % of transnational victims are women and girls and up to 50 % are minors. US Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report 2008

  • An estimated 1.2 million children trafficked each year. UNICEF UK Child Trafficking Information sheet, November 2008

  • The traffickers' web spans the whole planet: people are moved from poor communities in the southern hemisphere to richer countries in the North. Trafficking in Persons Global Patterns UN Office on Drugs and Crime, 2006
  • The UN Office on Drugs and Crime has recently identified Australia as a ‘high destination' country, mainly for people trafficked from South East Asia. UN Office on Drugs and Crime, 2006

  • Human trafficking is the third largest source of income for organised crime, exceeded only by arms and drugs trafficking. UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Regional Office of South Asia 2008.

  • It is the fastest growing form of international crime, already generating 7 billion dollars per year in criminal proceeds. There are even reports that some trafficking groups are switching their cargo from drugs to human beings, in a search of high profits at lower risk. UN Office on Drugs and Crime 2007

  • They are trafficked into situations of exploitation and abuse such as hazardous labour, commercial sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, begging and criminal activities. UNICEF Innocenti Insight 2008