Director-General/Executive Director
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is my pleasure to be here to present to you the latest edition of UNODC’s Global Report on Trafficking in Persons.
This year’s edition draws on data from 156 countries and over 200,000 detected victims of trafficking between 2020 and 2023, revealing key trends in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The new report shows that in 2022, detection of trafficking victims around the world bounced back from the drop seen during the pandemic, and in some regions even surpassed the pre-pandemic levels seen in 2019.
Trafficking flows, as well as our ability to identify them, are returning to previous rates, but some countries are still struggling to recover.
At the same time, growing vulnerabilities have accelerated trafficking trends that need our attention.
Excellencies,
Member States have made progress against human trafficking, from laws to convictions to cooperation.
But human trafficking persists and adapts. And the message from the evidence is clear: we need evolving responses in the face of evolving challenges.
And we must keep victims front and center.
The number of child victims detected has seen a shocking rise worldwide, accounting for 38 per cent of victims detected, and this includes high and low-income countries, and different forms of trafficking.
There is an urgent need for more targeted measures, including child protection services as well as countering practices like child labour and child marriage.
Women and girls also deserve attention and protection. They represent 61 per cent of trafficking victims detected, and 90 per cent of those trafficked for sexual exploitation.
And while sexual exploitation remains a major concern, the business of trafficking is diversifying.
Forced labour is now the main form of trafficking globally. It has become a highly sophisticated form of exploitation involving legitimate companies in sectors like construction, agriculture, and fishing, and relying on false and misleading contracts.
Forced criminality is also a growing form of trafficking, and one where the scope for victimization multiplies.
This is particularly prominent in Southeast Asia, where organized crime groups use trafficking victims to commit cyber-enabled scams that target people in every part of the world.
Criminal justice responses are struggling to keep up with these dynamic forms of trafficking, which are difficult to prosecute and represent a small portion of convictions globally.
It has also proven tough to dismantle the organized crime structures that lie behind most human trafficking operations, and to target their leadership.
As we move forward, new developments in technology and artificial intelligence are providing new tools for traffickers to misinform and exploit. And more sophisticated criminal groups are taking full advantage.
This means that criminal justice responses need to move forward, by developing a broader and more adaptive approach to human trafficking.
And in these times of global instability, we must do better at identifying victims, protecting people on the move, and addressing root causes.
The failures of economic, security, and education frameworks underlie human trafficking risks. And today’s context of raging conflicts and climate disasters amplifies those risks further.
People are finding themselves stuck between life-threatening violence and poverty, exploitative criminal economies, and dangerous migration journeys across borders that are often shut to them.
And nowhere is this truer than in Africa.
African countries have taken positive strides in responding to human trafficking, but they are still struggling against a complex trafficking industry that preys on vulnerabilities and engages in trafficking within, across, and beyond Africa’s borders.
The Global Report should be a wake-up call to invest far more in Africa’s criminal justice capacities, and to consider this a global responsibility.
Distinguished participants,
The need for greater action against human trafficking is urgent, and the time is ripe.
Next year, the UN General Assembly will be conducting its regular four-year appraisal of the Global Plan of Action to combat Trafficking in Persons.
The Plan of Action is the document that mandated the Global Report we are launching today, and it is also the basis that empowers so much of our collective work on this topic.
The appraisal will be a vital opportunity for Member States to bring emerging challenges and priorities forward, and to push for renewed action to end human trafficking.
We are determined to work with the rest of the UN System to support a fruitful appraisal, informed by the findings of the Global Report.
UNODC will be co-chairing the inter-agency group on human trafficking, ICAT, for 2025, together with the Organization of American States. Just last week, I had an important meeting with ICAT principals to look at the year ahead and to discuss the key issue of ending child trafficking.
And as we look to improve responses, we must strengthen partnerships with key stakeholders, such as civil society, who have unique access to victims, and the private sector, which has a huge responsibility, from safeguarding new tech to monitoring supply chains.
We can only end human trafficking by working together, across borders and sectors, hand-in-hand with survivors.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Before I conclude, I want to say a heartfelt thank you and congratulations to my UNODC colleagues who have worked so hard to bring this report to you, and to the larger research team which has issued a number of important reports and publications this year.
I hope that this edition of the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons will bring attention to the changing dynamics of this crime and inspire action for the victims who need our help.
Thank you.
