World of trafficking

The UN definition wherein Human trafficking is “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".

Today, people are trafficked within and across international borders to be exploited in domestic servitude, forced labour in the manufacturing industry, the sex trade, adoption, forced marriages and other kinds of slavery.

Trafficking is everywhere

It’s a global problem. Because it  is a hidden crime, gathering reliable statistics on the magnitude of the problem is a challenge. These statistics are estimates based on data currently available.

• The US State Department and the International Labour Organization estimate that 12.3 to 27 million people are trapped in modern day slavery.

• It is estimated that over 80% of those trafficked are women and nearly 50% are children below 18 years of age.

• The International Labour organization (ILO) estimates that over 200 million children worldwide are involved in child labour.

• Over 2 million children are trapped in the child sex tourism industry of which 42% are featured in pornographic material.

• The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) in its report in 2006 estimates that people are being trafficked from 127 countries to be trafficked to 137 countries.

Trafficking is lucrative

• The income generated from this internationally illegal crime is difficult to determine, but estimates of the revenues in human trafficking are between 7 to 30 billion US$ per year.

• Perpetrators in the United Kingdom earn profits of £20,000-40,000 per victim per year.

• On an average, a perpetrator earns £300 per day. A sex-trafficking victim may have to serve up to 40 customers per day to earn this money that she will never see.

• In India a location with 13 girls sold into sexual slavery can earn an estimated £100 per day.