• An estimated 2.5 million people are in forced labour (including sexual exploitation) at any given time as a result of trafficking1 Of these:
o 1.4 million – 56% - are in Asia and the Pacific
o 250,000 – 10% - are in Latin America and the Caribbean
o 230,000 – 9.2% - are in the Middle East and Northern Africa
o 130,000 – 5.2% - are in sub-Saharan countries
o 270,000 – 10.8% - are in industrialized countries
o 200,000 – 8% - are in countries in transition
• 161 countries are reported to be affected by human trafficking by being a source, transit or destination count3
• People are reported to be trafficked from 127 countries to be exploited in 137 countries, affecting every continent and every type of economy
The Victims:
• The majority of trafficking victims are between 18 and 24 years of age5 An estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked each year
• 95% of victims experienced physical or sexual violence during trafficking (based on data from selected European countries)
• 43% of victims are used for forced commercial sexual exploitation, of whom 98 per cent are women and girls
• 32% of victims are used for forced economic exploitation, of whom 56 per cent are women and girls
Many trafficking victims have at least middle-level education
The Traffickers:
• 52% of those recruiting victims are men, 42% are women and 6% are both men and women
• In 54% of cases the recruiter was a stranger to the victim, 46% of cases the recruiter was known to victim
• The majority of suspects involved in the trafficking process are nationals of the country where the trafficking process is occurring
Prosecutions:
• In 2006 there were only 5,808 prosecutions and 3,160 convictions throughout the world
• This means that for every 800 people trafficked, only one person was convicted in 2006
Sex Trafficking: Facts & Figures:
– The United Nations estimates that 700,000 to 4 million women and children are trafficked around the world for purposes of forced prostitution, labor and other forms of exploitation every year. Trafficking is estimated to be a $7 billion dollar annual business.
– Victims of trafficking are subject to gross human rights violations including, rape, torture, forced abortions, starvation, and threats of torturing or murdering family members.
– Nearly every country is involved in the web of trafficking activities, either as a country of origin, destination or transit. Countries of destination include Australia, Brazil, Cambodia, France, India, Israel, Japan, The Netherlands, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, and the United States.
- Traffickers recruit women and children through deceptive means including falsified employment advertisements for domestic workers, waitresses and other low-skilled work. Traffickers include those involved in highly sophisticated networks of organized crime and may be as close to home as a relative to the victim.
Who Are The Traffickers?
– Traffickers are members of highly sophisticated networks of organized crime.
– Traffickers are family members and friends of the trafficking victim. A six-year-old boy, Mohammad Mamun, was taken from his poor Bangladeshi parents by a neighbor, and ended up in a foreign desert land being exploited as a camel jockey.
– Victims of trafficking are later used to traffic other women and children. Traffickers from Benin see themselves as helping the home community–facilitators for families looking for some extra income. One trafficker commented, “Every girl who travels and who doesn’t get deported is a potential sponsor for more.”
Children Are Not Protected:
– Children from Pakistan and Bangladesh are kidnapped or sold by their parents to traffickers who take them to Persian Gulf States including the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, to work as camel jockeys. These children 3 to 7 years of age and are malnourished to keep their weight below 35 pounds. They suffer physical abuse from the traffickers and work all day training camels. Many of these children suffer extreme injuries or death from falling off camels during the races.
– Child victims of trafficking are very vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. Misconceptions that having sex with a virgin can cure HIV/AIDS have fueled an increased demand for child prostitutes.
– Girls from 15 to 17 years of age are trafficked from Thailand and Taiwan to South Africa. Traffickers recruited these girls to work as waitresses or domestic workers. Once they arrive in South Africa they are forced into prostitution.
– Filipino children are trafficked to countries in Africa, the Middle East, Western Europe and Southeast Asia, where they are sexually exploited. Traffickers loan parents a sum of money, which the girl must repay to the trafficker through forced prostitution. In one case, a Filipino woman rented her 9-year-old niece to foreign men for sex, and eventually sold her to a German pedophile.
Sexual Slavery, In The 21st Century:
– The Cadena smuggling ring trafficked women, some as young as 14, from Mexico to Florida. The victims were forced to prostitute themselves with as many as 130 men per week in a trailer park.
– Domestic servants in some countries of the Middle East are forced to work 12 to 16 hours a day with little or no pay, and subject to sexual abuse such as rape, forced abortions, and physical abuse that has resulted in death.
– Traffickers in many countries in West Africa take girls through voodoo rituals in which girls take oaths of silence and are often raped and beaten, prior to their leaving the country. They are also forced to sign agreements stating that, once they arrive in another country, they owe the traffickers a set amount of money. They are sworn to secrecy and given detailed accounts of how they will be tortured if they break their promise.
-Traffickers have taken women and young girls to shrines and places of cultural or religious significance; they remove pubic and other hair and then perform a ceremony of intimidation.
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