Human trafficking: the United Nations denounces the impunity of traffickers
Environment — di Andrea Barolini
Sex slaves, child soldiers, men forced into hard labour. There are nearly 25,000 victims of human trafficking in the world.
Human trafficking: the United Nations denounces the impunity of traffickers
Sex slaves, child soldiers, men forced into hard labour. There are nearly 25,000 victims of human trafficking in the world.
Human trafficking is a phenomenon that spares no one. Not even children. And its perpetrators remain, to this day, largely unpunished. This is explained in a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (Unodc), published on 7 January, which underlines how for numerous armed groups trafficking has now become "a means of financing their activities".
Rising human #trafficking takes on ‘horrific dimensions’: almost a third of victims are children @unocd Report #SDOH #GPHO news.un.org/en/story/2019/…
"Women handed over to soldiers as a reward"
The "Global Report on Trafficking in Persons" examines cases of children forced to fight in wars, particularly in central Africa and the Middle East. But also the trafficking of adults aimed at finding "labour", for example for mining activities. As well as the trafficking of women and girls for the purposes of sexual slavery: these individuals are often kidnapped and handed over to soldiers at war as a "reward".
This is what Nadia Murad experienced, Unodc Goodwill Ambassador and 2018 Nobel Peace Prize laureate: at the age of 19 she was sold into slavery along with thousands of other Yazidi women when Isis militants invaded her village in Iraq. "Nadia," explained Yury Fedotov, Executive Director of the United Nations office, "is the first victim of human trafficking to have become a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador. My appeal is directed to the international community, to respond to the call for justice for child soldiers, people forced into hard labour, and sex slaves."
Trafficking hits populations on the run hardest
The report confirms that the groups most at risk are the most vulnerable, in particular those fleeing wars or persecution. It comes as no surprise, in this regard, that in recent years traffickers have targeted above all Syrian and Iraqi refugees, Afghans and Rohingya. Easy prey also because of their socio-economic conditions and the absence of the rule of law.
UN human trafficking report: Record number of girls reported as victims
#StopSlaveryToday cnn.it/2Fc4kt6
#StopSlaveryToday cnn.it/2Fc4kt6
Unodc also highlights how 70 per cent of victims are women. Girls, in particular, account for one fifth of the total, and that share is on the rise. It is no coincidence that the main reason for abductions is linked precisely to sexual exploitation (in 59 per cent of cases). As for underage boys, the traffickers' primary objective is forced labour or deployment in armed conflicts as soldiers.
Human traffickers still face very little risk
In numerical terms, according to the United Nations, the total number of victims worldwide reached nearly 25,000 (the 2016 figure, the last year covered by Unodc in the report). And although convictions are on the rise, "they are still extremely low relative to the number of crimes committed," the document states. "The reality is that traffickers almost never risk facing justice."