Human Trafficking is defined in the Trafficking Protocol as “the recruitment, transport, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a person by such means as threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud or deception for the purpose of exploitation.”
Human trafficking statistics:
- An estimated 2.5 million people globally are in forced labour at any given time as a result of trafficking, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, generating £20 billion per year.
- In 2012 women accounted for 55-60 percent of all trafficking victims detected globally; children accounted for 27 percent –- a 7 percent increase from the period 2003-2006.
- Sexual exploitation is the most common cause of human trafficking (79%), followed by forced labour (18%).
- UNICEF estimates that globally, up to two million children are exploited in the commercial sex trade.