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Whether labelled modern day slavery or human trafficking, human trafficking defies every human being’s entitlement to freedom

More people are enslaved now than any other time throughout history, and according to the International Labour Organization (ILO), traffickers are earning approximately $150 billion year to breach millions of people’s fundamental human rights.

In the most recent report, Global Estimates of Modern Slavery, by ILO and Walk Free Foundation, it has been estimated that:

trafficking statistics.png

*The statistics herein are an adaptation of an original work by the International Labour Office (ILO), Walk Free Foundation and International Organization for Migration (IOM). Responsibility for the views and opinions expressed in the adaptation rests solely with the author or authors of the adaptation and are not endorsed by the ILO, Walk Free Foundation or IOM.

What exactly is human trafficking?

Trafficking Adults

According to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols Thereto, human trafficking of adults is comprised of three elements:

CHild trafficking

The definition of child trafficking (anyone under the age of eighteen) is much wider than the adult definition. It does not need to involve any of the means detailed above (such as threat, coercion, fraud, etc). Child trafficking is only made up of an act for the purpose of exploitation.

Types of trafficking:

There are various types of trafficking, a list of examples below

  • Sexual exploitation

  • Forced labour or services (including begging, drug peddling and smuggling, forced recruitment and participation in armed conflict)

  • Servitude

  • Bonded labour

  • Forced marriage

  • Illegal adoption

  • Removal of organs

  • People smuggling