2021’s International Slave Market

One of the most horrific and profitable forms of organized crime in the twenty-first century targets an individual’s humanity. Human Trafficking (commonly referred to as “modern slavery”), is the coerced or forced apprehension of a person with intents of exploitation. A common first-world misconception of the crime of Trafficking in Persons is that it occurs only — or predominantly occurs — in developing nations with little to no enforcement of human rights. While some of the largest volumes of sexual exploitation do occur in African and Middle Eastern nations, Trafficking in Persons is a global epidemic, ranging from forced marriages in nations where females have few rights, to unpaid and/ or underpaid labour.

How One of The Most Profitable Trades in Our Era Evades Justice

Currently, there are estimated to be 40 million people victimized in cases of modern slavery across the globe, and this doesn’t even include the 152 million children victimized by child labour. Due to the constant evolution of law enforcement’s efforts to tackle human trafficking, the black market trade is also in a continuous state of evolution, as human traffickers work to cover their tracks. The frequent changes in global, regional, and national trends encourage law enforcement to have an in-depth understanding of the trade on a global scale, and all influences sustaining the illegal trade.

According to the most recent listing of trends published by the United Nations in the Global Report of Trafficking in Persons from 2016, sexual exploitation and labour exploitation are the most prevalent forms of trafficking on a global scale. Despite the vast data on human trafficking and the multitude of victims whose lives are impacted by modern slavery, conviction rates are quite low. This could be for a variety of reasons, such as the fact that most nations only enacted Human Trafficking legislation within the last ten years or so.

Internationally, 79% of all slavery victims are women, and of this 79%, 28% are children. In contrast with this, the majority of Human Traffickers are men.

English | October 23, 2021