On December 12th, 2024, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime held the Presentation of the 2024 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons (GLOTIP).
The event served as a presentation on the findings of the 2024 GLOTIP, where the patterns and statistics were broken down and made intelligible to facilitate the dissemination of information. This report covers the time frame from 2020 to 2022, where the effects of the global lockdown were closely studied, as well as what happened following the easing of the measures implemented. The report demonstrates that there has been a rise in the number of victims detected in recent years, after falling back during the pandemic. Child victims were also increasingly detected, with notable differences in the patterns between boys and girls.
Trafficking for forced labour is increasing, while the criminal justice for the perpetrators is not keeping up with the rate of increase in detection. Most of those who are trafficked are victims of organized crime who operate in structures similar to business networks. The routes that traffickers take are gradually more diversified, with African victims being trafficked to the highest number of destinations. The causes for this are also included in the report with instability and climate change being the most notable exacerbators of trafficking “opportunities” in the region.
Ms. Angela Me, Chief of the Research and Trend Analysis Branch at the UNODC, presented statistics and patterns found in the 2024 GLOTIP. This year’s report was the one with most countries’ data included since its first version in 2009, with 156 countries.
This year’s report found that Africa is the origin with most cross-border victims, at 31% of detections. With concern over this statistic, this year’s GLOTIP has an African chapter covering 40 countries with the help of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the IOM, the South African Development Community (SADC), the African Union Institute for Statistics (STATAFRIC), and the UN Department of Peace Operations (UNDPO). It was also found that in Africa, convictions are mainly focused on small scale operators and non-organized traffickers.
Ms. Me stated that “globally, compared to 2019, the number of detections increased 25% in 2022, and 43% if compared to 2020”. Unfortunately, she assumes the decrease in cases detected was due to a drop in governments’ capacity to collect data, not because of a real decrease in human trafficking globally. The global detection of children increased by 31% since pre-pandemic data to 2022. Ms. Me then emphasized the fact that 74% of trafficking is conducted under organized crime, functioning in the form of businesses.
In his statement, H.E. Ambassador Paul Beresford-Hill, drew attention to the importance of healthcare professionals in detecting trafficked persons as they are frequently the only ones who will closely interact with those who are actively trafficked. Ambassador Beresford-Hill urged that healthcare systems develop the necessary tools to assist victims through trauma-informed workers, survivor-centred and evidence-based frameworks, that will require adaptation and application to local laws, cultural contexts, as well as organizational policies. The Ambassador also highlighted the complex physical injuries, chronic illnesses, and mental health issues that the victims desperately need help with and cannot receive due to the lack of structural support.
Ambassador Beresford-Hill spoke on the lasting physical and psychological scars that survivors must bear for the remaining of their lives, highlighting cases in which the victims are young. Thus, undermining the well-being of individuals and consequentially eroding the social fabric of entire communities and provoking cycles of marginalization that reduce future opportunities for freedom and growth.
Ambassador Beresford-Hill insisted on the profound ethical responsibility of healthcare workers, as well as the international community’s duty to advocate for the most vulnerable, notably women girls and children that find themselves in zones of conflict or regions devastated by the effects of climate change. He explained that these intersecting crises exacerbate vulnerabilities, rendering populations increasingly susceptible to exploitation.
The Ambassador’s speech at the presentation of the 2024 GLOTIP was concluded with an expression of gratitude towards all those who contribute to this discussion, encouraging a clear fight to support victims of trafficking, all while developing mechanisms that will reduce the prevalence of this scourge.
The representative of Israel spoke on the trafficking prevention methods applied in Israel’s airports and points of entry, stating that in 2023, twenty victims were saved, and their perpetrators were accordingly punished. The Israeli representative also touched upon the 240 of their nationals who were victims of trafficking and 100 of which are currently held in Gaza.
The representative of Gabon, along with the representatives of Australia, Sweden, and Mexico highlighted the collective responsibility of the members of the UN to protect those that are most vulnerable to trafficking, notably women and children. Echoing that there must be a direct effort to decrease the demand driven market of human trafficking through more effective protocols and resolutions.
The Police Advisor in New York for the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) highlighted the evidence-based methods they function with, as well as the collective duty to stop trafficking worldwide. The representative of INTERPOL stated that last month they conducted the largest-ever operation, called “LIBERTERRA II”, across 116 countries, rescuing more than 3200 potential trafficking victims, more than 2500 criminals arrested, and 8 million checks against their database.