Academic | Government | U.S. TIP | U.N. | NGO
Human migration and mobility may well be age-old phenomena touching almost every society around the world. However, they have changed over time in important ways. Examining these shifts in scale, direction, demography and frequency can help us understand how migration is evolving, and can inform effective policies, programmes and operational responses on the ground.
In the report, the Special Rapporteur analyses current challenges in the implementation of the principle of non-punishment. The principle of non-punishment constitutes the cornerstone of an effective protection of the rights of victims of trafficking, however, its non-implementation or deficient implementation measures that deviate the principle from its intended result are still common practice. In the present report, the Special Rapporteur takes stock of previous research conducted under the mandate, as well as submissions of examples of good practices by Member States and the expertise of practitioners.
This is the fifth global report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), mandated by the General Assembly through the 2010 Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons. The report comes at a time when global suffering has vastly increased vulnerabilities to trafficking. Extreme poverty is expected to rise for the first time in decades, with the continuing COVID-19 crisis casting a long shadow over our societies and economies.
Since the last Global Report on Trafficking in Persons in 2014 there have been a number of significant develop- ments that reinforce this report’s importance, and place it at the heart of international efforts undertaken to combat human trafficking. Perhaps the most worrying develop- ment is that the movement of refugees and migrants, the largest seen since World War II, has arguably intensified since 2014.
Tomoya Obokata was appointed as Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences, by the Human Rights Council in March 2020. He assumed his functions on 1 May 2020. The present report is his first report to the Council. The present report contains reflections on and analysis of the impact that coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has had on contemporary forms of slavery and slavery-like practices, and recommendations on how various stakeholders could mitigate the impact of the pandemic. It also contains an overview of the methods of work that the new Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences, intends to implement and promote during his tenure.
The policies and measures adopted in the wake of the pandemic will be crucial in the unfolding crisis and will also shape how the labour market and, in general, societies will look like into the future. This paper aims at analyzing how the socio-economic consequences of the pandemic will exacerbate the vulnerabilities to trafficking, posing a further threat not only to actual victims, but also to people at risk of being trafficked.
The COVID-19 pandemic is putting the world under enormous strain, affecting the lives of everyone. The unprecedented measures adopted to flatten the infection curve include enforced quarantine, curfews and lockdowns, travel restrictions, and limitations on economic activities and public life. While at first sight, these enforcement measures and increased police presence at the borders and on the streets seem to dissuade crime, they may also drive it further underground. In trafficking in persons, criminals are adjusting their business models to the ‘new normal’ created by the pandemic, especially through the abuse of modern communications technologies
This is the fourth in IOM’s series of annual global reports on the deaths and disappearances of migrants around the world. Since 2014, IOM’s Missing Migrants Project has recorded globally the deaths of more than 32,000 people. These figures are likely to be much lower than the real number of deaths, given that many bodies are never found or identified
IOM’s responsibility to provide an objective and balanced account of migration globally has never been more important. Not only is the political salience of migration high, and frequently fevered, but the capacity for rapidly disseminating disinformation to influence the public discourse has expanded. Twenty years ago, IOM published the first World Migration Report with the stated aim of providing an authoritative account of migration trends and issues worldwide. With the initial report published in 2000, the series has quickly become established as IOM’s flagship publication. The early World Migration Reports were framed around specific themes. They provided deep dives into topics such as labour mobility, migrant well-being and communication on migration. But, with time, there was a sense that the broader landscape and complexity of migration issues was being neglected.
Las infracciones de los derechos humanos son a la vez causa y consecuencia de la trata de personas. Por lo tanto, es indispensable que la protección de todos los derechos humanos ocupe un lugar central en las medidas que se adopten para prevenir esa trata y ponerle término. Las medidas para combatir la trata de personas no deben redundar en desmedro de sus derechos humanos y su dignidad y, en particular, de los derechos de quienes han sido víctimas de ella, los migrantes, las personas desplazadas internamente, los refugiados y quienes soliciten asilo.
Las infracciones de los derechos humanos son a la vez causa y consecuencia de la trata de personas. Por lo tanto, es indispensable que la protección de todos los derechos humanos ocupe un lugar central en las medidas que se adopten para prevenir esa trata y ponerle término. Las medidas para combatir la trata de personas no deben redundar en desmedro de sus derechos humanos y su dignidad y, en particular, de los derechos de quienes han sido víctimas de ella, los migrantes, las personas desplazadas internamente, los refugiados y quienes soliciten asilo.
This Fact Sheet seeks to provide a brief but comprehensive overview of human rights and human trafficking. In exploring the applicable legal and policy framework, it draws on two major outputs of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): the 2002 Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking and its extensive Commentary.
The definition of slavery has caused controversy since the beginning of the abolition process, yet is of paramount importance for the international community in working towards its effective eradication. Definitions have caused controversy for two reasons: first, there are differences of opinion about which practices should be categorized as slavery and thus designated for elimina- tion; second, definitions have often been accompanied by obligations on States to carry out particular remedial measures. There has invariably been disagreement about the most appropriate strategies to eradicate any form of slavery.
The Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking, which are included as an addendum to my report to the Economic and Social Council (E/2002/68/Add.1), have been developed in order to provide practical, rights-based policy guidance on the prevention of trafficking and the protection of victims of trafficking. Their purpose is to promote and facilitate the integration of a human rights perspective into national, regional and international anti-trafficking laws, policies and interventions.
Over the past decade, human trafficking has moved from the margins to the mainstream of international concern. During this period we have witnessed the rapid development of a comprehensive legal framework that comprises international and regional treaties, as well as a broad range of soft-law instruments relating to trafficking. These changes confirm that a fundamental shift has taken place in how the international community thinks about human exploitation. It also confirms a change in our expectations of what Governments and others should be doing to deal with trafficking and to prevent it.
Today, there are more than 232 million international migrants in the world. If they came together to form a country, it would be the fifth most populous country on the planet. Yet, this remains a largely invisible population. Many migrants, particularly those who are in an irregular situation, tend to live and work in the shadows, afraid to complain, denied rights and freedoms that we take for granted, and disproportionately vulnerable to discrimination and marginalization.
Around the world more than 50 million people, many of them women, are domestic workers. Of these, a significant number are migrants, including migrants who are in an irregular situation. The work they do is invaluable. Among a myriad other tasks, domestic workers clean, iron clothes, cook, garden, provide home health care, drive, and take care of children and older persons. This is necessary work, but work that often goes unnoticed, particularly when it is undertaken by irregular migrants who work unseen behind closed doors.
This report has been prepared by the International Labour Office pursuant to an agreement between the ILO and the World Bank to carry out third-party monitoring on the incidence of child labour and forced labour in the World Bank-financed projects in agriculture, water and education sectors in Uzbekistan. Third-party monitoring by the ILO was also undertaken and reported on annually since 2015.
The long-term and growing body of evidence on migration and mobility shows that migration is in large part related to the broader global economic, social, political and technological transformations that are affecting a wide range of high-priority policy issues. As the processes of globalization deepen, these transformations increasingly shape our lives – in our workplaces, in our homes, in our social and spiritual lives – as we go about our daily routines. Increasing numbers of people are able to access information, goods and services from around the world because of the ongoing expansion in distance-shrinking technologies.
This report presents the joint research findings and conclusions on child labour, forced labour and human trafficking linked to global supply chains from the ILO, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), under the aegis of Alliance 8.7. It is the first attempt by international organizations to measure child labour, forced labour and human trafficking in global supply chains.
In 2016, more countries were experiencing some form of violent conflict than at any other time in the previous 30 years. People living in conflict-affected areas may experience abuse, violence and exploitation, including trafficking in persons. The risk of trafficking in persons is also connected with the high numbers of refugees. A need to flee war and persecution may be taken advantage of for exploitation by traffickers.
The Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2018 puts thespotlight on human trafficking in armed conflict. Humantrafficking is always a crime, committed with the intention to exploit; in conflict situations, characterized by violence, brutality and coercion, traffickers can operate with even greater impunity. Trafficking in armed conflict has taken on horrific dimensions – child soldiers, forced labour, sexual slavery.
Provides an overview of patterns and flows of human trafficking at the global, regional and national levels. It will further augment UNODC’s work to support countries to respond more effectively to this crime.
Provides a systematic review of available empirical knowledge on smuggling of migrants.
A comprehensive review of existing treaty and customary law covering all the traditional and contemporary slavery-related practices and relevant monitoring mechanisms prepared by David Weissbrodt and Anti-Slavery International.
To improve the protection of child victims in anti-trafficking efforts, UNICEF developed the Guidelines on Protection of the Rights of Child Victims of Trafficking. The Guidelines outline the minimum standards for safe-guarding the rights of child victims of trafficking at each stage of anti-trafficking interventions.
The Toolkit is based on the premise that the problem of trafficking in persons, whether at the national or local level, can only be addressed effectively on the basis of comprehensive strategies that are based on human rights and that take into account the transnational nature of the problem, the many associated criminal activities, the frequent involvement of organized criminal groups and the profound pain, fear and damage suffered by the victims.
If the international community is to achieve long-term successes in combating trafficking in persons, we need reliable information on the offenders, the victims, and the trafficking flows throughout the regions. The Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2012 provides such information, and explores this crime across the world.
Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka have all taken steps in the right direction to combat human trafficking; however, there is a need to look closely at country specific laws to understand where the gaps lie. It is in the light of this, that a Legal and Policy Review of Responses to Human Trafficking has been taken up. The Report looks at the law and policy, especially in the context of the Protocol, supplementing work already available in different studies.
Why does human trafficking occur? What are the consequences? What measures might be taken in response? Within each theme, plenary sessions as well as workshops provide participants with the opportunity to explore each theme in greater detail, with the purpose of developing comprehensive intervention strategies and undertaking practical action.
Offers the first global assessment of the scope of human trafficking and what is being done to fight it. It includes: an overview of trafficking patterns; legal steps taken in response; and country-specific information on reported cases of trafficking in persons, victims, and prosecutions.
Uses information from open sources, both private and public, to map an impressionistic journey into global patterns of trafficking in persons.
Seeks to outline patterns of corruption in trafficking in persons; provide a description of relevant international legal instruments, and outline some practical guidance on what can be done to address the issue of corruption in human trafficking. In an attempt to keep its scope within reasonable limits, the paper focuses mostly on corruption of public officials, and in particular, of law enforcement and criminal justice actors.
In many countries around the world, the current economic crisis and recession have led to an increase in unemployment, underemployment and economic instability, thereby aggravating conditions that render people and communities vulnerable to trafficking in persons and the smuggling of migrants.
Provides background information on the issues of the ILO’s primary concern, with a particular focus on trafficking for forced labour exploitation, and raises questions for further discussion. It begins by discussing the concept of forced labour and assessing the current state of knowledge. This is followed by a discussion of demand factors, supply chain management issues and recruitment systems. A final section discusses concrete measures that can now be taken to prevent and identify forced labour, particularly by employers and workers in cooperation with other national and international partners.
As with human trafficking for other exploitative purposes, victims of trafficking for the purpose of organ removal are often recruited from vulnerable groups (for instance, those who live in extreme poverty) and traffickers are often part of transnational organised crime groups.
Strives to generate a deeper understanding of the factors that have an impact on journalists’ decisions when covering the topic, and to discuss the importance of fair and balanced media coverage of the issue, particularly its victims, in order to avoid them being re-victimized and suffer any undue hardship arising from media interventions in the future.
For a universally condemned, but globally evident issue, surprisingly little is known about human traffickers – those who enable or partake in the trade and exploitation of individual human beings. Data and information about how people come to commit trafficking crimes, their respective roles in networks of traffickers, their relationships to other criminals and to victims, and a strong understanding of trafficking modus operandi would help establish means by which actual traffickers can be identified, stopped and prosecuted, as well as preventing potential traffickers from becoming so.
As globalization accelerates, the range of information and communication technology expands, becoming more accessible to more people, ultimately impacting the way that humans interact. The same is as true for human trafficking as it is for legal business enterprises; technology offers traffickers more creative and complex ways to commit their crimes while at the same time, presenting the global anti-trafficking community with more opportunities to respond to it.
A number of transnational organized crime groups are heavily involved in human trafficking. On the other hand, human trafficking is also carried out by actors who are not part of transnational organized crime groups or even non-transnational organized crime groups.
Corruption is one of the major contributing factors to the crime of trafficking in persons. It is both an underlying root cause and a facilitating tool to carry out and sustain this illicit trade. Worse corruption can also ensure safe havens for the profits collected as a result of human misery. Unfortunately, there has been very little exploration into the linkages of the two phenomena.
Describes the discussions, activities and accomplishments of the Vienna Forum to Fight Human Trafficking, held in Vienna from 13 to 15 February 2008. Twenty-eight panels, workshops, special sessions and side events were held as part of the Forum with a view to exploring the themes of vulnerability, impact and action and to offering an opportunity for dialogue on preventing and combating trafficking in persons. Additional special exhibits held throughout the City of Vienna as part of the Forum increased the visibility of the issue of human trafficking among the public.
Aims to provide practical, non-clinical guidance to help concerned health providers understand the phenomenon of human trafficking, recognize some of the health problems associated with trafficking and consider safe and appropriate approaches to providing health care for trafficked persons.
Victims of trafficking in humans can be found in a variety of situations. You can play a role in identifying such victims.