World Day Against Trafficking in Persons

  While most regions have recorded increasing detections and convictions since 2020, such as Africa where new legislation was enacted, some regions have not yet recovered to their pre-covid levels, including in some middle and high-income countries. These progresses and setbacks may be explained by various factors, ranging from the existence and applicability of anti-trafficking legislation to the complexity of the cases and the ability of criminal justice practitioners to secure convictions on trafficking charges based on solid evidence. The high level of involvement of organized crime groups, some of which are transnational , and emerging forms of trafficking , including for forced criminality conducted online, raise the evidentiary burden. This may add to the challenges already posed by international cooperation, impacting on the quality of the cases prosecuted, in addition to the number of convictions. The international community and national authorities should analyse legislat...

As children are increasingly detected among victims of trafficking, national authorities should ensure that child protection services, including care facilities, are sensitized and equipped to detect and refer cases of child exploitation and pay particular attention to children’s vulnerabilities to being trafficked. As the link between child labour and harmful practices such as forced and earl\ marriage that lead to trafficking in children is increasingly established, the international community should reinvigorate campaigns to end child labour in all its forms (SDG 8.7) and to eliminate child, early and forced marriage (SDG 5.3) as well as support the adoption of national legal frameworks to address these issues. Trafficking of girls for the purpose of sexual exploitation is recording an alarming increase in many regions of the world. The international community and national authorities should increase efforts to prevent this form of trafficking, to ensure victim-centred and trauma...