United Nations office on Drugs and Crime

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (2009). Global report on trafficking in persons. Retrieved from https://www.unodc.org/documents/Global_Report_on_TIP.pdf

Human trafficking has become one of the most festering problems globally, due to the fact that it is extremely wrong both morally and ethically. The report illustrates the size of human trafficking around the world for the first time and the measures to terminate, or at least prevent this dreadful crime, based on the information retrieved from 155 countries.

According to the report, sexual exploitation is the main purpose of human trafficking (79%). The second biggest form of trafficking is forced labour (18%), although this number might not be correct as cases of labour trafficking are less noticed and reported than sex trafficking. The report also shows that although many Member States have executed the United Nations Protocol against Trafficking in Persons, which was put into effect in 2003 over the past few years, some countries still need more legal instruments and political determination. Although men are involved in over 90% of crimes of most countries in the world, the data collected from 46 countries indicates that it is women who play a key part in the human trafficking network. Moreover, most trafficking is in the same country or region, and offenders often have the same nationality as their victims. Reacting to this global epidemic, most countries have provided legislation to minimise the effects of the crime, shown by the decrease in the number of countries that do not have anti-trafficking laws (65% in 2003, and 20% in 2008).

The importance of this report is to partly demonstrate forces that are involved in modern slave markets and the scope of the trafficking situation. As a result, it is vital for nations to address and have control over this problem by implementing requisite legislation. The report is provided by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, which