The COVID-19 pandemic changed the characteristics of trafficking, pushing it further underground and potentially increasing the dangers to victims by making the crime less likely to come to the attention of the authorities

The displacement and socio-economic inequalities triggered by pandemic and lockdowns impacted millions of people worldwide, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation by traffickers, the United Nations said on the World Day against Trafficking in Persons observed on July 30.

The COVID-19 pandemic, the WHO added, changed the characteristics of trafficking, pushing it further underground and potentially increasing the dangers to victims by making the crime less likely to come to the attention of the authorities.

In its Global Report on Trafficking in persons released early this year, the UN said that in 2020, the number of victims detected globally decreased by 11 percent compared to 2019.

“This shift takes place after a steady increase in the number of victims detected globally. This decline in the detection of trafficking victims is most evident in low- and medium-income countries. The most significant drops in detection were recorded in trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation (down by 24 percent) and in cross-border trafficking (down by 21 percent). For the first time since UNODC started collecting data on trafficking in persons, detection of trafficking for forced labor in 2020 was equal to that of trafficking for sexual exploitation, at just under 40 percent each,” the UN said.

In 2020, along with the drastically fewer victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation identified by authorities, the share of women as detected victims of all forms of trafficking continued to fall. The number of victims trafficked for criminal activity detected continued to rise, though. And while there is a general decline in detected cross-border trafficking, victims from Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia continued to be increasingly detected throughout the rest of the world.

“After a decade of consistent increases, in 2020, the detection of trafficking for sexual exploitation fell by some 24 percent, decreasing in one year the increase recorded in the previous five. Research worldwide suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic has either resulted in a reduction of trafficking for sexual exploitation or in a reduction of the capacity to detect this form of crime. One hypothesis behind the reduced detection of victims facing sexual exploitation is that lockdown measures pushed exploitation into less visible locations,” the report said.

“Some countries did report victims of domestic trafficking for sexual exploitation becoming ‘less visible,’ going ‘unnoticed’ by authorities,” the report added.

Female victims (women and girls) account for 60 percent of the total number of detected victims in 2020. The marked reduction in the detection of sexual exploitation drives the reduction in the number of female victims detected per 100,000 population (a decline of 11 percent in one year). Despite this drop, women and girls remain more detected as victims of trafficking than men and boys. But a longer historical trend towards identifying more male victims seems to have accelerated in 2020.

In its message on July 30, “Reach every victim of trafficking, leave no one behind,” the UN said those who lack legal status, live in poverty, have limited access to education, healthcare, or decent work, face discrimination, violence, or abuse, or come from marginalized communities, are often the primary targets of traffickers.

The UN said globally, national responses, particularly in developing states, appear to be deteriorating. Detection rates fell by 11 percent in 2020, and convictions plummeted by 27 percent, illustrating a worldwide slowdown in the criminal justice response to trafficking.

In fact, 41 percent of victims who manage to escape their ordeal reach out to the authorities on their own initiative – another clear sign that anti-trafficking responses are falling short.

“The majority of detected victims are women and children, many of whom suffer brutal violence, forced labor, and horrific sexual exploitation and abuse. Yet traffickers continue to operate with impunity. Their crimes are not receiving nearly enough attention. This must change,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said.

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