Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2022

This report was published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in April 2023. It is the seventh edition of UNODC’s biennial Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, the first edition of which was published in 2009. The UNODC defines human trafficking as the “recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of people through force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them for profit.” The report uses data on trafficking recorded from 2017 to 2020 from 141 countries around the world. It covers the years of the covid-19 pandemic and analyses trends, patterns and effects emerging through the pandemic on human trafficking and counter trafficking. The report outlines profiles of victims of trafficking across sex, age, nationality, types of exploitation and also profiles of traffickers. The report makes recommendations for policy implementation and formulation of legislations according to the specific drawbacks identified in member states. The report also gives an insight into the effect of climate disasters and political conflicts in various regions on trafficking flows. This 186-page document is divided into two chapters: ‘Global Overview’ (Chapter 1); ‘Regional Overviews’ (Chapter 2).