Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2020

This report was published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on February 2, 2021. It is the fifth edition of UNODC’s biennial Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, the first edition of which was published in 2012. 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 gathered between 2016 and 2018 from 148 countries to assess the extent of trafficking in persons and the various measures adopted to counter such trafficking. It outlines the diverse profiles of victims of trafficking across sex, age, and country of origin, lists the types of exploitation practised and the kinds of offenders involved in trafficking. The report also highlights the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on human trafficking. Additionally, it suggests developments in policy formation and implementation for effective curbing of global trafficking in persons. The 176-page report consists of six chapters: Global Overview (Chapter I); Socio-economic factors and risks of Covid-19 recession (Chapter II); Children; Easy to target (Chapter III); Trafficking for forced labour; the economy of coercion (Chapter IV); Traffickers use of the Internet; digital hunting fields (Chapter V), and Regional Overviews (Chapter VI).