July 30 is World Day against Trafficking in Persons. Today is the day that we reflect on all of the victims of human trafficking throughout the world, including sex trafficking and labor trafficking.
Currently, there are more than 21 million trafficked people, worldwide. Most of these are women and children, with the amount of children trafficked estimated to be around one-third of this total number, including both boys and girls.
“Every country in the world is affected by human trafficking, whether as a country of origin, transit, or destination for victims,” the UN reports.
People are trafficked for sexual exploitation as well as for labor, with some being forced to work in sweatshops. FreedomFund reports, “Today’s slaves are trapped in fishing fleets and sweatshops, in mines and brothels, and in the fields and plantations of countries across the world. It can be called human trafficking, forced labour, slavery, or it can refer to the slavery-like practices that include debt bondage, forced or servile marriage, and the sale or exploitation of children.”
Many of those that are trafficked are refugees. With 25.4 million worldwide and many of them underage, they are a prime target for traffickers: “…as the UN ODC identifies, cross-border trafficking flows often resemble regular migration flows,” Forbes writes, “Migrants, and especially refugees, are extremely vulnerable…
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