“When rescued victims are recovering from their ordeal, they often need regular assistance as part of the rehabilitation and reintegration process. With borders closed, many rescued trafficking victims have been forced to remain for months in shelters in the countries where they had been exploited instead of returning home.Įssential services that provide the support and protection victims rely on were reduced or even halted. No escapeĭue to lockdowns and limitations on anti-trafficking services, victims had even less chance of escaping from their traffickers. Children are being trafficked for sexual exploitation, forced marriage, forced begging and for forced criminality,” says Mr. “Experts who contributed to our study reported on their concerns about an increase in child trafficking. The study found that children are being increasingly targeted by traffickers who are using social media and other online platforms to recruit new victims and profiting from the increased demand for child sexual exploitation materials. “The pandemic has led to major job losses in many sectors and this creates opportunities for criminal networks to take advantage of desperate people,” he adds. “Traffickers prey on vulnerabilities and often lure their victims with fake promises of employment,” explains Ilias Chatzis, Chief of UNODC’s Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling Section, which developed the new study. The report shows that measures to curb the spread of the virus increased the risk of trafficking for people in vulnerable situations, exposed victims to further exploitation and limited access to essential services for survivors of this crime. It also provides recommendations on supporting frontline responders and victims and building resilience to future crises.” “This study is an important new resource for policy-makers and criminal justice practitioners, as it examines successful strategies to investigate and prosecute human trafficking in times of crisis. “The pandemic has increased vulnerabilities to trafficking in persons while making trafficking even harder to detect and leaving victims struggling to obtain help and access to justice,” said UNODC Executive Director, Ghada Waly.
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