Secretariat - Office of the Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings

Press information

L-r: Public Information Officer Caraigh McGregor and OSCE Special Representative for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings Maria Grazia Giammarinaro with Helen Kovarikova and Dan Duta of the Czech cluster of EUNIC, Prague, 2 July 2010. (OSCE)
L-r: Public Information Officer Caraigh McGregor and OSCE Special Representative for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings Maria Grazia Giammarinaro with Helen Kovarikova and Dan Duta of the Czech cluster of EUNIC, Prague, 2 July 2010. (OSCE)

The facts

An estimated 2.5 million people are in forced labour (including sexual exploitation) at any given time as a result of trafficking (ILO).

The victims

  • The majority of trafficking victims are between 18 and 24 years of age (IOM).
  • An estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked each year (UNICEF).
  • 43% of victims are used for forced commercial sexual exploitation, of whom 98 per cent are women and girls (ILO).
  • 32% of victims are used for forced economic exploitation, of whom 56 per cent are women and girls (ILO).
  • 25% of victims are used for a combination of forced exploitation and commercial sexual exploitation, or for undetermined reasons (ILO).
  • Many trafficking victims have at least middle-level education (IOM).

The traffickers

  • 52% of those recruiting victims are men and 42% are women (IOM).
  • In 54% of cases the recruiter was a stranger to the victim, in 46% of cases the recruiter was known to the victim (IOM).

Prosecutions

  • In 2007 there were only 5,682 prosecutions and 3,427 convictions for trafficking throughout the world (Source: US State Department Trafficking in Persons Report 2008).
  • This means that for every 800 people trafficked, only one person was convicted in 2007.