Almost half of identified child trafficking cases begun with the involvement of a family member, the United Nations migration agency has revealed.
Statistics on human trafficking prevention efforts and identifying and protecting survivors –based on data released by The Counter-Trafficking Data Collaborative (CTDC), the world’s first human trafficking data portal to include such data contributed by multiple agencies – revealed that family involvement is up to four times higher than in cases of adult trafficking.
“Our Organization is taking a leading role in increasing the access to this critical information in order to strengthen counter-trafficking interventions,” Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) William Lacy Swing said.
According to new data at the agency’s disposal, children are most commonly trafficked into forced sexual exploitation, begging and domestic work. It also revealed that children are most likely to be coerced into trafficking through physical, sexual and psychological abuse, suggesting the need for more prevention efforts specifically targeting children and their families.
Additionally, the agency said that boys are more likely to be recruited by a family member than girls.
Meanwhile, adults are more likely to be controlled by having their documents confiscated or their irregular status in a foreign country exploited.
Initiated by IOM, in partnership with non-governmental organization (NGO) Polaris, the new CTDC data portal combats and prevents modern-day slavery by hosting the world’s largest open-access, multi-stakeholder repository of human trafficking data.
The informantion comes on the back of a damning revelation that showed slave trade was active in Libya.
A CNN report last week showed a slave auction, with images later emerging of stranded migrants being tortured.
The revelation shocked the world, and is a key area of focus at the EU-Africa Business forum in Cote d’Ivoire.
