A disturbing upward trend

U.N. Report Shows an Increase in Trafficking of Children

One in three human trafficking victims is a child, most victims are female, and traffickers operate with wide impunity, the United Nations said Monday in a report on modern-day slavery.

The 2014 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, produced by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, also found that the proportion of children among victims appeared to be rising. Its first report, in 2012, said the proportion had been closer to one in four.

In some regions, like Africa and the Middle East, the new report said, two out of three victims are children.

There is a gender issue here, as:

Other statistics in the report showed that girls account for two out of every three child victims, and that together with adult women, account for 70 percent of all trafficking victims.

And the scope is wide:

The report found that trafficking was a problem all over the world, with at least 152 countries of origin and 124 countries of destination. More than 6 in 10 victims have been transported across at least one national border, it said.

We need to find a way to make this less profitable, find the perpetrators, and free those enslaved. It's so pervasive and only recently has it been really studied or even talked about. Even here in Lexington, a couple were arrested for using slave-labour in their stores. I'm not sure how that case is playing out, but the point is, this is all over the place, including in our own backyard. We need to take notice, and support groups that are trying to make a difference at preventing, freeing, and rehabilitating these people.