The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has published findings showing that sexual exploitation and forced labor are the most common forms of human trafficking in the world. The report (see PDF), entitled the “Global Report on Trafficking in Persons,” found that sexual exploitation makes up 79 percent of human trafficking cases, while forced labor makes up 18 percent.
Statistics show that 66 percent of trafficked persons are women and 13 percent are girls. The report also states “women make up a larger share of those convicted for human trafficking offences than for most other forms of crime” in Europe and Central Asia.
Antonia Maria Costa, Head of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, told CNN that in certain regions “women trafficking women is the norm it is shocking that former victims become traffickers. We need to understand the psychological, financial and coercive reasons why women recruit other women into slavery.”
