Trafficking in Persons - Most Are Women &
Girls - World Day Against –
Most
International Trafficking Victims Cross at Official Border Points
UN Secretary-General António Guterreshttps://www.iom.int/news/iom-most-victims-trafficked-internationally-cross-official-border-points
Most Victims
Trafficked Internationally Cross Official Border Points – Gender - IOM
07/30/18 - Geneva – On
the occasion of World Day against Trafficking in Persons (30/07), new data
released by IOM, the UN Migration Agency, show that in the last ten years,
almost 80 per cent of journeys undertaken by victims trafficked internationally
cross through official border points, such as airports and land border control
points.
Trafficking in
persons is often seen as an underground activity, linked to irregular
migration, and hidden from the authorities and the general public. IOM
case data depict a different story, indicating that most trafficking is in fact
happening through official border points. This highlights the crucial role that
border agencies and service providers at border points can play to identify
potential victims and refer them for protection and assistance.
Women are more
likely to be trafficked through an official border point than men (84 per cent
of cases, versus 73 per cent for men). Adults are also more likely to be
trafficked across official border points than children (80 per cent of cases,
versus 56 per cent for children).
Victims are
exploited at some point during their journey in two thirds of cases, meaning
that they are likely to cross official borders having already experienced some
form of exploitation, while one third may still be unaware that they are being
trafficked and may believe they are taking up new opportunities abroad that
have been promised to them.
Khadija, a
fourteen-year-old girl, was trafficked through an official border point between
Uganda and Kenya in 2015. Without her knowledge, her father had arranged to
marry her off in Kenya, and sent her to Kenya with a man she didn’t know. When
Khadija and the man reached the border between Uganda and Kenya, he took
her passport and told her he would help her clear immigration. He hid her under
the seat of the car until they were on their way to the Kenyan capital. Khadija
was transferred to members of her family who were arranging the marriage.
Luckily, Khadija was able to contact her embassy, who helped her with
IOM support.
Some
victims trafficked through official border points carry forged travel documents (9 per
cent of cases), while others do not have their own travel documents (23 per
cent of cases).
The figures
presented here are based on data from victims IOM assisted during the last ten
years, involving about 10,500 journey legs undertaken by nearly 8,000 victims.
The data are hosted on the Counter-Trafficking
Data Collaborative (CTDC),
which is the world’s first data portal to include human trafficking case data
contributed by multiple agencies. Launched in 2017, the CTDC currently includes
case records of over 80,000 trafficked persons from 171 countries who were
exploited in 170 countries.
The final draft
of the Global Compact on Migration for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration, adopted
by UN Member States on the 13 July 2018, calls for whole-of-government
approaches to enhancing border management cooperation on proper identification,
timely and efficient referral, as well as assistance and appropriate protection
of migrants in situations of vulnerability at or near international
borders, in compliance with international human rights law. It highlights the
need for improving screening measures and individual assessments at
borders and places of first arrival, by applying standardized operating
procedures developed in coordination with local authorities, National
Human Rights Institutions, international organizations and civil society.
IOM’s new data
echo this need and show that national governments should devise and operate
robust border management procedures that are sensitive to migrants’
vulnerabilities and protection needs, coupled with well-established systems to
ensure that migrants having suffered from violence, exploitation, and abuse are
identified and referred to relevant service providers in a timely manner.
Front-line
actors, including border management officials at air, sea and land
border-crossing points, can play an important role in facilitating the timely
identification of victims and potential victims of trafficking, as well as of
traffickers. There is a need to continue developing the capacity of these
actors to identify and refer victims of trafficking at an early stage upon
arrival, and to strengthen cooperation mechanisms at border points so that
victims who are identified upon arrival can be referred to service providers
for their protection and assistance.
It is also
important to continue providing training and awareness raising to service
providers at border points in departure and destination countries such as
airport staff, airline personnel, and railway personnel, and to develop
procedures for communication and reporting to local authorities. Leveraging
technology at border points could also contribute to improving data
collection which, in turn, can help with risk analysis and
smarter identification in real-time.
IOM’s
programming provides a unique source of primary data on human trafficking. The
organization maintains the largest database of victim case data in the world,
which contains case records for over 50,000 trafficked persons whom it has
assisted. This victim case data is used to inform policy and programming,
including for estimating prevalence and measuring the impact of
anti-trafficking interventions.
Regularly
updating policies and interventions based on new evidence is key to improving
counter-trafficking initiatives at border points. The new information
highlights the importance of leveraging operational data from direct assistance
activities to inform counter-trafficking policies and programmes.
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