NGO Committee On Trafficking in Persons Statement on World Day Against Trafficking

Over the past several months, the COVID-19 pandemic has created new challenges and exacerbated many existing ones for vulnerable communities. As societies have adjusted to the “new normal” as have those who seek to exploit individuals adjusted their tactics. In recognition of World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, the United Nations NGO Committee on Trafficking in Persons, on which ECPAT-USA is represented by a Board member, issued the following statement:

ON WORLD DAY AGAINST TRAFFICKING 2020 THE NGO COMMITTEE ON TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS DEPLORES INCREASED VULNERABILITIES CAUSED BY THE WORLDWIDE DISRUPTIONS OF COVID-19

With the primary attention of countries and communities everywhere focused on containing the health and economic crises of the COVID pandemic, the peril of 3.8 million adults and 1 million children annually trafficked for sexual or labor exploitation has increased alarmingly.

This dire situation also, once again, highlights the social and economic disparities which are root causes of human trafficking and disproportionately impact marginalized populations, including women. Some of many examples-

• Increased poverty exacerbated by loss of employment or loss of family income through death has resulted in large numbers of adults and children forced into survival work or servitude.

• Displaced persons, refugees, undocumented migrants, informal and domestic workers, whose legal status is often precarious, are particularly vulnerable to increased exploitation.

• Child marriage, which often occurs to mitigate the economic burden of their desperate families, results the end of a girl’s education, and often in a lifetime of violence and abuse.

During this time of multiple crises, criminals engaging in the lucrative business of trafficking have greatly extended their outreach. Children, who may be less supervised with school closures (with their predators often having more time at homes well) have been the center of extensive targeting through communications technology. At the same time, women and girls who had previously been lured into prostitution with promises of better futures have been forced out of their housing, deported and left homeless and in poverty because customers have evaporated in the COVID scare.

By contrast, COVID restrictions to control the pandemic have resulted in reducing the capacity of both governments and NGOs to identify, support, counsel and seek justice for victims of trafficking. To address this calamity, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime urgently recommends “developing rapid assessment tools for countries to evaluate the impact of the pandemic on essential services for victims as well as on law enforcement and justice capacities” as a first step.

If the United Nations is to continue its 75 year reputation as the “moral compass” for the world, it must meet the challenge of ensuring all victims of trafficking all the basic human rights which are enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Get the latest on the issue and our work to protect children across the country from exploitation by signing up for our newsletter here.