ICAT network examines findings of 2020 UNODC Global Report on Trafficking in Persons

Vienna, 11 March - Over 30 expert members from the Inter-Agency Coordination Group Against Trafficking in Persons (ICAT) consulted virtually to discuss findings from the newly released 2020 UNODC Global Report on Trafficking in Persons.

Fifth in its kind, the UNODC Global Report on Trafficking in Persons constitutes a cornerstone resource for building the evidence base on this crime, widely used by law and policy-makers worldwide.

This edition analyses official data from 148 countries for the period 2016-2019, and provides an overview of current trends and patterns of trafficking in persons at global, regional and national levels.

The online consultation, organized by the ICAT Secretariat in cooperation with UNODC’s Research and Trend Analysis Branch served as a starting point for reflection on how this data can be mainstreamed across UN system programming and inform ICAT’s joint policy development.

In addition to providing comprehensive quantitative data on trafficking, the report examines the socioeconomic conditions conducive to recruitment and exploitation of victims, including in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Experts examined data linking extreme poverty, social norms and familial backgrounds in the context of child trafficking and the correlation between unemployment and trafficking for forced labour.

The importance of gender disaggregated data was appreciated as critical to inform tailored anti-trafficking responses, as well as the Report’s insights on cybercrime and technology-facilitated crime.

For more information on the 2020 Report, visit UNODC’s website.

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