Webinar 1: Pioneering initiatives on leveraging trafficking data

On 1 June 2023, the Inter-Agency Coordination Group against Trafficking in Persons (ICAT) held its first instalment of a six-webinar series on trafficking in persons data collection and research.

Dr. Fabrizio Sarrica from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and Ms. Stine Laursen and Dr. Claire Galez-Davis from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) presented on key initiatives to establish international classification standards on trafficking in persons data. The experts highlighted the need for standards when gathering administrative data on trafficking in persons and what can be achieved with systematically collected data.

The recordings for the morning and afternoon sessions are available online.

International Classification Standards for Administrative Data on Trafficking in Persons (ICS-TIP)

Since 2019, IOM and UNODC have been developing the first international classification standards for administrative data on trafficking in persons (ICS-TIP) and its accompanying manual on the production, management, governance, sharing and analysis of these types of data. The working versions of the ICS-TIP and its manual have been used to train more than 150 government officials across Africa and Asia and has formed the basis for work with the African Union Institute for Statistics (STATAFRIC) to strengthen regional and continental reporting on trafficking in persons.

The ICS-TIP and guidance are currently undergoing final checks before they are made available online as working documents, prior to their submission to the UN Statistical Commission. The Inter-Agency Coordination Group against Trafficking in Persons (ICAT) will share the manual when finalized.  

Human Trafficking Case Data Standards (HTCDS)

The Human Trafficking Case Data Standard (HTCDS) is a global format and common approach to collecting and recording case data related to human trafficking. It is a toolkit with templates, hosted on GitHub, - an internet hosting service - for frontline agencies. The purpose is to enable organizations around the world to collect and potentially share information related to human trafficking cases in a consistent way. The HTCDS is intended to be a reference for organizations handling cases related to human trafficking, technology service providers and independent software vendors (ISVs). HTCDS is aligned with the ICS-TIP.