Webinar 5: Estimating the prevalence of trafficking in persons

On 3 November 2023, the Inter-Agency Coordination Group against Trafficking in Persons (ICAT) held a webinar on the importance of prevalence estimations for policy purposes, introducing several initiatives that develop prevalence estimation tools. It was the fifth webinar of a six-part webinar series on trafficking in persons data and research that commenced in May 2023.

Ms. Giulia Serio, from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), discussed the concept of prevalence and the implications of using this type of evidence for policy purposes, specifically in the context of UNODC’s Global Trafficking in Persons Report. Mr. Gady Saiovici, representing the International Labour Organisation (ILO), presented the Standard Tools for Analysis of Trafficking in Persons (STATIP) project, and Dr. David Okech, from the Center on Human Trafficking Research and Outreach (CenHTRO) at the University of Georgia, introduced the work of the Prevalence Reduction Innovation Forum (PRIF). Ms. Clara Barrio, an independent consultant specialized in human trafficking, migration, and international development cooperation research, discussed the lessons learned from the implementation of the Multiple Systems Estimation methodology that is used to estimate the size of hard-to-reach or hidden populations in the Autonomous Community of Madrid. The webinar was moderated by Ms. Clara Pascual De Vargas from the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, who supports the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons.

The recording of the webinar is available on the ICAT YouTube channel.

Standard Tools for Analysis of Trafficking in Persons (STATIP)

The Standard Tools for Analysis of Trafficking in Persons (STATIP) is a project implemented by the International Labour Organization (ILO), International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and the University of Georgia to develop operational definitions, tools, methodologies, and uniform guidance for the measurement of trafficking in persons, forced labour and trafficking in persons for forced labour. It is funded by the United States Department of State.

The Prevalence Reduction Innovation Forum (PRIF)

The Prevalence and Reduction Innovation Forum (PRIF) is a collaboration between the U.S. Department of State Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, CenHTRO, and the Hard-to-Reach Population Methods Research Group (HPMRG) that intends to build a global community of researcher-learners in the science of human trafficking prevalence estimation, with a focus on documenting the robustness of various methodological approaches in human trafficking prevalence research.

Additional Sources:

Publication by Instituto Universitario de Estudios Sobre Migraciones and UNICEF on What Do We Know And How We Tell It – Data Culture in Human Trafficking (2022).  An extended version is available in Spanish.