UN report says trafficking in children is on the rise

According to the report, two out of three child victims are girls, and together with women, they account for 70 per cent of overall trafficking victims worldwide.

One in three known victims of human trafficking is a child, and girls and women are particularly targeted and forced into "modern slavery", according to the 2014 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, released on Monday by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Vienna.

The situation is particularly bad for girls and women. According to the report, two out of three child victims are girls, and together with women, they account for 70 per cent of overall trafficking victims worldwide.

In some regions – such as Africa and the Middle East – child trafficking is a major concern, with children constituting 62 per cent of victims.

Trafficking for forced labour – including in the manufacturing and construction sectors, domestic work and textile production – has also increased steadily in the past five years. About 35 per cent of the detected victims of trafficking for forced labour are female.

No country is immune – there are at least 152 countries of origin and 124 countries of destination affected by trafficking in persons, and over 510 trafficking routes criss-crossing the world.

The report found that most trafficking flows are interregional, and more than 6 out of 10 victims have been trafficked across at least one national border. The vast majority of convicted traffickers – 72 per cent – are male and citizens of the country in which they operate.

The report also highlighted that delivering justice remains a serious problem. 40 per cent of countries recorded few or no convictions, and over the past 10 years there has been no discernible increase in the global criminal justice response to this crime, leaving a significant portion of the population vulnerable to offenders.