Victims of sexual and labour exploitation

Globally: Today, 27 million people are enslaved in various forms of sexual and labour exploitation, more than at the height of the transatlantic slave trade.

UNICEF reports that across the world, there are over one million children entering the sex trade every year and that approximately 30 million children have lost their childhood through sexual exploitation over the past 30 years. The U.S. Department of State estimates that about 600,000 to 800,000 people—mostly women and children—are trafficked across national borders annually. [Note: This estimate does not include those trafficked within national borders.]

Eleven countries score very high as countries of origin for trafficking victims. The countries are Belarus, the Republic of Moldova, the Russian Federation and Ukraine (Commonwealth of Independent States), Albania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Romania, China, Thailand, and Nigeria. (UNODC, 2006)

India: More than 2.3 million girls and women were believed to be in the sex industry, and experts believed that more than 200,000 persons were trafficked into, within, or through the country annually. There were approximately three million trafficking victims in the country, and two thousand rescues a year. Women’s rights organizations and NGOs estimated that more than 12,000 and perhaps as many as

50,000 women and children were trafficked into the country annually from neighboring states for commercial sexual exploitation. (U.S. State Department)