Personal de UNODC y contrapartes en evento deportivo en conmemoración por el Día contra la Trata de Personas 2023.

Trafficking in Persons and the Illicit Trafficking of Migrants

Central America and the Caribbean is a dynamic region with constant movement of people, goods, and services. Its geographic location as a territory connecting the Americas through land, air, and maritime routes has enabled organized crime to exploit these conditions for economic gain through human trafficking and control of illicit migrant trafficking routes.

Personal de UNODC y otros funiconarios durante una misión en la estación temporal de migrantes en Darién.

Participantes de diversos países en taller ofrecido por UNODC.

The countries in the region have national laws and institutions established for the prevention, identification, assistance, and prosecution of these crimes. However, the realities and conditions of vulnerability and rights violations affecting certain social groups in the region, including migrants transiting through the Central American isthmus and the Caribbean, highlight the need for a coordinated response to these two crimes—human trafficking and migrant smuggling. This response must be developed jointly by the countries of Central America and the Caribbean, and through international cooperation with countries outside the region, including those of origin, transit, and destination.

In this context, ROPAN, in coordination with the Global Programme on Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants, other UN System agencies, and the UNODC offices in North and South America, leads national and subregional programs in Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Aruba, Trinidad and Tobago.
This has allowed for increased visibility of the situation regarding human trafficking and migrant smuggling in the region through prevention and awareness actions in capitals and border areas, improved the capacity of authorities, particularly those responsible for justice and rights protection, through specialized training and the development of management tools, strengthened data-driven decision-making through reports, studies, and analytical documents, and advanced information exchange and joint response through international criminal cooperation in specific cases.
This has been made possible through technical teams of national officials in the countries where the programs are implemented and the design of actions based on UNODC’s mandate as the Secretariat of the Conference of the States Parties to the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its expertise in developing tools, which can be consulted below:

Dos niños participan de caminata en conmemoración por el Día contra la Trata de Personas 2023 en Panamá.

United Nations

UNODC ROPAN

Trafficking in Persons and the Illicit Trafficking of Migrants

THE CHALLENGE

WHAT WE DO

CAMPAIGN

Publications and Resources