Human trafficking is the acquisition of people by improper means such as force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them. It is a serious crime and a grave violation of human rights. Every year, thousands of men, women and children fall into the hands of traffickers, in their own countries and abroad. Victims are exploited in restaurants, farms, construction sites, brothels, factories, markets, mines and in people’s homes everywhere. As guardian of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the supplementing Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, UNODC is uniquely placed to undertake research of global scope on the crime of human trafficking. Currently, the main research output on this topic is the biennial Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, which is largely based on official, national data and analyses the patterns and trends of trafficking globally, regionally and at the country level. UNODC is also advancing the work on testing methodologies for estimating the total number of victims of trafficking in persons. Not only will this help uncover the real magnitude of the trafficking crime – which has so far been an elusive target for the trafficking research community - but it will also assist countries in measuring progress towards the attainment of three Sustainable Development Goals (goals 5, 8 and 16 all include targets on trafficking in persons).
In response to a mandate from the General Assembly, expressed in the 2010 United Nations Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons (A/RES/64/293), the UNODC Crime Research Section produces the biennial Global Report on Trafficking in Persons. Drawing primarily on official national information collected from countries all over the world, the Global Report presents data and analyses of human trafficking at the national, regional and international levels.
The UNODC Regional Report on the existing capacities to measure trafficking in persons in the Pacific Islands, include information collected on six Pacific countries. The Report assesses trafficking patterns and flows in the region and includes the results of prevalence studies carried in two of the State Islands. The Report is the result of a vast capacity building activities carried by UNODC over the course of three years to improve the national capacities of the Pacific Islands to record cases of trafficking in persons and to estimate the prevalence of the crime. (Methodology)
Migrant smuggling and human trafficking are highly lucrative, illicit businesses that treat people as commodities. The new UNODC study Tracking illicit financial flows linked to human trafficking and migrant smuggling sheds lights on these ‘illicit financial flows’, focussing on the cross-border movement of money and other value transfers associated with smuggling of migrants and trafficking of people from several countries in Asia and the Middle East to Europe.
The International Classification for administrative data on Trafficking in Persons - IC-TIP
At the national level, many countries struggle to harmonize disparate data collected from different stakeholders/organizations involved in the counter-trafficking response. It is essential that the various players involved at national and international levels collect closely matched data in terms of content and format.
The UN Statistical Commission has endorsed the International Classification for administrative data on Trafficking in Persons, the IC-TIP the standard international classification for administrative statistics on trafficking in persons. The IC-TiP and its implementation manual have been developed by UNODC and IOM with the aims to facilitate the production and dissemination of high-quality administrative data relating to various aspects of the crime of trafficking in persons.
The IC-TIP conceptualizes the characteristics of the individuals, events and organizations involved in a trafficking in persons case, with a view to producing easily aggregated raw data for a range of government uses and for sharing and reporting at the national, regional and international levels. The adoption of a common international classification to establish such a system and set of indicators is a first step towards solving problems of data comparability and will produce more reliable, robust global TIP statistics.
The IC-TIP is intended to enhance the quality of data collection and reporting by improving data harmonization and comparability based on standardized definitions. The new Classification build on the well-established International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes (ICCS). The UN Statistical Commission has appointed UNODC and IOM as custodians of the IC-TIP, ensuring its continued development and alignment with emerging trends and has endorsed the capacity-building initiatives developed in partnership with NSOs and other key stakeholders, as mandated by para 31, A/C.3/78/L.12/Rev.1.
The two custodian agencies have developed training modules and conduct trainings to support member states in the implementation of the IC-TiP.
For more information on the adoption and implementation of the IC-TIP contact the UNODC TiP/SoM team of the Research and Trends Analysis Branch at: unodc-globaltipreport@un.org
UNODC is the custodian agency of SDG indicator 16.2.2, number of trafficking victims per 100,000 population, by sex, age and form of exploitation. Countries with sound data collection capacity and a minimum number of reported victims may use Multiple Systems Estimation, a statistical technique that permits estimation of the ‘hidden figure’ on the basis of national data on trafficking victims from several different sources. UNODC has worked with four countries to carry out such estimates, namely the Netherlands (comprehensive report), Romania (summary report), Ireland (summary report) and Serbia (summary report). The Manual for monitoring human trafficking prevalence through Multiple Systems Estimation (English, French, Spanish) outlines the principles to apply this method, covers data protection issues and describes how estimates can provide useful insights on the profile of the victims and on the more severe forms of trafficking. Other countries may use specialized surveys methods to estimate trafficking prevalence using the network scale-up method (Methodology) or others.
For more information on the adoption and implementation of the MSE and surveys contact the UNODC TiP/SoM team of the Research and Trends Analysis Branch at: unodc-globaltipreport@un.org
