Short answers, pulled from the story.
Human trafficking is defined as recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving individuals through force, fraud, or coercion for exploitation. This practice includes forced labor, sexual slavery, and other forms of commercial sexual exploitation without consent.
The U.S. Department of State estimated that two million children are exploited by the global commercial sex trade in 2024. Approximately thirty-eight percent of all detected victims globally between 2020 and 2023 were children according to the UN Global Report on Trafficking in Persons.
Sexual exploitation generates sixty-six percent of global earnings even though it accounts for only nineteen percent of victims. Forced labour has surpassed sexual exploitation at thirty-six percent to become the most common form of trafficking cases.
The United Nations designated World Day against Trafficking in Persons on the 30th of July 2013 to raise global awareness levels. The Blue Heart Campaign Against Human Trafficking was officially launched on the 6th of March 2009 by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
Figures used in human trafficking estimates rarely have identifiable sources or transparent methodologies behind them according to former Wall Street Journal columnist Carl Bialik. Many experts argue it is impossible to produce reliable statistics on phenomena happening within shadow economies.