The United Nations General Assembly in its Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons, which covers 141 countries provides an overview of patterns and flows of trafficking in persons at global, regional, and national levels, based on trafficking cases detected between 2017 and 2021.
The Report draws upon the largest existing dataset on trafficking in persons, with information on the more than 450,000 victims and 300,000 (suspected) offenders detected worldwide between 2003 and 2021 while noting the role of organised crime groups as the engine behind long-distance trafficking.
For the first time, the number of victims detected globally decreased by 11%. This reduction is largely driven by low- and medium to low-income countries and due to lower institutional capacity to detect victims, fewer opportunities for traffickers to operate (taking into consideration the COVID-19 context), and some trafficking forms; moving to more hidden locations less likely to be detected. Covid-19 had an important impact on trafficking flows. In Sub-Saharan Africa, border closures and travel restrictions led to a 36% drop in cross-border trafficking victims detected between 2019 and 2020. However, detected domestic trafficking victims increased by 24% over the same period around the continent.
In yesterday’s edition of The Point, we published a story in which the Executive Director of the National Agency Against Trafficking in Persons (NAATIP), Isatou Dabo affirmed that human trafficking is a deplorable crime that inflicts immeasurable pain and suffering upon its victims.
She made this disclosure as The Gambia on Monday joined the rest of the globe to commemorate the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons and the launch of the Blue Heart Campaign at a colorful ceremony held at Ocean Bay, Cape Point, Bakau.
Trafficking in persons is a grave human right violation. Every year, thousands of men and women and even children fall into the hands of traffickers.
In this day and age, there is no country that is immune from the scourge of this growing human right violation.
What is even annoying is that most of the time, victims are promised of better working conditions abroad only to find themselves in a trap they find difficult to escape.
The well–coordinated crime is managed by mostly people of high caliber taking advantage of vulnerable poor families. On a daily basis, the phenomenon is growing at an alarming rate.
The crime is such that it requires all hands on deck to combat it. However, The Gambia in the recent past has secured conviction for two perpetrators and sentenced to hefty fines. Until then, the growing phenomenon will continue to thrive at the expense of the poor and vulnerable. Let’s act now and make this world better for all of us. Remember that no effort is small and together we can combat this menace on the face of the earth.