July 28, 2020

Risk of human trafficking and exploitation rises during the pandemic

topic:	Human Trafficking
located:	Brazil
editor:	Ellen Nemitz

Coronavirus has stopped humanity for a while, locking people inside homes and cancelling travel plans. As a result, the unusual situation of closed borders around the world might be an extra boost to human trafficking and exploitation, as the United Nations warns.

A new report from the United Nations Office On Drugs and Crime (UNODC) shows that with travel restrictions, less law enforcement and low public and social services supply, victims of this kind of crime have less chance to flee and find help, or even go back home if rescued.

Although the reasons for trafficking differ (sexual exploitation and slavery, forced marriage, forced labour and begging, organ removal and recruitment of children into armed groups are some listed by the United Nations), the opportunity to exploiters may come from falling income due to economic crises. “This means traffickers may become more active and prey on people who are even more vulnerable than before because they have lost their source of income due to measures of controlling the virus,” said Ilias Chatzis, chief of UNODC on the human trafficking section on the United Nations website.

The recession derived from the COVID-19 crisis makes people more prone to accept help from smugglers, especially if they come from an already unequal economy. "It has been documented that traffickers recruit victims by inducing them to contract a debt to pay for a migration journey or recruitment fees, with the promise of a better life abroad. At the destination, victims are exploited to pay back this debt, and traffickers take advantage of people’s financial or security vulnerabilities,” explains the UN report. "The intensification of measures to limit cross-border travel and immigration in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 will likely increase the demand for, and the difficulty of providing smuggling services, making them more expensive and risky and thereby ultimately making more people vulnerable to human trafficking, as well as to other abuse.”

In Brazil, for example, the crisis has given exploiters a chance to pay just some cents to immigrants to make a face mask. Sometimes, the already little money never comes, and the expenses of electricity are carried on the workers. The Assessor for Gender of the Center for Immigrant and Refugee Woman, Soledad Requena, summarises the situation: “The pandemic made precarious what was already precarious,” Requena said, in reference to the textile industry in particular.

Regarding the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons (July 30), Ilias Chatzis recommended that governments strengthen efforts against human trafficking and finalised that “human trafficking is the result of the failure of our societies and economies to protect the most vulnerable. They should not be additionally ‘punished’ during times of crisis.”

People can also take part in the 2020 UN campaign against human trafficking by highlighting the work of first responders in each country – such as Betty Pedraza Lozano from Colombia, and Mauricio Fagundes from Brazil. Also, it is useful to use hashtags #EndHumanTrafficking and #HumanTraficking on social media and donate to the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Human Trafficking.

Together, governments and society "must do more to bring criminals to justice, and help victims rebuild their lives”, as once stated Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres.

Image by Nino Carè