How are women, girls, and children disproportionately affected by trafficking?

All children, regardless of gender identity or expression, should be protected, and have equal access to?support services,?care, and?equal rights.?Trafficking denies them that right.?

Human trafficking is defined as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of people through force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them for profit [1].?People may be trafficked for various purposes, such as forced labour, sexual exploitation, criminal activity, and forced marriage.

No type of trafficking is more serious or harmful than another – they all disempower the people who are subjected to it, and can leave devastating physiological and psychological impacts.

What is the impact of human trafficking on women and girls???

As explained in the?ECPAT article?on the role of gender norms and how they affect child protection, human trafficking disproportionately affects women, girls, and children! Understanding that this complex issue is at the intersection of different forms of discrimination, such as poor economic conditions, race, and gender norms, continues to have a significant impact on the dynamics behind child trafficking.??

Trafficking for sexual exploitation is one of the most lucrative criminal enterprises in the world, estimated to be worth almost $99 billion a year [2]. According to the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons conducted by UNODC in 2020, globally, one in every three victims of human trafficking is a child, mainly girls [3]. Female victims continue to be the primary targets of human and child trafficking [4] [5]:??

“Women and girls represent 72 per cent of all trafficking victims globally, and 77 per cent of detected female victims are trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation.”?

?sa Regnér, UN Women Deputy Executive Director?[6]?

A 2020 study conducted in Bangladesh [7] revealed how?gendered vulnerabilities in relation to rigid social norms increased the possibility of human trafficking, and consequently, child trafficking. This means that certain groups of people, such as women, girls, and children, are more vulnerable to these harmful crimes. Gender norms rooted in stereotypical social roles, power imbalances, religious beliefs, and limited access to justice, can lead to the normalisation of harmful forms of physical possession, such as child sexual exploitation and child trafficking for sexual purposes.?Learn more about the sale and trafficking of children for sexual purposes here.?

Our recent study of the?sexual exploitation of children in Peru?found that at least 245 cases out of 394 cases of human trafficking reported to the police in Peru were related to sexual exploitation, and the most affected were women and girls.?

To address the increasing number?of women and girls that are trafficked every year, the United Nations adopted a specific?Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially of Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime back in 2000 [8].?However, the UNODC 2020 report highlighted an urgent need for more preventive and responsive measures, as the number of children who are trafficked has tripled over the past 15 years [9]. Over the years, the rising adoption of technological devices and the globalisation of movements have allowed people and children to easily move between countries, thus making it easier for perpetrators to commit human and child trafficking crimes.?

“Human trafficking is one of the most serious human rights violations, often targeting people and children from marginalised communities, regardless of age, ethnicity or gender identity. ECPAT strongly condemns this crime, and calls for governments to implement stronger legislation that aims to prevent trafficking, and provide better support for child victims.”?

Gabriela Kühn

ECPAT International – Head of Programme: Child Protection in Travel and Tourism?

The gender dimension of child trafficking affects boys too!

Gender norms play a?key?role in child trafficking and?most of the?resources?and research around child trafficking?are?focused on girls. While it is extremely important to?acknowledge?that the numbers?clearly?show that girls are?more likely to be?affected by child trafficking, it is also true that?trafficking?remains a?challenging?issue to report on and?monitor?as?a lot of?data is lost or unavailable.?It is not hard to imagine that?child trafficking,?in relation to boys?and young men,?is more difficult to detect.?

Children are sold for different reasons and their gender is closely related to the type of trafficking they are victims of.?For example,?girls?are?mostly?trafficked?for commercial sexual exploitation and also to?act as domestic servants,?while?boys are usually trafficked for manual labour and sexual purposes.?

The global discourse surrounding human trafficking often cites boys being trafficked for the purpose of forced labour only. While it is true that boys are more vulnerable to forced labour trafficking, it is important to note that they may also be victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation purposes.?Research shows that the?countries where many children are victims of trafficking are also the countries where child labour is more prevalent.?UNODC’s 2020 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons found that out of 2,065 boy victims of trafficking detected in 106 countries, 23% (around 475 boys) were identified as victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation [3].??

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