La Strada Documentation Center

Trafficking in Persons. Global Patterns

Document number
1090
Date
2006
Title
Trafficking in Persons. Global Patterns
Author/publisher
UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), United Nations
Availability
View/save PDF version of this document
Document type(s)
Research/Study/Analysis,
Keywords
Definition (of trafficking); Palermo protocol; Africa; Asia; Europe; Commonwealth of Independent States; Americas; Oceania; Trafficking Database; Data collection
Summary
Only by understanding its depth, breadth and scope can we design policies to fight trafficking. This understanding still eludes us: efforts to counter trafficking have so far been uncoordinated and inefficient. This Report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime is our first attempt to close the knowledge gap. It uses information from open sources, both private and public, to map an impressionistic journey into global patterns of trafficking in persons. Complaining that accurate statistics are difficult to come by may sound like an excuse. But it is a fact, which is due only in part to the hidden nature of the crime. The lack of systematic reporting by authorities is the real problem. Information is available on certain countries, but worldwide comparative analysis - the kind of assessment the United Nations excels in - has so far not been possible. This Report was designed to accomplish several things, all relevant in the general effort to overcome the information gap.
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