10 million people around the globe work as bonded labour: UN

The global economic crisis could lead to a greater number of people becoming vulnerable to trafficking,especially for labour-related forms of exploitation,United Nations Office of Drug and Crime (UNODC) warned.

Besides,financial difficulties encountered by many businesses,including “internationals”,could very well induce them to use cheap sources of labour,including those stemming from modern slavery,it said.

The number of convictions for human trafficking is increasing only in a handful of the countries. In most States,conviction rates rarely exceed 1.5 per 100,000 people which is below even the level normally recorded for rare crimes (like kidnapping in Western Europe),and proportionately much lower than the estimated number of victims.

The report,which gives first ever assessment of the people trafficked and action being taken by the governments,says the most common form of human trafficking is sexual exploitation,which makes up 79 per cent of the cases.

The victims of sexual exploitation are predominantly women and girls. Surprisingly,in 30 percent of the countries which provided information on the gender of traffickers,women make up the largest proportion of perpetrators of the crime.

Indeed,female offenders have a more prominent role in trafficking in persons than in any other crime. In Eastern Europe and Central Asia,females account for more than 60 per cent of convictions for trafficking in persons,it added.

The second most common form of human trafficking is forced labor,which makes up 18 per cent of the cases. Forced labor is less frequently detected and reported than trafficking for sexual exploitation. One reason is that sexual exploitation is highly visible in cities or along highways while forced labor is hidden,it says.

Worldwide,almost 20 per cent of all trafficking victims are children. However,in some parts of Africa and the Mekong region,children make up to 100 per cent of the cases.