The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) 2024 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons shows the number of victims identified in 2022 and beyond is 25-per-cent higher than pre-pandemic levels.

Because of the complex, well-funded and ruthlessly efficient nature of this transnational criminal enterprise — 162 different nationalities were trafficked to 128 countries of destination in 2022 per the report — it is nigh impossible to get an accurate figure regarding the number of worldwide victims annually.

The UN and the International Labor Organization (ILO) estimate that well over 50 million people are living in sexual bondage or experiencing modern slavery. The U.S. State Department’s figure is nearly 45 per cent less at 28 million victims.

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Data published by 156 countries regarding cases detected between 2019 and 2023 were analyzed as it helped provide a worldwide picture of sexual and labour exploitation trends, patterns and flows.

Over 1,000 court cases were also adjudicated between 2012 and 2023 to arm the report authors’ insights about the crime itself, its victims and perpetrators and how law enforcement probes human trafficking.

In an interview with The Catholic Register, Eva Rodriguez-Diaz, the migration, refugees and human trafficking awareness program manager at the Mary Ward Centre in Toronto, said she particularly took notice of the report revealing that nearly three-quarters of trafficking incidents are fueled by organized criminal syndicates.

“This report reinforces that traffickers are not isolated and working alone,” said Rodriguez-Diaz. “There is a big association between these criminal networks around the world. In the court cases analyzed, they found that 72 per cent of the (accused) were connected with global networks.”

In the section of the report outlining North America, the UNODC found that sex trafficking accounted for 69 per cent of instances in 2022 and that 75 per cent of the victims are trafficked domestically. It also notes “the cross-border flows detected in the region are mostly of relative short distances.”

One of the significant findings of this report related to Canada, the United States and Mexico is that in 2020, 72 per cent of sexual exploitation victims were women and 22 per cent were underage girls. The data from 2022 shows a shift toward younger females as girls accounted for 29 per cent of sex-trafficking victims compared to 63 per cent of adult women.

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Meanwhile, 49 per cent of detected victims of labour trafficking in North America are adult males compared to 30 per cent of adult females.

Throughout 2023 and 2024, the Mary Ward Centre has funded radio spots in Toronto, Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico and El Salvador to raise awareness about the state of modern slavery in Canada. These advertisements were devised to arm Latin Americans with information so they could protect themselves from being victimized if they came to Canada for seasonal work. The intent of the ads in Toronto, in part, is meant to educate the local populace so the public can disrupt labour exploitation if they observe any red flags.

Rodriguez-Diaz, who possesses over two decades of social work experience, expressed gratitude that the ILO and the UNODC are “paying special attention to the morality of labour trafficking over the past four years.” She also lauded the report for accurately depicting cross-border trafficking from Latin America into North America.

“The criminal networks are (smuggling) guns, drugs and people all together,” said Rodriguez-Diaz. “There are not separate (convoys) for guns, drugs and victims.”

Regarding cross-border crime, on Dec. 17, the federal government announced a $1.3-billion investment to counteract criminality flowing into Canada from the U.S. and vice versa. This funding is expected to help law enforcement agencies better detect and interrupt the fentanyl trade.

Money is also being earmarked to improve the real-time information sharing between Canadian and American border officials to disrupt organized crime groups orchestrating illegal crossings at hot spots such as Roxham Road in Quebec. The Government of Canada is also proposing to the incoming Trump administration the concept of a new North American Joint Strike Force to target transnational organized crime.

Rodriguez-Diaz said it is important both the Canadian and U.S. governments “have measures to support and protect victims.” At present, she said Canada “is not doing well” in this department. Instead of efficiently distinguishing between the criminals and victims arriving in caravans, she asserted that officials are “putting victims and criminals in the same sack.”

Additionally, Rodriguez-Diaz said it is important to be mindful of the root causes spurring such a high level of resettlement, which is a phenomenon preyed upon by traffickers.

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“We need Canada, the U.S. and other rich countries to recognize the responsibility they have when exploiting natural resources and mining in the Global South,” said Rodriguez-Diaz. “It (generates) poverty and also (causes) this migration of people. People are migrating from rural areas to cities and others from cities to other countries.”

See unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/glotip/2024/GLOTIP2024_BOOK.pdf to read the entire 2024 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons report.