ACLJ Exposes the Horrors of Human Trafficking Before the UN To Spur Action

We recently wrote about our filing of 14 reports with the U.N. to highlight human rights violations. In addition to the six reports we filed detailing Christian persecution, we also submitted an additional six reports shedding light on the dark world of human trafficking. Our trafficking reports focused on the nations of Bulgaria, Panama, the Marshall Islands, Liberia, Jamaica, and Mongolia.

Human trafficking is a global problem that impacts every country. It is estimated that as many as 50 million people in the world are subjected to trafficking and exploitation. The most predominant form of human trafficking involves the trafficking of women and girls for purposes of sexual exploitation. This accounts for nearly 79% of all human trafficking cases around the world. Additionally, children are also heavily targeted by human traffickers and account for 20% of all human trafficking victims.

In our reports, we shed light on the problem of human trafficking in these nations and urge these governments to take steps to bring the perpetrators to justice and provide aid for the victims.

In Bulgaria, the sex trafficking of women and children is the predominant form of human trafficking.  Children are targeted and sexually exploited, not only within Bulgaria but throughout Europe, the Middle East, and the United States as well. Women, particularly those from poorer backgrounds, are promised good-paying jobs abroad but are then trapped in prostitution. Below is just one of the stories we highlighted in our report:

In March 2024, authorities in Bulgaria and Italy worked together to arrest twenty-two members of a primarily Bulgarian organized crime group (OCG). Members of the OCG targeted poor women in Bulgaria and promised these women good jobs in Italy. However, once the women arrived in Italy, their passports were taken from them, and they were forced into prostitution.

Panama largely serves as a destination country for human trafficking, meaning that traffickers traffic their victims from other countries and bring them to Panama to be exploited, according to the Global Organized Crime Index:

Data suggests that networks continue to operate through transnational schemes to bring migrants from Asia – mainly China – and Latin American countries, such as Venezuela, into Panama to be exploited.

But there are efforts to reign in traffickers. As we shared in our report:

On January 24, 2023, authorities conducted Operation Horizonte in Barú and Chiriqui. The operation resulted in the arrests of five individuals who were involved in sex trafficking and sexual abuse of minors.

Unfortunately, this is just one example of human trafficking in the country. Thankfully, since its last Universal Periodic Review (UPR), Panama has taken some steps to address human trafficking. This includes the enactment of Law 458, which focuses on providing care and social reintegration services in addition to creating a path for victims to receive compensation.

The Marshall Islands lack the resources needed to combat human trafficking effectively. Even though the country has a dedicated anti-trafficking unit, the government has failed to follow procedures to identify victims, which has led to authorities being unable to prosecute or convict any human trafficking case since 2011.

In Liberia, authorities identified 157 victims of human trafficking between April 2023 and March 2024. Many of the victims were individuals who were trafficked to the Middle East and forced into labor and domestic servitude. Since its last UPR, Liberia has strengthened its human trafficking law by increasing the minimum sentence for individuals convicted of human trafficking from one year to 20 years in prison. In April 2022, a human trafficker became the first person to be convicted under the new law. He was convicted of trafficking more than 10 Liberian women to Oman.

In Jamaica, there have only been eight human trafficking convictions since Jamaica’s Trafficking in Persons Act was enacted in 2007. To lure victims, women are often targeted by traffickers with false promises of good-paying jobs. This was the case for 10 women between 2023–2024. Tragically, all of these women were sexually exploited.

In Mongolia, the policies created to combat human trafficking have failed to materialize in providing aid for victims and combating human trafficking. In fact, one report found that its efforts to combat human trafficking amounted to little more than just meetings. Because of this, very few cases of human trafficking have been tried. In our report, we also told the story of five teenage girls who were trafficked:

Between September 2021 and February 2022, human traffickers trafficked five girls between the ages of fourteen and seventeen and forced them into sexual exploitation. The traffickers deceived the girls by offering them high-paying jobs and threatened to expose the girls’ compromising photos and videos.

Tragically, the examples we shared in our reports are just a few of the countless stories of people being trafficked and exploited every day. It is critical that countries work to ensure that human traffickers are brought to justice and that aid and assistance are available to the victims of this horrific crime. No one should be forced to live in these terrible conditions. We at the ACLJ will continue to shed light on the horrors of human trafficking.