Almost 50 million people in the world are victims of various forms of modern slavery. Of these, over 12 million are minors, forced mainly into slave labor – which includes sexual exploitation, work, and illegal activities, with forced marriages a growing trend.
These data are reported in the XIV report Little Invisible Slaves Dossier by Save the Children, released on the International Day against Human Trafficking, observed on July 30.
What makes identifying and supporting victims of trafficking and exploitation difficult, Save the Children explained, is the marginalization and isolation to which criminal networks or individual traffickers and exploiters force them.
Trafficking in persons and human migration intersect. Migrants find themselves in particularly vulnerable situations because they are at risk from various forms of exploitation in the countries of transit and arrival.
