Countering Trafficking in Persons

Trafficking in Persons involves the use of deception, threat, coercion or abduction to recruit, transport, harbour and ultimately receive and hold people, with the aim of exploiting them for profit—through forced labour, forced marriage, sexual exploitation or organ removal.

The Challenge

This $150 billion a year global industry can take place both within, and across borders, and men, women and children of all ages and from all backgrounds and nationalities can become victims of this crime.

The Asia-Pacific region has witnessed an expansion in the incidence and scope of trafficking in persons and modern slavery following the Covid-19 pandemic. Alongside the largest share of women and children trafficked globally for sexual exploitation, considerable numbers of men and women are trafficked for forced labour and related exploitation, with forced marriage a real concern for this region.

An expansion of social media use and time spent online has triggered a dramatic increase in tech-facilitated trafficking, with technology in use at every stage of trafficking—from recruitment to laundering the illicit proceeds of this criminal activity. Both global and domestic dimensions of trafficking are key issues for this region, with victims found across the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Europe, and North America.

Countering Trafficking in Persons Programme Objectives:

To provide capacity-building and technical support to Member States to strengthen capacity to identify and protect victims of trafficking and exploitation, using a trauma and victim-centred approach.
To promote cooperation among an extended network of policy makers, law enforcement, legal and protection practitioners for addressing trafficking in persons and modern slavery, in compliance with international, regional and national legal standards and with the commitments undertaken by the Bali Process.
To work with Bali Process Member States to promote a victim-centered and trauma-informed approach through capacity building and training activities and policy dialogue.
To design activities with the awareness that women, men, girls and boys are at risk of different methods of recruitment and exploitation. The RSO will support Bali Process Member States to embed a gender-sensitive approach when working to address activities relating to trafficking in persons.

New practitioner guide series aim to strengthen and standardise protection and support for victims of trafficking

The Regional Support Office of the Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons, and Related Transnational Crime (RSO), together with the NEXUS Institute, is launching a new Practitioner Guide series.

02 August 2023

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