Dear JOhn,

A frontline worker worries the trafficking survivors he supports won’t be able to access counseling via mobile phone, which is the only way he can offer it right now. A parent wonders how to be vigilant against online sexual exploitation when her daughter is spending so many hours a day on the internet for school. A prosecutor questions whether the trafficker on trial will ever be held accountable, now that criminal trials in their country are postponed indefinitely.

Today is World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, and in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the issue of trafficking for sexual exploitation has become both more pressing and more complex than ever before. In light of this, we’re sharing what we’ve learned about what makes people vulnerable to sex trafficking, how the COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated the problem, and what can be done to prevent it, hold traffickers accountable, and support victims and survivors.

Layers of vulnerability can heighten trafficking risk

Young girls are particularly valuable to human traffickers because of increased demand for younger and younger girls, and because children are easier for traffickers to coerce and control. Women who lack access to resources, such as housing, land, property, and inheritance, are also at increased risk. Due to the additional levels of discrimination they face in their intersectional identities, people experiencing homelessness, LGBTQ+ people, migrants, and marginalized racial, ethnic, and socially excluded communities, are also at greater risk of being trafficked.

What does COVID-19 have to do with it?

With lockdowns pushing more people online than ever before, and lockdowns in many countries causing court closures and increased economic hardship for both individuals and organizations, the COVID-19 pandemic has increased many people’s vulnerability to trafficking, while also making it harder to bring perpetrators to justice, and presenting serious challenges to those organizations who seek to support survivors. 

But there are clear steps governments and others can take to combat this increase in trafficking for sexual exploitation. Read more about these challenges and our recommendations for addressing them.

In Solidarity,

Tsitsi Matekaire 
Global Lead, Ending Sexual Exploitation