Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently released the State Department’s 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report, which examines governments’ efforts to combat human trafficking through prosecuting traffickers, protecting victims, and prevention.
Around the globe, an estimated 27 million people are exploited for labor, services, and commercial sex. Through force, fraud, and coercion, they are made to toil in fields and factories, in restaurants and residences. Traffickers prey on some of the world’s most marginalized and vulnerable individuals – profiting from their plight.
The theme of this year’s report examines the challenges associated with digital technology and how it has created new opportunities for traffickers to exploit individuals for profit, said Cindy Dyer, Ambassador-at-Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.
This year’s report also highlights the intersection between forced marriage and human trafficking and forced labor in Cuba’s labor export program. “We also highlight key human trafficking issues in the Western Hemisphere,” said Ambassador Dyer.
“Unprecedented irregular migration affects many Western Hemisphere countries, including the United States. We encourage governments to prevent trafficking and prioritize screening among migrants, who often assume debts to pay migrant smugglers and are then vulnerable to trafficking when they are unable to repay the money,” she said.
Unfortunately, some governments are part of the trafficking problem, said Ambassador Dyer:
“This year, the Secretary determined 13 countries exhibited a policy or pattern of trafficking. Belarus re-joined this list and Sudan was newly added to the list, while several other governments, including Cuba, the PRC, and Russia remained on the list from previous years.”
Another troubling trend highlighted in this year’s report is the coercive or fraudulent recruitment of fighters for Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russian authorities, middlemen, private military companies, or Russian-affiliated forces reportedly used coercion, deception, and in some cases force, in the recruitment of foreign nationals.
On a more positive note, total prosecutions of traffickers and convictions were up overall, and victim identification reached the highest level ever, said Ambassador Dyer.
“For the third consecutive year, there was notable progress to combat labor trafficking, with labor trafficking convictions and victim identifications, substantially increasing from last year to reach their highest levels ever,” she said.
The United States is proud to work alongside its partners at home and abroad to protect the vulnerable and prevent more individuals from being sucked into the underworld of human trafficking.
