Human trafficking data portal to pull information together to battle sex slavery around the world
A new initiative, the world’s first human trafficking data portal, the Counter-Trafficking Data Collaborative (CTDC), has been created by IOM, the UN Migration Agency and Polaris.
“We are really just starting to see the beginning of what could be done with this type of information in the future. Data can be really useful to build the evidence base for policy making and programming to counter-trafficking,” said Harry Cook, IOM Data Management and Research Specialist in a recent interview with Inter Press Service.
With approximately over 20 million victims of human trafficking, the portal captures 80,000 cases from women being coerced to perform sexual acts to teens forced to work long hours with little to no pay.
“It is a significant amount of data. We are really hoping it will shine the spotlight,” Cook said.
“If you imagine all around the world, there are lots of actors providing direct assistance to victims… So if we can all get together and actually harness the data that we have and put it there for those who are also working to combat the crime, then I think in the future it is going to be a pretty big step,” Cook continued.
Among the portal’s first findings is child trafficking trends.
Analysts found that almost half of identified cases of child trafficking begin with some family member involvement. (Emphasis added, The Dispatch).
Families are also more likely to be involved in trafficking of boys who make up of 61 per cent of cases. (Emphasis added, The Dispatch).
Though the majority of children are trafficked for sexual exploitation, many are also trafficked for forced labor.
“We hadn’t really seen it in these kinds of statistics… The fact that there is such a scale suggests that we need to change tack a little bit in terms of where we focus our efforts,” Cook told IPS, noting that family coercion is not always meant to be malicious.
“We really want to help heads of households to make the best long term plans for themselves and their families and how they can do that in a way that respects the agency and aspirations of their children.”