WILLS POINT, TX – COVID-19 is feeding the “growing evil” of human trafficking, pulling more of the world’s children into slavery and sexual exploitation, a new report reveals.
The pandemic has “cemented human trafficking as the third biggest illicit trade on the planet, behind illegal arms sales and drugs,” says the report by Texas-based humanitarian agency Gospel for Asia (GFA World).
“The global pandemic has only heightened the desperation of those at risk and deepened the cunning of the traffickers,” says the report, citing worsening poverty and hunger as key drivers of the $150 billion a year global slave trade.
“The horrific exploitation of children and young adults for sex and forced labor is the most vile crime,” said Gospel for Asia (GFA World) founder K.P. Yohannan. “We must act now to cut off this growing evil.”
Travel and border restrictions—intended to slow the spread of the virus—have driven traffickers underground and made victims more difficult to identify, the report says. Of the estimated 20-30 million slaves in the world today, four out of every five are women or girls.
Learn more by reading these Special Reports:
- Child Labor: Not Gone, but Forgotten — Millions of Children Trapped between Extreme Poverty and the Profits of Others
- Seeking Justice and Defending Human Rights — Wherever Poverty and Oppression Exist
KP Yohannan has issued two statements about the COVID-19 situation found here and here.
GFA’s Statement About Coronavirus
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