Human Trafficking: Women Both Victims and Perpetrators

According to a Global Report on Trafficking in Persons published by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime and based on data from 155 countries around the world collected in 2007 and 2008, 70% of all perpetrators of human trafficking are women.

80% of the victims of this modern day slavery are sold for sex, while the remaining 20% are forced to work in fields, homes, and sweatshops around the globe.

Apart from being perpetrators, about 70% of victims of trafficking are women, while children make up 20% of the victims.

In many cases victims are moved from one country to another and even across continents. However, "most exploitation takes place close to home. Data show intra-regional and domestic trafficking are the major forms of trafficking in persons."

The report found that 30% more women than men were convicted of trafficking in 155 countries that participated in the study.

In Central Asia and Eastern Europe, women make up 60% of those convicted of trafficking.

Often, former victims of human trafficking later become perpetrators themselves.

Antonio Maria Costa, the head of UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime said "it is shocking that former victims become traffickers. We need to understand the psychological, financial, and coercive reasons why women recruit other women into slavery."

When asked why women were more likely to be perpetrators in human trafficking cases, Johan Kruger, the UN project coordinator for trafficking, said "it was believed that women were better able to win over the trust of victims than men."