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Anti-trafficking in humanitarian settings: gaps and priorities for a more systematic response
Published January 2024
In 2020 the UN declared that,
‘Trafficking in persons remains one of the largest human rights violations exacerbated in times of crises where the humanitarian community does not have a predictable, at-scale way to respond.’
Today – when the world is experiencing multiple crises with devastating humanitarian consequences, and a record 362 million people are identified to be in need of humanitarian assistance – what, if anything, has changed? Our report, Anti-trafficking in humanitarian settings: gaps and priorities for a more systematic response, presents a new and significant primary data set, which together with our analysis, shines a light on the very urgent need for a more robust, systematic anti-trafficking response.
Drawing on new in-depth qualitative data, the report provides an analysis of heightened vulnerability in humanitarian settings; details of the growth in awareness and visibility of the issue; core challenges related to specialist anti-trafficking capacity; gaps in frontline and back- end capacity; dynamics of the relevant funding contexts; and a focus on wider areas of concern (including, the traffickers and formal identification processes). These findings are also fleshed out through a further case study of Ukraine – examining the anti-trafficking responses following the full-scale Russian invasion.
Throughout the report emerging and promising practices are also highlighted.