What You Need To Know About Modern Slavery And Human Trafficking

In October 2023, the Right Honorable Theresa May MP, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, led the launch of the Global Commission on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking, a new initiative to exert high-level political leverage to restore political momentum towards achieving U.N. Sustainable Development Goal 8.7 to eradicate forced labor, end modern slavery and human trafficking. Among others, it is to ensure that global efforts on modern slavery and human trafficking are better connected to the production of research and evidence, and in turn, that modern slavery laws, policies and practices are fully informed by the best research into the drivers of modern slavery and the best analysis as to what works.

Modern slavery and human trafficking are global issues that are far from being addressed. In January 2023, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) published its 2022 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons presenting concerning findings about recent developments, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2022 report is the seventh of its kind mandated by the U.N. General Assembly through the 2010 United Nations Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons. The report covers 141 countries and provides an overview of the response to the trafficking in persons at global, regional and national levels, by analyzing trafficking cases detected between 2018 and 2021.