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Human Trafficking Statistics: The Problem of Modern-Day Slavery in Africa and the

Wider World.

Tasanee A. Cogliandro

University of Hawaii Maui College

ENG 316: Advanced Research Writing

Prof. Derek Snyder

April 14, 2024

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Introduction

In the late spring of 2023, the end of my 10th-grade year, I attended a day-long human

trafficking seminar by an outreach organization called “Uprising”. That seminar changed my life.

Every year, millions of people are affected by human trafficking. Children are ripped

from their homes, lives, and loved ones to serve in horrific capacities thousands of miles away

from where they came from. Most never return. Millions of people in politically or economically

unstable countries are forced into intensive labor that they can never escape, facing extreme

hunger, violence, extortion, rape, and many other violations of their human rights (U.S.

Department of Health & Human Services, 2024).

This paper will attempt to prove why the varying global statistics, alongside government

corruption and societal norms, all contribute to the persistent issue of human trafficking,

complicating efforts to track and ultimately eradicate it. To do this, the paper will examine the

statistics we have on the current issue of human trafficking across the world. It will also examine

the factors that led to an increase in human trafficking in numerous countries, specifically

focusing on examples from West and Sub-Saharan Africa. Furthermore, the paper will attempt to

address why the issue of human trafficking is so difficult to combat, due to competing statistics,

social stigmas, and political corruption.

Varying Global Statistics

Human trafficking statistics globally cannot be accounted for using one source, or one

kind of report. Many organizations (government and non-governmental) report different statistics

of people who are trafficked/affected yearly by the modern slave trade, but this does not mean

the numbers are wrong. In fact, all sources must be taken into account when reporting human

trafficking, as various systems of tracking the statistics may be limited or not completely gather
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the whole picture of the data. This, in turn, proves the complexity of efforts to counteract the

problem of human trafficking and how effective we are in actually (permanently) uprooting the

issue.

A Comparison of Worldwide Statistics

Global statistics on human trafficking tend to conflict with each other. According to the

Office for Victims of Crime (US Department of Justice), an estimated annual 9.5 billion in profit

is made by trafficking activities, making it the third most profitable crime industry in the world

(Human Trafficking, 2005). The US Department of Justice also reports, as of 2004, an estimated

600-800,000 people are trafficked “across international borders”, stating that due to the “hidden”

nature of trafficking industries, these numbers are the most accurate possible save for other

complexities that may provide far larger numbers (Human Trafficking, 2005). However,

according to a more recent study from the Journal of Emergency Nursing, an estimated

twenty-five to twenty-seven million people are affected by human trafficking each year (Olivieri

et al., 2024). These statistics are taken from the Polaris Project’s statistics from the National

Human Trafficking Hotline calls received in 2021, “...phone calls related to forms of HT

demonstrated the following: (1) 72% of calls for sex trafficking, (2) 10% for labor trafficking, (3)

3% for a combination of sex and labor trafficking, and (4) 15% were unspecified. The top 5 sex

trafficking venues remain consistent and include (1) pornography, (2) illicit massage/spa

business, (3) escort services, (4) resident based commercial sex, and (5) personal servitude.”

(Olivieri et al., 2024). On the other hand, according to the International Organization for

Migration, by 2016 there were an estimated forty million people enslaved globally (Dalla &

Sabella, 2019).

Government Documentation Limitations

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Limitations of government bodies may be largely to blame for conflicting data. As

evidenced by the above sources, human trafficking statistics are listed differently depending on

the source and how they are classifying trafficking. According to Anne Gallagher, a leading

expert on international human trafficking:

“Until December 2000, the term “trafficking” was not defined in international law,

despite its incorporation in a number of international legal agreements. The longstanding

failure to develop an agreed-upon understanding reflected major differences of opinion

concerning the ultimate end result of trafficking, its constitutive acts, and their relative

significance, as well as the similarities and differences between trafficking and related

issues such as illegal migration and migrant smuggling.” (Gallagher, 2010).

Many statistics are based on the crime report data the [different] government[s] receive,

and that can mean that the current extent of human trafficking is “severely understated” by

official bodies (Farrell et al., 2019, National Institute of Justice, 2020). There is also the problem

of certain nations and areas of the world suspected of having higher percentages of enslaved

populations not releasing national data. Due to either corruption of the government bodies or the

lack of training in officials, very low percentages of enslaved people are actually accounted for,

while the extent of projected estimates of trafficked people is much greater (Farrell et al., 2019).

For example, findings from an MSE study, within the Western site, indicate “...a total of 345

individuals[…]captured, and the resulting estimates typically range from 2,000 to 2,400. This

would imply that 14% to 18% of the total estimated human trafficking population is captured

within the lists used for this analysis (both law enforcement and service providers).” (Farrell et

al., 2019).

Obstructions to Ending Human Trafficking in Africa and the Wider World

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There are many factors contributing to the continuing issue of human trafficking across

the world. Specifically, we will examine current socio-political situations in West and

Sub-Saharan Africa, using them as a point of reference for what may be happening in the wider

world.

Government Corruption & Socio-Political Violence

Governments across the world have a large effect on the degree of human trafficking

within their countries. Specifically, within nations like Sudan, Mali, Niger, and Chad,

government “weakness” and corruption is a primary component within the continuing issue of

human trafficking (Quirk, 2011).

Mali, according to various sources, is a continuing area of clashes between

fundamentalist terrorist groups and its own government, which contributes significantly to

violence committed against civilians. “Human rights deteriorated dramatically in Mali in 2022 as

attacks against civilians by[…]killings of suspects by pro-government forces during

counterterrorism operations surged.” (Human Rights Watch, 2023). Furthermore, the government

continued to restrict the rights of its people by prohibiting free speech in various capacities and

even striking a deal with the Wagner Group, which has a proven association with the Russian

Government (Human Rights Watch, 2023). To add to this, the government of Mali has had

several incidents of using violent force against civilians in “counterterrorism” efforts, including

the execution of villagers, the rape of women, and the selling of children into slavery (Human

Rights Watch, 2023).

Similar atrocities have occurred in Sudan under the jurisdiction of the government.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the ongoing civil war in Sudan

has displaced a record number of 10.7 million people, as well as an internal displacement
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number of nine million people (Osman, 2024). On top of this, there is further evidence that

warring within the government is to blame for 20.3 million people facing extreme hunger, the 19

million children out of school, and the 70% of hospitals that are not functioning (Osman, 2024).

According to Human Rights Watch, “Sudan’s warring parties are to blame. Neither the RSF nor

the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have shown regard for civilian lives. For nine months,

Human Rights Watch and journalists have been documenting SAF’s indiscriminate bombings,

the targeting of activists, and widespread abuses by the RSF, including pillage and rape

connected to their occupation of residential areas.” (Osman, 2024).

These are only two examples of countries besieged by war, often started and exacerbated

by factions within their governments, that have fostered the perfect environment for human

trafficking increase. Evidence suggests that, because of the widespread political tension and

violence, governments in these regions (along with others in West Africa, South Asia, etc) are

largely ineffective in creating policies to (a) protect their people from getting trafficked, and (b)

penalize the traffickers. According to a study on the criminalization rates of human traffickers in

Sub-Saharan Africa by the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime, “The number of

convictions per 100,000 people recorded in Sub-Saharan Africa has been generally lower

compared to the rest of the world. In addition, over the last 15 years, the conviction rate per

100,000 has been fluctuating between 0 and 1 persons, with no marked increase recorded.”

(Sub-Saharan Africa Pg. 395, 2020).

Limited Access to National Statistics

Furthermore, many governments across the world limit access to national statistics. This

denied access to data for the public sector is a large reason that we have such varying data on

human trafficking. In addition, blurred statistics on the impacts of human trafficking within their
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nations suggest an inordinate amount of circumstances that are not accounted for, increasing the

possibility that we have drastically underestimated the human trafficking crisis. According to the

Executive Director of UNODC, Antonio Maria Costa, “‘many governments are still in denial.

There is even neglect when it comes to either reporting on or prosecuting cases of human

trafficking. He pointed to the fact that while the number of convictions for human trafficking is

increasing, two out of every five countries covered by the UNODC Report had not recorded a

single conviction.” (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2019)

Historical Differentiation of Social & Ethnic Classes

Historical differentiation of social and ethnic classes in places like West and Sub-Saharan

Africa largely contribute to current socio-political violence, upheaval, and the resulting human

trafficking. Many nations, like those in West and Sub-Saharan Africa, have cultures that continue

to treat their different ethnic demographics as “masters” and “slaves”. To understand this, we

must remember that modern-day slavery is largely a byproduct of the continuing global

framework created by the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade (Quirk, 2011).

According to The Anti-Slavery Project: From the Slave Trade to Human Trafficking, a

study on the historical origins and continuing impact of human trafficking by Joel Quirk, slavery

in the regions of West and Sub-Saharan Africa continues to have roots in the continuing sense of

“master” and “slave” relations. The most common example of this is seen when descendants of

slaves continue to provide a percentage of the crops they grow to the descendants of their former

masters (Quirk, 2011). Many other instances where this sense of social differentiation is realized

are within personal decorum, sexual customs, religious standing, public rituals, inheritance laws,

and marriage practices. These ways of thinking in society also translate to who holds positions in

office, where policies are made and laws are enforced, creating a corrupt environment ripe for
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human rights violations (ie, human trafficking). To exacerbate the situation further, governments

tend to assume that these ways of societal thinking will diminish over time, or, in other cases,

that because this is an “attitude” and not actual, raw statistics, wrongly believe that the situation

is less “hazardous” than it already is (Quirk, 2011). This leads to governmental inaction, as well

as a lack of international and national policies being implemented to protect the people

trafficked/forced into labor (sexual or otherwise).

Conclusion

Human trafficking is a broad and complex problem to tackle, as evidenced by the

competing global statistics that make it hard to track, the varying policies regarding data release

from different countries, and the political/economic instability in certain regions, examples of

which are West and Sub-Saharan Africa. Although this paper attempts to address some of these

issues, it merely gives a small overview of the magnitude of this problem. Further research is

required into the specific conditions of countries outside of West and Sub-Saharan Africa -

particularly those countries that have high rates of human trafficking like Afghanistan, India,

China, etc. More specific understanding and separation of different kinds of human trafficking is

also required, due to the varying impacts and statistics of labor trafficking versus sex trafficking.

There must also be more research done on the political and economic conditions of the nations

discussed in this paper, as those conditions are prone to be over-simplified or may change

rapidly. The causes and effects of human trafficking are also largely complex and impossible to

capture in one paper, so further, in-depth analysis must be done in the realms of educational

system deficiency, civil wars, famines, diseases, militant/terrorist activity in the region, and other

factors that may contribute to the degree of human trafficking in a particular area.
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In conclusion, to combat the issue of modern-day slavery - or human trafficking - there is

still much to be done. It is only when we have a thorough understanding of the roots of the issue

that we can begin to make change and eventually eradicate this atrocity being committed against

the human race.

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(2019). Capturing Human Trafficking Victimization Through Crime Reporting.

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