July 30 marks the United Nations’ World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. The theme this year is “Human trafficking is Organized Crime – End the Exploitation”, focusing on the joint efforts needed by law enforcement, the criminal justice system, and society to have a victim-survivors-centered approach to ending and preventing further exploitation.
Based on statistics from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the number of victim-survivors of forced labor worldwide increased by 47% between 2019 and 2022. UNODC reported that at least 162 nationalities were trafficked to 128 countries, with the majority (31%) being citizens of African countries. The UNODC highlighted that “more and more victims are being trafficked every year, across greater distances, with greater violence, for longer periods of time and for greater profit.”
On the occasion of the day dedicated to ending human trafficking, the Pope John XXIII Community published its 2025 report, “Trafficking: Understanding its causes and protecting exploited people in the murky side of migration”. The report showed that more than 50 million people are currently being exploited around the world, and the number of victim-survivors rises by about 800,000 people each year. Click here to read more.