MICHELE KLEIN SOLOMON
Guest Column
JULY 30 marks World Day Against Trafficking in Persons.
Twenty-one years after the signing of the Palermo Protocol, which helped establish an internationally accepted definition and put the issue of trafficking on the international agenda, progress in the fight against human trafficking is globally evident.
Today, many countries have enacted strict laws against this crime, which led to increased efforts to investigate, arrest and prosecute offenders, and give the right of victims to assistance and care based on their human rights and vulnerabilities.
There is also an international approach to responding to trafficking, which often crosses national borders.
Unfortunately, despite the efforts to curb its spread, human trafficking remains a very lucrative crime and, in some cases, difficult to investigate, with high rates of impunity and a large number of undetected cases.
Because of these barriers, it is attractive to perpetrators and a significant challenge for states and societies.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime reported that in 2018, around a third of the total number of trafficking victims in the world were minors, with Central America and the Caribbean being two of the three regions with the highest number of detected cases of trafficking for sexual exploitation of children and adolescents.
TECHNOLOGY - A
FRIEND AND FOE
The covid19 pandemic has caused systemic inequalities and the vulnerability of children and adolescents to increase.
Poverty, loss of employment, and school closures, all caused by the pandemic - among other factors - have exacerbated the risk of exploitation and abuse.
At the same time, there have been changes in the criminal methods used by offenders, with the use of new technologies becoming increasingly common.
Through social media, encrypted instant-messaging platforms, the deep (dark) web, the use of cryptocurrencies, and the development of computer systems to facilitate the commission of the crime, perpetrators remain anonymous while carrying out their misdeeds.
They can engage in real-time but encrypted communications, reach a wider audience of victims and perpetrators, and monitor victims remotely.
Technology has permeated all phases of child sexual exploitation, from the recruitment and exploitation of the victim to blackmailing with information, photos, and videos.
While virtual spaces offer criminals a shield behind which they feel safe to operate with near-impunity, technology also presents an opportunity for authorities to combat child trafficking.
It can provide evidence for investigations and prosecutions, generate information on identities, roles, structures; locations and activities of suspects, as well as track electronic financial transactions carried out by criminals.
ALL MUST
PLAY A ROLE
Continuous training of
