USA Ranked as "Very High" Trafficking Destination

It occured to me while posting the previous entry pointing the finger at Australia pointing the finger at itself that we need to address the fact that the United States was ranked "Very High" as one of the top destination countries for traffickers, ranking even higher than Australia.

This may be a surprising fact for some US citizens unaware of the trafficking that goes on inside our own country, or for those who've previously understood trafficking to be a problem that happens "over there" or in other, poorer countries. Not so, trafficking happens here in the USA, as the report shows, and this is a problem of which we all need to be aware.

According to U.S. government estimates, about 800,000 to 900,000 men, women and children are trafficked each year across international borders worldwide for sex and other purposes; approximately 18,000 to 20,000 of those victims are trafficked into the United States.


DISTRIBUTION OF RANKING FOR COUNTRIES
OF ORIGIN, TRANSIT & DESTINATION
FROM THE U.N.'s REPORT

As you can see from the chart above, there are 10 countries ranked in the "Very High" countries of destination section, one of which is the United States with 25-40 source countries bringing trafficked persons into this country. According to appendices 5 & 6 to the UN report, these are the countries that are bringing trafficked persons into the US:

High: China, Malaysia, Mexico, Russian Federation, Thailand, Ukraine.

Medium: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Georgia, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Nigeria, Philippines, Poland, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Viet Nam.

Low: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Cameroon, Congo, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Maldives, Mali, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Panama, Peru, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Singapore, Slovenia, Somalia, Syrian Arab Republic, Pakistan, United Republic of Tanzania, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of).

You can download the entire report and the appendices by clicking on the following links:

1. Trafficking in Persons: Global Patterns (PDF document, 3.1 MB)

2. Appendices to Trafficking in Persons: Global Patterns (PDF document, 2.4 MB)