This is the fifth glob­al report by the Unit­ed Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), man­dat­ed by the Gen­er­al Assem­bly through the 2010 Glob­al Plan of Action to Com­bat Traf­fick­ing in Persons.

The report comes at a time when glob­al suf­fer­ing has vast­ly increased vul­ner­a­bil­i­ties to traf­fick­ing. Extreme pover­ty is expect­ed to rise for the first time in decades, with the con­tin­u­ing COVID-19 cri­sis cast­ing a long shad­ow over our soci­eties and economies. With many mil­lions more women, men and chil­dren in every part of the world out of school, out of work, with­out social sup­port and fac­ing dimin­ished prospects, tar­get­ed action is urgent­ly need­ed to stop crimes like traf­fick­ing in per­sons from adding to the pandemic’s toll.