The needs and challenges of data on trafficking in persons

The first objective of the Global Compact on Migration is to “Collect and utilize accurate and disaggregated data as a basis for evidence-based policies”. The targets set in the Sustainable Development Goals highlight the need to strengthen efforts to collect meaningful data.

  • Indicator 16.2.2 is the “number of victims of human trafficking per 100,000 population, by sex, age and form of exploitation” pointing to the need to achieve better data that are adequately disaggregated.
  • Target 17.8 calls for States to increase the availability of high-quality migration-related data in order to better measure efforts to achieve Target 8.7, the end of human trafficking. These efforts will best be supported by standardized human-trafficking metrics (IOM, 2018a: 112).
    • Take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour. (Target 8.7)

The need for effective data collection, research and analysis on trafficking in persons

The international community agreed that migration-related data can be relevant to human trafficking policies and can offer insight into human trafficking trends and flows as well as regional dimensions.

While regular migrants can be trafficked, the prevalence of unauthorized entry and irregular migrant populations may be linked to human trafficking

Example
Migration-related data interlinkage with human trafficking

In Southeast Asia, many migrants face exploitation stemming from their irregular status, with migrant workers facing forced labour, exploitation and abuse in particular industries including fishing, agriculture, construction and manufacturing. 

Source

IOM, 2018c: 63

Additionally, understanding new trafficking patterns and trends is important for:

  • shaping policies;
  • setting priorities and strategically allocating funds;
  • strategically directing resources;
  • assessing the effectiveness of counter-trafficking efforts.

The challenges to effective data collection, research and analysis on trafficking in persons

  • Human trafficking is a clandestine and underreported activity, which makes it difficult to collect systematic data.
  • Data on transnational trafficking are more difficult as States may define trafficking differently and disaggregate data in inconsistent ways. Some States relate trafficking to other concepts such as slavery and forced labour which results in different estimates of how common its occurrence is. This underlines once again the need to bring national legislations in line with the Trafficking Protocol.
  • Counter-trafficking actors who provide protection and assistance services to trafficked persons are likely to gather and have access to significant amounts of personal data. Therefore, it is important to have a data protection framework in place in order to safely and securely share data relating to human trafficking. (Read more on Data protection in Chapter Stage 2: Data, Research and Analysis for Policymaking.)
  • Third party requests to access personal data of victims for victim assistance or as part of efforts to combat human trafficking must be approved only with the consent of the data subject, and only if there is a specified and legitimate purpose for sharing the information that does not put the victim of trafficking at any additional risk.
 
Sources of data on trafficking in persons

Data on identified and reported cases of human trafficking

Identified victims are some of the main sources of human trafficking data. State actors (including law enforcement and the judiciary) as well as non-State actors (such as international organizations and NGOs who provide services to victims) collect data on identified and reported cases of trafficking, holding them in various databases.

At the national level, data on identified and reported cases may be compiled and reported by a central body as part of a national reporting process. That central body, for instance, may be responsible for managing the national referral mechanism (NRM) and may also oversee the national reporting mechanism.

Official reports of such administrative data compiled by governments or other centralized bodies on human trafficking cases are a key source of trafficking information. There have been increasing efforts in recent years to safely make aggregated data available.

 
Example
Global datasets on trafficking in persons

Policymakers can access up-to-date, reliable data on more than 110,000 individual cases of trafficking. The CTDC is the largest data set of its kind, equipping policymakers with insight into global, regional and national trafficking trends as a basis for developing evidence-based policy. The anonymized data are presented in a way that counter-trafficking actors, including immigration authorities and policymakers, can visualize and download. It shows them  data on trafficking routes affecting their country, including where trafficked victims are coming from and where their own citizens are being exploited. Information about profiles of victims is also available, and the industries in which they were exploited, and the methods used to traffic them.

UNODC compiled data from publicly available official information, and from a common questionnaire distributed to governments, for its global report on trafficking in persons. The most recent version was published in 2018 and features data collected from 142 governments on more than 24,000 detected victims (UNODC, 2018d). In practice, data are not available for all countries or locations and, where data do exist, they are not always comprehensive in terms of coverage of a given country or location.

 

The data that can be gathered are on identified victims, which means that large quantities of data do not necessarily indicate widespread human trafficking. On the contrary, they could indicate effective counter-trafficking responses. However, these data provide useful insight into trafficking trends and patterns, such as the profiles and experiences of the victims, the forms of human trafficking, trafficking routes and information on perpetrators.

Estimating prevalence

There are currently no global or regional estimates of the prevalence of human trafficking. Multiple systems estimation (MSE) is used to estimate the total number (unidentified as well as identified) of victims of trafficking at the country level, on the basis of analysis of lists of detected or presumed victims of trafficking, provided by different counter-trafficking actors including police, prosecutors, migration authorities, victim-assistance providers, shelters and others. Provided lists may be anonymized and are disaggregated by age, gender and type of exploitation (UNODC, 2018d: 34).

 
Good Practice
Application of the multiple systems estimation methodology in some countries

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in cooperation with the Dutch National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings and Sexual Violence against Children, used multiple systems estimation (MSE) to estimate the number of presumed victims in the Netherlands in 2010–2015. The United Kingdom Home Office also conducted a similar exercise, and other similar studies have been conducted in Ireland, Romania and Serbia, in cooperation with the Walk Free Foundation.

Collecting, managing and protecting data produced by counter-trafficking actors

Counter-trafficking actors who provide protection and assistance services to trafficked persons are likely to gather and have access to significant amounts of personal data.

How data are collected will vary depending on the stakeholder concerned and their particular role with respect to victim protection and the provision of assistance. Personal data about individual victims will often be gathered during in-person interactions with victims (for example, during screening interviews by law enforcers, and during admission processes into temporary shelters) and may be recorded in notes and databases. Such data may include individual biographical data, referral data, protection assessment data, service provision data, basic information on the trafficking experience, and so forth.

Policy Approaches
Collecting and sharing data on trafficking in persons
  • Equip actors who carry out data collection with knowledge on data security so they are clear on the types of data that should be collected, by what means, and for what purposes.
  • Establish and ensure the security of systems to facilitate data sharing between relevant actors, including those involved in the national referral mechanism (NRM).
  • Collect personal data only for a specified legitimate purpose and with the prior consent of the data subject. Especially in the case of victims of trafficking, because of their increased vulnerabilities and risks, data that are not necessary or foreseen for a purpose should not be collected.
  • Follow international, regional and/or national data protection rules and procedures for how to collect and manage data.
  • Encourage stakeholders to move towards standardization in data collection efforts. This includes establishing proper IT systems for managing data and developing standard operating procedures (SOPs) for data collection and sharing, as well as training staff on data collection, protection, storage and analysis. Consider how data will be shared and with whom, for what purposes they may be used, and how these uses will be governed.
  • Remove the identities of data subjects and all identifiable factors prior to any transfer or publication.
  • Have a data protection framework in place in order to safely and securely share data relating to human trafficking. Read more on Data protection in Chapter Stage 2: Data, Research and Analysis for Policymaking.
Example
When data protection standards are not upheld victims are further harmed

Where data protection and ethical standards are not upheld in data collection, there is a risk that victims of trafficking may be further harmed. This can happen when victims are asked inappropriate questions in inappropriate ways (for instance, where survivors are asked multiple times to recount their traumatic experiences, such as of torture or sexual violence, or where question are asked for the purpose of understanding the crime rather than supporting the victim) or if any personal data are collected without the victim’s informed consent. Additionally, when data is not kept secure and stored safely, victims can be exposed to risk (for instance, retaliation by traffickers). Accordingly, it is essential that any personal data is collected in ways that follow the highest ethical standards, and that the data yielded are subjected to high standards of data protection and confidentiality.

There may be times when data should not be shared. Lack of clarity about data ownership, insufficient risks assessments, and inadequate data protection frameworks can result in data being shared when they should not be. This poses a risk to the life and health of victims of trafficking, which should be avoided at all costs.

To Go Further
Key messages
  • Identified and reported cases of victims of trafficking are a good source of data when compiled by a national central body and when they include not only data from law enforcement and justice but also from non-State actors such as NGOs and International Organizations who assist victims of trafficking.
  • Multiple systems estimation (MSE) is a good method to estimate the total number (unidentified as well as identified) of victims of trafficking at the country level.
  • Household surveys could be used but should follow ethical standards; otherwise, they risk further harm to victims of trafficking.
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