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Are we seeing the unseen of human trafficking? A retrospective analysis of the CTDC k-anonymized global victim of trafficking data pool in the period 2010–2020

BACKGROUND: Human trafficking is considered a hidden global crime with unsubstantiated numbers. Despite the challenges in counting or measuring this crime, reports revealed the presence of around 40.3 million victims worldwide. Human trafficking results in severe detrimental impacts on both mental a...

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Autores principales: Al-Tammemi, Ala’a B., Nadeem, Asma, Kutkut, Laila, Ali, Manal, Angawi, Khadijah, Abdallah, Maram H., Abutaima, Rana, Shoumar, Rasha, Albakri, Rana, Sallam, Malik
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10118140/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37079616
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284762
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author Al-Tammemi, Ala’a B.
Nadeem, Asma
Kutkut, Laila
Ali, Manal
Angawi, Khadijah
Abdallah, Maram H.
Abutaima, Rana
Shoumar, Rasha
Albakri, Rana
Sallam, Malik
author_facet Al-Tammemi, Ala’a B.
Nadeem, Asma
Kutkut, Laila
Ali, Manal
Angawi, Khadijah
Abdallah, Maram H.
Abutaima, Rana
Shoumar, Rasha
Albakri, Rana
Sallam, Malik
author_sort Al-Tammemi, Ala’a B.
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Human trafficking is considered a hidden global crime with unsubstantiated numbers. Despite the challenges in counting or measuring this crime, reports revealed the presence of around 40.3 million victims worldwide. Human trafficking results in severe detrimental impacts on both mental and physical health. Given the sensitivity and negative consequences of human trafficking on the global system and victims, and considering the scarce research in this area, our current study aimed at describing the (i) Sociodemographic profiles of anonymized victims, (ii) Means of control, and (iii) Purpose of trafficking, utilizing the largest anonymized and publicly available dataset on victims of human trafficking. METHODS: This is a retrospective secondary analysis of the Counter-Trafficking Data Collaborative (CTDC) data pool in the period from 2010 to 2020. The utilized dataset is called the k-anonymized global victim of trafficking dataset, and it is considered the largest global dataset on victims of human trafficking. Data from the k-anonymized data pool were extracted and exported to Statistical Package for Social Sciences, SPSS® version 27.0 for Windows (IBM Corp. Version 27.0. Armonk, NY) for quality check and analysis using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: A total of 87003 victims of human trafficking were identified in the period from 2010 to 2020. The most age category encountered among victims was 9–17 years with 10326 victims (11.9%), followed by 30–38 years with 8562 victims (9.8%). Females comprised 70% of the sample with 60938 victims. The United States (n = 51611), Russia (n = 4570), and the Philippines (n = 1988) comprised the most countries of exploitation/trafficking. Additionally, the year 2019 witnessed the greatest number of victims registered for assistance by anti-trafficking agencies with around 21312 victims (24.5%). Concerning means of control, threats, psychological abuse, restriction of the victim’s movement, taking the victim’s earnings, and physical abuse were the most reported means. 42685 victims (49.1%) reported sexual exploitation as the purpose of their trafficking, followed by forced labor with 18176 victims (20.9%). CONCLUSION: Various means and methods can be used by traffickers to control the victims to be trafficked for many purposes, with sexual exploitation and forced labor being the most common ones. Global anti-trafficking efforts should be brought together in solidarity through utilizing the paradigm of protection of victims, prosecution of traffickers, prevention of trafficking, and inter-sectoral partnerships. Despite being a global concern with various reports that tried to capture the number of trafficked victims worldwide, human trafficking still has many unseen aspects that impose a significant challenge and adds to the global burden in combatting this threat.
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spelling pubmed-101181402023-04-21 Are we seeing the unseen of human trafficking? A retrospective analysis of the CTDC k-anonymized global victim of trafficking data pool in the period 2010–2020 Al-Tammemi, Ala’a B. Nadeem, Asma Kutkut, Laila Ali, Manal Angawi, Khadijah Abdallah, Maram H. Abutaima, Rana Shoumar, Rasha Albakri, Rana Sallam, Malik PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: Human trafficking is considered a hidden global crime with unsubstantiated numbers. Despite the challenges in counting or measuring this crime, reports revealed the presence of around 40.3 million victims worldwide. Human trafficking results in severe detrimental impacts on both mental and physical health. Given the sensitivity and negative consequences of human trafficking on the global system and victims, and considering the scarce research in this area, our current study aimed at describing the (i) Sociodemographic profiles of anonymized victims, (ii) Means of control, and (iii) Purpose of trafficking, utilizing the largest anonymized and publicly available dataset on victims of human trafficking. METHODS: This is a retrospective secondary analysis of the Counter-Trafficking Data Collaborative (CTDC) data pool in the period from 2010 to 2020. The utilized dataset is called the k-anonymized global victim of trafficking dataset, and it is considered the largest global dataset on victims of human trafficking. Data from the k-anonymized data pool were extracted and exported to Statistical Package for Social Sciences, SPSS® version 27.0 for Windows (IBM Corp. Version 27.0. Armonk, NY) for quality check and analysis using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: A total of 87003 victims of human trafficking were identified in the period from 2010 to 2020. The most age category encountered among victims was 9–17 years with 10326 victims (11.9%), followed by 30–38 years with 8562 victims (9.8%). Females comprised 70% of the sample with 60938 victims. The United States (n = 51611), Russia (n = 4570), and the Philippines (n = 1988) comprised the most countries of exploitation/trafficking. Additionally, the year 2019 witnessed the greatest number of victims registered for assistance by anti-trafficking agencies with around 21312 victims (24.5%). Concerning means of control, threats, psychological abuse, restriction of the victim’s movement, taking the victim’s earnings, and physical abuse were the most reported means. 42685 victims (49.1%) reported sexual exploitation as the purpose of their trafficking, followed by forced labor with 18176 victims (20.9%). CONCLUSION: Various means and methods can be used by traffickers to control the victims to be trafficked for many purposes, with sexual exploitation and forced labor being the most common ones. Global anti-trafficking efforts should be brought together in solidarity through utilizing the paradigm of protection of victims, prosecution of traffickers, prevention of trafficking, and inter-sectoral partnerships. Despite being a global concern with various reports that tried to capture the number of trafficked victims worldwide, human trafficking still has many unseen aspects that impose a significant challenge and adds to the global burden in combatting this threat. Public Library of Science 2023-04-20 /pmc/articles/PMC10118140/ /pubmed/37079616 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284762 Text en © 2023 Al-Tammemi et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Al-Tammemi, Ala’a B.
Nadeem, Asma
Kutkut, Laila
Ali, Manal
Angawi, Khadijah
Abdallah, Maram H.
Abutaima, Rana
Shoumar, Rasha
Albakri, Rana
Sallam, Malik
Are we seeing the unseen of human trafficking? A retrospective analysis of the CTDC k-anonymized global victim of trafficking data pool in the period 2010–2020
title Are we seeing the unseen of human trafficking? A retrospective analysis of the CTDC k-anonymized global victim of trafficking data pool in the period 2010–2020
title_full Are we seeing the unseen of human trafficking? A retrospective analysis of the CTDC k-anonymized global victim of trafficking data pool in the period 2010–2020
title_fullStr Are we seeing the unseen of human trafficking? A retrospective analysis of the CTDC k-anonymized global victim of trafficking data pool in the period 2010–2020
title_full_unstemmed Are we seeing the unseen of human trafficking? A retrospective analysis of the CTDC k-anonymized global victim of trafficking data pool in the period 2010–2020
title_short Are we seeing the unseen of human trafficking? A retrospective analysis of the CTDC k-anonymized global victim of trafficking data pool in the period 2010–2020
title_sort are we seeing the unseen of human trafficking? a retrospective analysis of the ctdc k-anonymized global victim of trafficking data pool in the period 2010–2020
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10118140/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37079616
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284762
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