UN report: trafficking down

The COVID-19 pandemic led to the first drop in the known number of humantrafficking victims in 20 years, but the Ukraine war has probably now caused a new surge, a UN report said on Tuesday.

The number of trafficking victims fell 11% in 2020, the most recent year for which data is available, the United Nations said. “The refugee emergency in Ukraine is elevating risks of trafficking for the Ukrainian displaced population.

“The 2014 conflict in Ukraine quadrupled the number of Ukrainian victims detected in Western Europe,” it said, referring to Russia’s annexation of Crimea.