Some 4 million people are trafficked by criminal groups every year. The earnings for the criminals now reach 5 to 7 billion dollars. Modern slavery takes many forms. This region struggles to control slavery practices in the sex industry. Women and children are purchased in rural areas for work as prostitutes in the cities or abroad.
Similar situations exist elsewhere.
Some 200 thousand women and girls from Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union are sold into sexual exploitation each year in Western Europe. Other sources can be found in Africa and Latin America. Worldwide, an estimated 700 thousand to 1 million women and children are shipped across national boundaries each year and sold into slavery-like practices. Other forms of modern slavery involve forced labour in sweatshops or as domestic workers under debt-bondage arrangements. Victims think they are being recruited for a better life abroad.