Women, children and migrants were most at risk, with demand for domestic staff and workers in the sex industry responsible for fuelling the trade. The emerging picture is one where slavery, oppression and exploitation of society's most vulnerable members have by no means been consigned to the past. Although the Geneva-based ILO gave no overall figures, it said the United States was believed to be the destination for 50,000 trafficked women and children each year alone, with New York and California the main entry points. The report said slavery was increasingly rare but still found in a few countries. In the sex industry, workers were also forced to stay in the job through debt.
Victims frequently find themselves trapped in debt bondage and other slavery-like conditions.
Poverty, unemployment, civil disorder, political repression and gender and racial discrimination make for an all too propitious environment for traffickers' exploitation of vulnerable people. Authorities had difficulty detecting the trade as it is often carried out by international gangs who find it less dangerous than drug smuggling. People smugglers have rarely been caught and the punishments handed down were usually lighter than for drug smuggling, the ILO said. Main destinations were the large cities of Western Europe, Israel, Japan and the U.S., the report said. The country is subject to ILO sanctions following revelations of widespread use of forced labour for infrastructure projects or by the military.