Yet police and prosecutors are often not equipped to deal with the recruitment and exploitation of children by extremist groups - while global convictions of traffickers remain very low - according to the UNODC's annual report on human trafficking. "Trafficking is found in connection with most armed conflicts," said Yury Fedotov, executive director of the UNODC. "Child soldiers, forced labour, sexual slavery - human trafficking has taken on horrific dimensions as armed groups and terrorists use it to spread fear and gain victims to offer as incentives to recruit new fighters," he said in a statement. "In some countries ... there appears to be hardly any risk for traffickers to face justice," the report said. About 40 million people worldwide are living as slaves - trapped in forced labour or forced marriages - according to a landmark estimate by Australian rights group the Walk Free Foundation and the UN International Labour Organization (ILO).

Source: bd News24 January 08, 2019 07:52 UTC