The 2022 UNODC Global Report on Trafficking in Persons is the seventh of its kind mandated by the General Assembly through the 2010 United Nations Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons. This edition of the Global Report provides a snapshot of the trafficking patterns and flows detected during the COVID-19 pandemic. It covers 141 countries and provides an overview of the response to the trafficking in persons at global regional and national levels by analysing trafficking cases detected between 2018 and 2021. A major focus of this edition of the Report is on trends of detections and convictions that show important changes compared to historical trends since UNODC started to collect data in 2003.

The 2018 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons (Booklet 1) provides a comprehensive analysis of the crime of trafficking in persons and how countries are responding to it. On the basis of the mandate from the 2010 Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons UNODC is collecting data on patterns and flows of trafficking in persons at the national regional and international levels and using this data to produce the biennial Global Report. The Trafficking in Persons in the Context of Armed Conflict (Booklet 2) provides an extensive desk review of available literature court cases from the international criminal courts and tribunals and expert interviews with United Nations peacekeeping personnel. The result is an overview of trafficking in persons and its direct and indirect links to armed conflict.

Trafficking in persons is a crime that affects nearly every country in the world. The 2014 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons is the second in a biennial series of UNODC reports on this topic. The Report which is primarily based on officially reported information from Governments across the world focuses on patterns and flows of trafficking in persons at the global regional and national levels. The aim of the Report is twofold: firstly to foster a better understanding of this crime and secondly to strengthen the collective response to it. This edition also includes the Country Profiles showing statistical data for the years 2010 through to 2013 in some cases.

The Global Report on Trafficking in Persons provides new information on a crime that shames us all. Based on data gathered from 155 countries it offers the first global assessment of the scope of human trafficking and what is being done to fight it. It includes: an overview of trafficking patterns; legal steps taken in response; and country-specific information on reported cases of trafficking in persons victims and prosecutions. The most common form of human trafficking (79%) is sexual exploitation. The victims of sexual exploitation are predominantly women and girls. Surprisingly in 30% of the countries which provided information on the gender of traffickers women make up the largest proportion of traffickers. In some parts of the world women trafficking women is the norm. The second most common form of human trafficking is forced labour (18%) although this may be a misrepresentation because forced labour is less frequently detected and reported than trafficking for sexual exploitation. Worldwide almost 20% of all trafficking victims are children. However in some parts of Africa and the Mekong region children are the majority (up to 100% in parts of West Africa). Although trafficking seems to imply people moving across continents most exploitation takes place close to home. Data show intra-regional and domestic trafficking are the major forms of trafficking in persons.