EVENTS: On July 30th, the United Nations Office for Drug and Crime (UNODC) will host a high-level event to mark the World Day against Trafficking in Persons 2025. The event will showcase the ways to ensure justice for survivors which requires holding perpetrators accountable and to provide a victim-centred approach to protection, support and access to justice.We particularly encourage law enforcement agencies, including police departments, border security, international agencies, and specialized task forces, to take an active role by utilizing online platforms and conducting in-person outreach at high-traffic areas such as transportation hubs. This way we can reach a wide audience, raise public awareness and promote reporting channels for suspected trafficking cases. The participants active involvement will bridge the gap between the campaign’s global reach and local realities, to ensure that it effectively connects with those impacted by human trafficking. Register to participate!
Human trafficking is a horrific crime and a gross violation of human rights. It is one of the fastest-growing forms of organized crime – run by ruthless networks that prey on vulnerability and profit from pain.
This is a brutal, highly organized enterprise built on deception, coercion and exploitation. And it is evolving rapidly.
Criminal groups are operating across borders with alarming speed and sophistication. They exploit legal loopholes, infiltrate legitimate industries and supply chains, take advantage of migration flows, and use technology to recruit, control and abuse – including through online sexual exploitation or forcing victims into cyber-scams.
We must respond with unity and urgency.
We can do so by breaking the business model that sustains human trafficking – ending impunity, cutting off illicit profits, and strengthening law enforcement and justice systems. Perpetrators must be held accountable.
We must also forge strong alliances -- with civil society, and the private sector including technology companies – to raise awareness and promote reporting channels to prevent exploitation and protect the vulnerable.
And we must strive to ensure justice for survivors, support the displaced, and tackle root causes – from poverty and inequality to conflict and climate disruption.
On this World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, let us act together to stand with victims, hold perpetrators to account and build a world where no one is bought, sold, or exploited.
UNODC Executive Director Video Message on World Day against Trafficking in Persons, 30 July 2025
This is a brutal, highly organized enterprise built on deception, coercion and exploitation. And it is evolving rapidly.
Criminal groups are operating across borders with alarming speed and sophistication. They exploit legal loopholes, infiltrate legitimate industries and supply chains, take advantage of migration flows, and use technology to recruit, control and abuse – including through online sexual exploitation or forcing victims into cyber-scams.
We must respond with unity and urgency.
We can do so by breaking the business model that sustains human trafficking – ending impunity, cutting off illicit profits, and strengthening law enforcement and justice systems. Perpetrators must be held accountable.
We must also forge strong alliances -- with civil society, and the private sector including technology companies – to raise awareness and promote reporting channels to prevent exploitation and protect the vulnerable.
And we must strive to ensure justice for survivors, support the displaced, and tackle root causes – from poverty and inequality to conflict and climate disruption.
On this World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, let us act together to stand with victims, hold perpetrators to account and build a world where no one is bought, sold, or exploited.
António Guterres, UN Secretary-General.
UNODC Executive Director Video Message on World Day against Trafficking in Persons, 30 July 2025
Human trafficking no longer hides in the shadows – it operates under a thin disguise, embedded in our economies and daily lives. And it’s growing more organized, more structured, and more ruthless. UNODC data shows that organized criminal networks are behind 74 per cent of detected cases. Traffickers are infiltrating legitimate industries, from agriculture to construction and hospitality, masked by legal contracts and buried in supply chains. Forced labour now accounts for 42 percent of detected trafficking victims, the highest on record. Trafficking for forced criminality is also surging, jumping from 1 per cent a decade ago to 8 per cent today. And traffickers are adapting, using technology and digital platforms to recruit, ensnare, and abuse. From fake job offers to dating apps, women and girls are being lured into online sexual exploitation, while victims are being made to commit cyber-scams and fraud as part of a billion-dollar industry. The exploitation is more systematic than ever. And the world is fighting back. Over 180 countries now have legislation criminalizing human trafficking in all its forms. Protection mechanisms are expanding, helping more survivors with better support. And international cooperation is growing. But we cannot be complacent. We must act faster and smarter. By standardizing the way we look at data, to understand global and national trends. By equipping criminal justice systems to dismantle trafficking networks and end impunity. And by building bridges with the private sector, tech companies, and financial institutions. On this World Day against Trafficking in Persons, let us work together for a world where traffickers have nowhere to hide, and justice leaves no one behind.
UNODC Executive Director.
PUBLICATIONS: Read the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons. from the UNODC.
HOW TO GET INVOLVED?
You can take action by Supporting the Blue Heart Campaign
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