“Billions Profited Annually by Criminals in S-ex Trade and Slavery”

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"Billions Profited Annually by Criminals in S-ex Trade and Slavery"

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The United Nations labor agency reported on Tuesday that illegal profits from forced labor worldwide have surged to an “obscene” amount of $236 billion per year, with sexual exploitation responsible for three-fourths of the earnings. This exploitative industry deprives migrants of their rightful earnings, displaces legal workers, and enables criminals to evade taxes.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) revealed that the figure for 2021, the latest year covered in its comprehensive international study, represents a staggering increase of 37%, or $64 billion, compared to its previous estimate a decade ago. This surge is attributed to both a rise in the number of exploited individuals and an increase in profits generated per victim.

The report’s introduction starkly states, “$236 billion. This is the obscene level of annual profit generated from forced labor in the world today.” This sum signifies earnings “effectively stolen from the pockets of workers” by those who coerce them into labor, as well as funds siphoned from migrants’ remittances and lost tax revenue for governments.

Forced labor breeds corruption, bolsters criminal networks, and perpetuates further exploitation, according to ILO.

Gilbert Houngbo, the director-general of ILO, calls for international cooperation to combat this criminal enterprise. “People in forced labor are subject to multiple forms of coercion, with the deliberate and systematic withholding of wages being amongst the most common,” he stated. “Forced labor perpetuates cycles of poverty and exploitation and strikes at the heart of human dignity.”

“We now know that the situation has only got worse,” Houngbo added.

ILO defines forced labor as work imposed against the will of the employee and extracted under penalty or threat thereof. It can occur at any stage of employment: during recruitment, in living conditions related to work, or by preventing individuals from leaving their jobs.

In 2021, an estimated 27.6 million people were trapped in forced labor worldwide, marking a 10% increase from five years earlier, ILO reported. The Asia-Pacific region accounted for over half of these individuals, with Africa, the Americas, and Europe-Central Asia each representing about 13% to 14%.

Approximately 85% of the victims were subjected to “privately imposed forced labor,” encompassing slavery, serfdom, bonded labor, and forms of begging where proceeds benefit others. Sexual exploitation, affecting just over one-fourth of victims worldwide, contributed nearly $173 billion to the total profits, signifying the lucrative nature of the sex trade.

ILO disclosed that about 6.3 million people experienced forced commercial sexual exploitation on any given day in 2021, with nearly 80% of these victims being girls or women, and children accounting for over a quarter of total cases.

Forced labor in industries generated $35 billion in profits, followed by services at nearly $21 billion, agriculture at $5 billion, and domestic work at $2.6 billion, according to the Geneva-based labor agency.