The Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2018 released by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) notes that countries have reported increased numbers of detected trafficking victims over the last few years.  

The 142 countries covered by the data collection were grouped into four main regions and 10 subregions.  The four regions are: Africa and the Middle East; South, East Asia and the Pacific; the Americas; and Europe and Central Asia.  Countries in Europe and Central Asia are grouped into the three subregions of Western and Southern Europe, Central and South-Eastern Europe, and Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

The report notes that trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation is the most detected form of trafficking globally.  Victims trafficked for sexual exploitation reportedly comprised 59 per cent of the detected victims in 2016.  One victim out of three detected was trafficked for forced labor, and seven per cent of detected victims were trafficked for other purposes.

The detected forms of exploitation vary widely across the different subregions.  In 2016, trafficking for the purpose of forced labor was the most frequently detected form in Southern, East and West Africa, and the countries of the Middle East.

In South Asia as well as in Central Asia, trafficking for forced labor and for sexual exploitation was detected in near-equal proportions, according to the report.  

The majority of the victims detected in Eastern Europe and Central Asia are adults, and both subregions reported more women victims than men.  However, compared to other areas, Eastern Europe and Central Asia reports a larger share of victims who are men (31 per cent).  Some countries (Armenia and Moldova) report more men than women among the detected victims.  In Central Asia, the share of victims who are men is only marginally smaller than the share of women.  In this subregion, adults account for 92 per cent of all detected victims. 

Across the subregion, the share of detected child trafficking reportedly remains minimal compared to other parts of the world.  Regarding the sex of the detected child victims, the countries in Central Asia reported more victims who were boys than girls.  Meanwhile in Eastern Europe, the number of detected victims who were girls was much higher than that of boys. The report says that compared to the profile of the victims detected in 2014, there has been a reduction in the number and share of detected victims who are men in Uzbekistan.  Data for 2017 also confirm this trend. In Eastern Europe, there has been a slight increase in the share of detected girl victims, in parallel with a decreasing share of women.  This might indicate that the average age of the detected victims who are trafficked for sexual exploitation in Eastern Europe is decreasing.

Most of the detected victims in Eastern Europe (and South Caucasus) were trafficked for sexual exploitation, while about one third were trafficked for forced labor.  This is smaller than in Central Asia and South Asia.

Nearly all the victims of trafficking for forced labor are adults, with a far larger share of men (76 per cent) than women.  Central Asian countries report a higher level of trafficking for forced labor than the rest of the subregion.  Trafficking for sexual exploitation and for forced labor are near-equally detected, ranging around 45 to 48 per cent of the more than 900 victims reported in this subregion in 2016.  

Unlike most other subregions, countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia reported almost equal numbers of males and females prosecuted for trafficking in persons and larger numbers of females convicted.  During the reporting period, 86 males and 85 females were prosecuted for trafficking in persons and related crimes.  At the same time 35 males and 46 females were convicted.  This ratio is in line with data from previous years.  Countries in Central Asia tend to report more women charged with trafficking offences, while in Eastern Europe (and South Caucasus) there are more males. 

Eastern Europe and Central Asia is a subregion of origin for victims of trafficking. While most of the detected trafficking remains within the subregion, victims from this part of the world have also been detected in or repatriated from other regions, such as Western and Central Europe, but also from the Middle East and East Asia.  The latter two areas mainly detect victims from Central Asia. 

The report says a very limited number of victims from other regions have been detected in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, indicating that these flows remain limited.