TIP Report Highlights Increase in Prosecution of Human Trafficking Worldwide

Washington, D.C.– Human Rights First today welcomed new data in the State Department’s 2016 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report indicating that global prosecutions of human trafficking rose by 88 percent in 2015 over the previous year. The 2016 TIP report, which was released this morning, is an annual accounting of global efforts to combat human trafficking.

“This year’s TIP report shows a huge improvement in the number of human trafficking cases that are being prosecuted around the world and here at home,” said Human Rights First’s Annick Febrey. “While some of this increase is due to better data sharing from several governments, the trend is going in the right direction and this improvement is a significant step towards making human trafficking riskier for perpetrators. Government and law enforcement agencies should continue to work together to overcome obstacles to prosecutions and convictions, especially for cases involving forced labor.”

According to the 2016 TIP Report, global prosecutions rose in 2015 by 88 percent, convictions rose by 49 percent, and victims identified by law enforcement increased by 75 percent over the previous reporting period. Human Rights First notes that there remains a significant gap in the number of labor trafficking cases handled—of these 6,609 convictions last year, only seven percent were labor trafficking cases. This is far from representative of the scale of the crime. According to the International Labor organization, approximately 68 percent of the world’s estimated 20.9 million victims are victims of a form of forced labor.