Sexual exploitation drives 37% rise in profits from forced labour, ILO says

Sex traffickers are making an average of £21,000 a year from each of their victims as profits from forced labour around the world soar, according to new estimates from the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

The ILO, a UN agency, said the annual global profits from forced labour had risen to $236bn (£185bn) as record numbers of people were forced into modern slavery.

Sexual exploitation is by far the most lucrative form of forced labour. While only 27% of people subjected to forced labour were sexually exploited, the ILO said, the profits generated by this crime accounted for 73% of the total illegal profits from all forms of forced labour.

The ILO said that its new estimates on forced labour showed a 37% rise from the last set of figures, released in 2014.

“These illegal profits are the wages that rightfully belong in the pockets of workers but instead remain in the hands of their exploiters, as a result of their coercive practices,” the ILO report said.

The ILO said the rise was fuelled by a growth in the number of people in forced labour – a form of modern slavery – and by higher profits generated from the exploitation of victims. There were now more than 27 million people around the world trapped in forms of modern slavery, it said.

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Traffickers, criminals and unscrupulous employers were making an average of nearly $10,000 for every victim, the agency said.

According to the report, people forced to work in industries generated $35bn a year for exploiters, while those in the service sector made about $21bn.

Geographically, the highest profits from forced labour were in Europe and central Asia, followed by Asia and the Pacific, and then the Americas, the ILO said.

Gilbert Houngbo, the director general of the ILO, said: ““Forced labour perpetuates cycles of poverty and exploitation and strikes at the heart of human dignity. We now know that the situation has only got worse.

“The international community must urgently come together to take action to end this injustice, safeguard workers’ rights and uphold the principles of fairness and equality for all.”