NEW YORK, November 24 (Sputnik) – The UN warned of a growing number of children being trafficked across international borders on Monday in its 2014 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons.
The number of youngsters being trafficked has grown by five percent, compared to the 2007-2010 period, according to the report which was released in Vienna by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
Latest report on #humantrafficking: children 1/3 of known victims, 5% incr. from last period - http://t.co/ZVth4mUmsB http://t.co/mLpRlEykgZ
— UNODC (@UNODC) 24 ноября 2014
The report points out that one in three known victims of people-smuggling is a child.
"The report shows there is no place in the world where children, women and men are safe from human trafficking," UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov said in a statement to accompany his agency's annual report.
"Official data reported to UNODC by national authorities represent only what has been detected. It is very clear that the scale of modern-day slavery is far worse," he added.
Child trafficking is a big concern in Africa and the Middle East, where children constitute 62 percent of victims. Overall, girls make up two out of every three child victims. Together with women, they account for 70 percent of victims globally.