The exploitation of one human being by another is the basest crime. And yet trafficking in persons remains all too common, with all too few consequences for the perpetrators.

Since 2010, when the General Assembly mandated UNODC to produce this report under the UN Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons, we have seen too little improvement in the overall criminal justice response..

More than 90% of countries have legislation criminalizing human trafficking since the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, under the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, came into force more than a decade ago.