Traffickers online: UN.GIFT explores the impact of new technologies on human trafficking

19 April 2010.- The Internet has become a powerful tool to raise awareness about human trafficking and build networks to disseminate knowledge on the crime and its impacts. UN.GIFT and other organizations working to fight human trafficking are taking advantage of online social networks to increase global understanding of the issue. By using the UN.GIFT Facebook group or exchanging messages on Twitter, UN.GIFT aims to communicate with Internet users to spread anti-trafficking messages and bring attention to this problem. The Internet can also be used to facilitate detection of incidents and cooperation between law enforcement organizations.

But at the same time, criminal networks are using new information technologies to expand their activities. Traffickers increasingly use the Internet to target vulnerable groups and potential victims, exploiting the anonymity of virtual networks. UN.GIFT addressed this issue on 17 April in Salvador, Brazil at the Twelfth United National Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in a side event entitled "The Impact of the Internet on Trafficking in Persons".

Experts from different parts of the world gathered at the Crime Congress to discuss the use of the Internet in human trafficking. The participants analysed the roles different stakeholders in combating human trafficking, such as governments, civil society and private sector, can take in the actions needed to disrupt criminal activities online. "The use of the Internet by  traffickers is not extensively documented, however it is known the criminals are using the Internet to recruit victims and advertise their services while avoiding police detection," said UN.GIFT's Narue Shiki at the meeting.

The use of the Internet to target victims offers advantages to human traffickers over traditional means. They can address wider audiences and particularly vulnerable groups through chat-rooms, spam mail or Internet dating. Experts at the meeting emphasized the importance of cooperation between governmental and non-governmental actors to strengthen the use of the Internet as an anti-trafficking tool and to thwart its use as an aid for criminal activity.