Trafficking in human
beings
Interpol aims to end the abuse and exploitation of human
beings for financial gain. Women from developing countries and young
children all over the world are especially vulnerable to
trafficking, smuggling or sexual exploitation.
Trafficking
in women for sexual exploitation is a multi-billion-dollar
business which involves citizens of most countries and helps sustain
organized crime. A violation of human rights, it destroys the lives
of its victims.
Human trafficking is distinct from people smuggling in that it
involves the exploitation of the migrant, often for purposes of
forced labour and prostitution.
People
smuggling implies the procurement, for financial or material
gain, of the illegal entry into a state of which that person is
neither a citizen nor a permanent resident. Criminal networks which
smuggle and traffic in human beings for financial gain increasingly
control the flow of migrants across borders.
Child
sexual exploitation on the Internet ranges from posed photos to
visual recordings of brutal sexual crimes. One of Interpol’s main
tools for helping police fight this type of crime is the Interpol
Child Abuse Image Database (ICAID).
Created in 2001, it contains
hundreds of thousands of images of child sexual abuse submitted by
member countries, thereby facilitating the sharing of images and
information to assist law enforcement agencies with the
identification of new victims.