Sex traffickers make $27,252 per victim as illegal profits hit $235bn yearly

The International Labour Organization has disclosed that sex traffickers make $27,252 per victim as forced labour in the private economy generates $236 billion in illegal profits annually.

This was disclosed in a new report on its website titled, 'Profits and Poverty: The economics of forced labour', from Geneva.

As seen by AMBusiness, ILO revealed in its report that forced commercial sexual exploitation accounts for more than two-thirds (73 per cent) of the total illegal profits.

ILO added that the "total amount of illegal profits from forced labour has risen by $64 billion (37%) since 2014, a significant, attributed to a growth in the number of people forced into labour, as well as higher profits generated from the exploitation of victims."

According to the report, from $8,269 a decade earlier, traffickers and criminals generate approximately $10,000 in revenue for each victim.

The highest illegal profits are in Europe and the lowest in the Arab countries.

"Europe and Central Asia account for the largest annual illegal profits from the forced labour of $84 billion, followed by Asia and the Pacific $62 billion, Americas $52 billion, Africa $20 billion, and Arab countries $18 billion," the statement read