The organism presents the 2019-2020 analysis of the National Line Against Human Trafficking and it says criminals use deceiving job offers and social networks to hook victims.
The pandemic due to COVID-19 modified the way in which Human Trafficking criminal groups work since they diversified the methods they use to hook victims and they employed deceitful job offers as their main instrument, according to the firs biannual report of the Citizen Council for Safety and Justice in Mexico City.
In “Human Trafficking, Mexico 2019-2020” they say that during the sanitary contingency criminals used social networks in 22% of the cases as a mean to hook vulnerable people, while before the sanitary contingency they represented less than 10%.
The report, presented last Tuesday in the virtual conference with the participation of the heads of the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF, by its Spanish initials), Santiago Nieto, and the UNODC, Kristian Hölge, is the result of an analysis of the 4 thousand 445 reports received during 2019 and 2020 in the National Line Against Human Trafficking (LNCTP) 800 5533 000, operated 24/7 by the Citizen Council.
Among their findings, emotional deceit was listed as the second most used method to hook victims. In 47% of the cases they used deceitful job offers while sentimental promises represented 29%.
“By modifying the tools used by traffickers, they also opened an opportunity to update the way civil organisms, businesses and authorities work together to fight against Trafficking, and to create strategies that limit unlawful operations and use of resources,” said Salvador Guerrero Chipres, President of the Citizen Council.
The report determined that the most vulnerable victims of this crime, considered by the UN as the third most profitable after gun and drug trafficking, are women, young people and children who also have an economic need.
During the document’s presentation, Nieto Castillo, head of the UIF –organism that collaborates with the Citizen Council– mentioned that from 2004 to this date they have reports of 2 thousand 131 irregular operations linked with Trafficking and from 2010 to 2021 they registered 63 cases of victimized children and teenagers.
“In Mexico they identified that in 29 of the 32 states of the Republic the number of pawns increased, something that meant that people were losing their belongings in order to have resources to face the pandemic, and at the same time, the numbers of denunciations related with Trafficking increased,” he added.
Although most reports of the LNCTP come from Mexico, there are some cases that were registered from Latin American countries and even Dubai or the island of Malta. Also, the document reports cases of exploitation found in a barbershop, an “au pair” (lodging a foreign person in exchange for work) and commerce. Kristian Hölge, representative of the United Nations Office against Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) pointed out the importance of generating data to design public policies, plans, programs and legal advances.
“One phone call to the National Line against Human Trafficking of the Citizen Council can literally save a life (…) Let’s remember that behind any number there’s a face and a voice that deserves to be heard to guarantee the protection of human rights for everyone,” he said. The articulation of the Citizen Council and authorities such as anti-trafficking prosecutors offices, contributed with opening 11.3% of the investigation files nationwide in 2019 and 8% in 2020.
Guerrero Chipres reminded that, before the great demand for attention, in March this year the organism opened the National Chat against Trafficking that, together with the LNCTP operates with the number 800 5533 000 and it’s a free legal and psychological support service that’s available 24/7 and can be confidential if the victim or witness desires.
The first biannual report “Human Trafficking, Mexico 2019-2020” of the Citizen Council for Safety and Justice in Mexico City is available in the following link:
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