VIENNA, April 24 (UPI) -- The United States is among the 10 most frequently reported destinations for victims of human trafficking, says a new U.N. report.
The Vienna-based U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime on Monday released its first analysis of data collected from 113 organizations on the origin, transit routes and destination countries of trafficking victims.
The UNODC report analyzes nearly 5,000 notations by international organizations, governments, media outlets and other organizations on human trafficking between 1996 and 2003.
The UNODC report found human trafficking victims are "recruited" in 127 different countries. Ninety-eight countries serve as transit routes, and 137 are destination locations, the report said.
The number of victims, however, is harder to fix.
"It is extremely difficult to establish how many victims there are world-wide as the level of reporting varies considerably, but the number certainly runs into millions," UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa said in a statement.
Over 85 percent of the organizations whose trafficking data the UNODC analyzed reported sexual exploitation as the motive. Forced labor and forced removal of organs accounted for the remainder, according to the report.
The report noted that advocacy on human trafficking has focused largely on sexual slavery, whose victims are usually women and young girls. Trafficking of men and boys, who are more often employed as forced laborers, is underreported.
Governments have an abysmal record at prosecuting trafficking cases, making it even more difficult to get an accurate picture, Costa said.
"Efforts to counter trafficking have so far been uncoordinated and inefficient. The lack of systematic reporting by authorities is a real problem," he said.
Costa also noted that victims of trafficking are often deported from destination countries as illegal migrants, making them less likely to help expose the criminal circles of which they've become victims.
