Human trafficking No. 3 criminal business

LYONS, France, March 3 (UPI) -- One in five victims of human trafficking are children, Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni told a group of international police officials Tuesday.

Maroni, addressing a gathering of Interpol chiefs at the agency's headquarters in Lyons, France, said the trading of human lives is "the third-largest illegal business in the world," the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

''Unfortunately, statistics suggest it is a growing problem,'' he said. ''The most alarming figure is probably that almost 20 percent of all trafficking victims are children, a percentage that rises to 100 percent in certain parts of West Africa.''

About 75 percent of trafficking is done to provide sex workers, Maroni said, with 20 percent providing slave laborers. He said trafficking groups are "transnational," with interior divisions that sometimes reflect ethnic and national lines.

Italian organized crime groups work closely with their counterparts elsewhere, he said.