Just published by the Council on Foreign Affairs

From the Foreward:

Human trafficking—which the United Nations defines as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of people through force, fraud, or deception, with the aim of exploiting them for profit—is centuries old but remains a modern-day problem of significant proportions. It is a wide-reaching practice, encompassing men, women, boys, and girls used against their will to perform labor and sex, enter into marriage, and provide organs. It is a problem that is endemic across the globe, including here in the United States, with an estimated twenty-five million victims worldwide. And it is worsening, accelerated by the proliferation of migration crises, global conflicts, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Click on the graphic image to download a copy of the report

The good news, according to Bigio and Vogelstein, is that “this agenda can be accomplished with modest investment of time and funding and promises significant returns for U.S. economic and security interests.” All of which is to say that there are numerous ways this scourge can and should be addressed by governments and the private sector alike. Bigio and Vogelstein’s report offers an excellent guide for doing just that.


Founded in 1921, CFR carries out its mission by maintaining a diverse membership, with special programs to promote interest and develop expertise in the next generation of foreign policy leaders; convening meetings at its headquarters in New York and in Washington, DC, and other cities where senior government officials, members of Congress, global leaders, and prominent thinkers come together with Council members to discuss and debate major international issues; supporting a Studies Program that fosters independent research, enabling CFR scholars to produce articles, reports, and books and hold roundtables that analyze foreign policy issues and make concrete policy recommendations; publishing Foreign Affairs, the preeminent journal on international affairs and U.S. foreign policy; sponsoring Independent Task Forces that produce
reports with both findings and policy prescriptions on the most important foreign policy topics; and
providing up-to-date information and analysis about world events and American foreign policy on its
website, CFR.org.