US says human trafficking of boys, young men 'often overlooked'

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - The human trafficking of boys and young men often goes without global attention causing "devastating" consequences, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday.

Speaking as he publicly rolled out the 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report, Blinken said boys and young men constitute an "often overlooked segment of trafficking victims." He cited UN data that found a five-fold increase from 2004 to 2020 in the share of trafficking victims comprised of boys.

"For years, there's been a widely held, but incorrect, belief that trafficking affects exclusively female victims. This false perception has had some quite frankly devastating and tangible consequences, with far fewer support services typically allocated to male victims of trafficking," said Blinken.

"The reality is that any person, regardless of sex, regardless of gender identity, can be targeted by human traffickers. And so governments, civil society, the private sector, all of us have to develop resources for all populations, including male victims," the top US diplomat added.

The State Department's report found the coronavirus pandemic led to significant upticks in forced labor amid broken supply chains worldwide as industries scrambled to find workers to churn out goods, including widely-sought personal protective equipment.

Online scams have also flourished in the wake of the pandemic, with Blinken saying it "supercharged" the trend to recruit victims with fake job listings.

In order to adequately respond to human trafficking, Blinken called for an "all hands on deck" approach comprised of prosecution from law enforcement, victim aid from social workers and pressure from advocates seeking to ensure governments clamp down on the criminal enterprise.

The Trafficking in Persons Report categorizes nations into four tiers based on their efforts to combat human trafficking - Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 2 Watchlist and Tier 3.

Tier 3 is reserved for nations who do not make any meaningful efforts to clamp down on trafficking while Tier 2 Watchlist is for those nations that are making efforts to come into compliance with the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act, a law dating back to 2000. Tier 3 nations face US funding restrictions.

Currently, two dozen nations are categorized as Tier 3, including Afghanistan, China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Syria and Venezuela.