テクノロジーを悪用する人身取引への対策に関するフレンズグループによる人身取引反対世界デーに際した共同ステートメント
令和8年7月30日
On World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, the Group of Friends for Combating Technology-Facilitated Trafficking in Persons stands in solidarity with the victims and survivors of this grave crime and abuse of human rights, including those subjected to forced online scamming, an emerging and deeply concerning form of exploitation in which trafficked persons are coerced into conducting online fraud and cyber-enabled criminal activities, and reaffirms its determination to hold traffickers and their facilitators accountable for their crimes.
The scale and rapidly evolving nature of this crime demand urgent attention. Transnational criminal organizations engage in forced labour and forced criminality, exploiting at least 300,000 victims of human trafficking from some 70 countries in online scam operations — a phenomenon that now spans every region, generating billions of dollars in illicit proceeds annually.¹ Forced criminality — including in online scamming, the theme of this year's observance — is now the third most commonly detected form of exploitation among trafficking victims, rising from one per cent of detected victims in 2016 to eight per cent in 2022.²
Increasingly, scam operations function as hubs of poly-criminality, accelerated by the misuse of digital technologies and social media platforms, where trafficking converges with cybercrime, fraud, money laundering and corruption. While the majority of victims exploited in online scam centres are men, women and children continue to account for the majority of detected trafficking victims worldwide and face risks accelerated by new technologies.
The international community is not without tools. The UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its Trafficking in Persons Protocol obligate action and offer concrete tools for international cooperation to investigate and prosecute these crimes. The Global Plan of Action and its 2025 Political Declaration, together with other relevant international frameworks, provide a strong basis for cooperation and collective action.
Yet criminals are exploiting emerging technologies — including artificial intelligence — at every stage of the trafficking cycle, from targeted recruitment and deception to coercion, surveillance and money laundering, at a pace that outstrips traditional responses. Our frameworks are only as strong as our ability to apply them with equal speed and agility.
As a Group of Friends, we aim to serve as an action-oriented platform for raising awareness, exchanging and implementing good practices, and fostering dialogue on emerging trends. We intend to deepen meaningful engagement with the private sector and technology companies, encouraging safety by design and by default, improved reporting and removal of illicit content, privacy-enhancing technologies and data protection, and responsible innovation that respects human rights.
Recognizing the significance of adapting criminal justice responses to the digital age, we encourage continued efforts at the national level and through relevant international organizations — including preservation and exchange of electronic evidence, financial investigations that follow the money (including virtual currencies), disruption of illicit financial flows, strengthened cross-border cooperation, and capacity-building through tailored and outcome-based technical assistance in cyber-enabled investigations, victim identification and protection, which includes preventing inappropriate penalization of potential victims solely for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked.
Throughout, we commit to upholding a victim-centred, trauma-informed, human rights-based approach — ensuring safe reporting channels, safeguarding privacy and freedom of expression, addressing the particular risks faced by women and children, and placing their rights at the centre of prevention and protection.
We also intend to work to ensure that political discussions on this issue in New York are closely connected with the thematic and technical work carried out in Geneva and Vienna, so that momentum generated across the UN system is coherent and coordinated, to drive meaningful change.
Technology must serve human dignity — never its exploitation. Those who defraud, traffic in persons, and misuse technology for criminal ends must face justice. The Group of Friends reaffirms its resolve to work with all partners toward that end. /END/
¹ OHCHR (2023)
² UNODC, Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2024 (December 2024).
The scale and rapidly evolving nature of this crime demand urgent attention. Transnational criminal organizations engage in forced labour and forced criminality, exploiting at least 300,000 victims of human trafficking from some 70 countries in online scam operations — a phenomenon that now spans every region, generating billions of dollars in illicit proceeds annually.¹ Forced criminality — including in online scamming, the theme of this year's observance — is now the third most commonly detected form of exploitation among trafficking victims, rising from one per cent of detected victims in 2016 to eight per cent in 2022.²
Increasingly, scam operations function as hubs of poly-criminality, accelerated by the misuse of digital technologies and social media platforms, where trafficking converges with cybercrime, fraud, money laundering and corruption. While the majority of victims exploited in online scam centres are men, women and children continue to account for the majority of detected trafficking victims worldwide and face risks accelerated by new technologies.
The international community is not without tools. The UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its Trafficking in Persons Protocol obligate action and offer concrete tools for international cooperation to investigate and prosecute these crimes. The Global Plan of Action and its 2025 Political Declaration, together with other relevant international frameworks, provide a strong basis for cooperation and collective action.
Yet criminals are exploiting emerging technologies — including artificial intelligence — at every stage of the trafficking cycle, from targeted recruitment and deception to coercion, surveillance and money laundering, at a pace that outstrips traditional responses. Our frameworks are only as strong as our ability to apply them with equal speed and agility.
As a Group of Friends, we aim to serve as an action-oriented platform for raising awareness, exchanging and implementing good practices, and fostering dialogue on emerging trends. We intend to deepen meaningful engagement with the private sector and technology companies, encouraging safety by design and by default, improved reporting and removal of illicit content, privacy-enhancing technologies and data protection, and responsible innovation that respects human rights.
Recognizing the significance of adapting criminal justice responses to the digital age, we encourage continued efforts at the national level and through relevant international organizations — including preservation and exchange of electronic evidence, financial investigations that follow the money (including virtual currencies), disruption of illicit financial flows, strengthened cross-border cooperation, and capacity-building through tailored and outcome-based technical assistance in cyber-enabled investigations, victim identification and protection, which includes preventing inappropriate penalization of potential victims solely for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked.
Throughout, we commit to upholding a victim-centred, trauma-informed, human rights-based approach — ensuring safe reporting channels, safeguarding privacy and freedom of expression, addressing the particular risks faced by women and children, and placing their rights at the centre of prevention and protection.
We also intend to work to ensure that political discussions on this issue in New York are closely connected with the thematic and technical work carried out in Geneva and Vienna, so that momentum generated across the UN system is coherent and coordinated, to drive meaningful change.
Technology must serve human dignity — never its exploitation. Those who defraud, traffic in persons, and misuse technology for criminal ends must face justice. The Group of Friends reaffirms its resolve to work with all partners toward that end. /END/
¹ OHCHR (2023)
² UNODC, Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2024 (December 2024).