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Impact of COVID-19 on Trafficking in Persons
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In this section we provide a thematic overview of the key areas where COVID-19 has had an impact on trafficking in persons. It includes information from academic and grey literature,7 and some findings from the IAHTN webinars. The literature that we consulted is included in the annotated bibliography in Appendix 1. Our findings are organised under the following headings: Loss of Livelihoods, Health Risks, Changes in Migration Patterns and Repatriation, Domestic and Online Exploitation, Supply Chain Risks, Reduced Services and Responses of Organisations.
Photo by Joshua Watson on Unsplash
Loss of Livelihoods The pandemic has increased economic instability with millions of people losing their jobs (Anti-Slavery International, 2020). The garment industry in Bangladesh and India for instance has cancelled orders and halted trading, resulting in one million workers being laid off or temporarily suspended (ibid). An NGO representative taking part in a network webinar confirmed that there are problems with companies cancelling orders and not paying for or demanding
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discounts on orders of garments, which is passing the problem down the line to the most vulnerable individuals and resulting in workers being unpaid and unemployed. Another participant reported similar patterns in Cambodia, where thousands of migrants working in factories in Thailand and within the country have lost their jobs. Women in particular are more likely to lose their jobs given the nature of the sectors they work in or they are unable
rey literature refers to material that is produced by organisations outside of academic and commercial G publishing. It can include reports, working papers or minutes from meetings, for instance, and may be published as well as unpublished.
to go to work due to an increase of household duties and childcare as a result of lockdown (Wenham, Smith and Morgan, 2020). An NGO representative taking part in a network webinar discussed how most individuals losing their jobs from garment manufacturing are women, sending them into desperate situations where they are at higher risk of exploitation, prostitution and engaging in more dangerous sex work for income.
NGO representatives participating in a network webinar also highlighted that loss of income for migrant workers will have a significant negative impact on their families who are often reliant on remittances, and this may put these individuals at greater risk of trafficking and exploitation as they seek supplementary income. Both migrants and their families are now unable to repay the loans they have taken out in anticipation of repaying them with wages.
