 Human trafficking is defined by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime ( UNODC ) as " the recruitment , transport , transfer , harbouring or receipt of a person by such means as threat or use of force or other forms of coercion , of abduction , of fraud or deception for the purpose of exploitation " . The UNODC approximates the number of victims worldwide to be around 2 @.@ 5 million . UNICEF reports that since 1982 about 30 million children have been trafficked . Trafficking for sexual slavery accounts for 79 % of cases , with the majority of victims being female , of which an estimated 20 % are children . Women are also often perpetrators as well . 
