Covid-19 pandemic increased number of people at risk of human trafficking, State Department report says

The Covid-19 pandemic increased the number of people at risk for human trafficking as traffickers took advantage of the social and economic crisis created by the global outbreak, the State Department said in a report released Thursday.

The pandemic also caused governments to divert resources away from anti-trafficking efforts, the State Department found, "resulting in decreased protection measures and service provision for victims, reduction of preventative efforts, and hindrances to investigations and prosecutions of traffickers." "If there is one thing we have learned in the last year, it is that human trafficking does not stop during a pandemic," acting Director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons Kari Johnstone wrote in her introduction to the annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report.