The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has said it is stepping up its fight against human trafficking and migrant smuggling, it announced on Monday.

Combating child trafficking will be a top priority under the action by UNODC.

It also highlighted the links between trafficking and smuggling, and other forms of organised crime such as cybercrime, money laundering, drug trafficking, firearms trafficking and corruption.

UNODC will also expand its on-the-ground presence, deploying resident experts to the countries most in need of help, while increasing its commitment to sustainable development and gender equality.

The progress made over the past two decades in fighting trafficking and smuggling “is today under threat,” said Ilias Chatzis, chief of UNODC’s human trafficking and migrant smuggling section.

Mr Chatzis said that this is due to global challenges including war, large migration and refugee flows, cybercrime, climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, which he said had drastically reshaped the crime landscape in recent years.

“Financial crises, armed conflicts and forced displacement, catalyzed by the pandemic, had strained justice systems, significantly reducing investigations, prosecutions, victim identification and protection,” UNODC noted.

It said that digital technologies had also exacerbated the situation.

(Xinhua/NAN)