Around the world, girls remain disproportionately vulnerable to trafficking and exploitation. By understanding why, we can transform prevention into empowerment.

A Crisis Hidden in Plain Sight

When people talk about human trafficking, the images are often the same—crime rings, checkpoints, shadowy deals. Yet what is less visible is the harsher truth: most victims are women and girls.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reports that nearly three out of four trafficking victims worldwide are women or girls (UNODC, 2020 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons). The International Labour Organization (ILO) adds that of the 27.6 million people in forced labor, 11.8 million are women and girls (ILO, 2022 Global Estimates of Modern Slavery).

This is no coincidence. Instead, it reflects poverty, structural inequality, gender discrimination, limited education, and the continued devaluing of girls’ lives.

Why Girls Are More Vulnerable

Education Gaps
Worldwide, 129 million girls remain out of school (UNESCO, 2022). The reasons vary—child marriage, poverty, cultural traditions, or lack of facilities. The consequences, however, are clear. Without schooling, girls lose pathways to safe work. At the same time, they become more likely to believe traffickers who promise jobs in cities or abroad.

Child Marriage and Early Responsibility
Every year, 12 million girls are married before turning 18 (UNICEF, 2023). Marriage at a young age often ends their education. It also heightens risks of domestic servitude and erases their control over the future. In many border regions, weak law enforcement allows marriage to be used as a cover for trafficking.

Displacement and Statelessness
Conflict zones and borderlands add another layer of risk. On the Thai-Myanmar-Laos border, where Not For Sale works, many children are born stateless. Without citizenship, girls cannot attend school, access healthcare, or obtain legal jobs. Traffickers target this vulnerability. Stateless girls leave no paper trail. If they vanish, few authorities will intervene.

Gendered Poverty
Poverty drives trafficking everywhere. Yet it affects boys and girls differently. Families in crisis often invest in sons’ schooling while sending daughters to work. As UN Women points out, women and girls are overrepresented in informal, unregulated jobs where exploitation is common (UN Women, 2021 Beyond COVID-19 report).

Demand for Exploitation
Finally, demand fuels the trade. Girls are trafficked not only for labor or domestic service but also, at alarming rates, for sexual exploitation. UNODC data shows that 77% of trafficked women and 72% of trafficked girls are exploited sexually. As long as the demand persists, networks will continue to prey on female victims.

The Hidden Cost of Lost Potential

The consequences of trafficking and exploitation are not only devastating for these individuals, they also represent a profound loss for entire communities. The World Bank has shown that failing to educate girls costs countries up to $30 trillion in lost lifetime productivity and earnings (World Bank, 2018 Missed Opportunities report).

In other words, when a girl is trafficked or forced out of school into early marriage or labor, the cost is not just her stolen childhood, her freedom, her dignity, but also her community’s diminished future. By contrast, when girls are educated and empowered, societies thrive. Educated women are more likely to participate in the workforce, raise healthier children, and reinvest earnings into their families.

Why Safe Spaces Are the First Step

Education, healthcare, and vocational training are all powerful tools. But they require one fundamental precondition: safety.

For girls in vulnerable regions, a safe home is not a luxury, it is a lifeline. A secure dormitory or shelter protects against traffickers, enables schooling, and creates an environment where young women can imagine futures beyond survival.

This is why at Not For Sale, our next objective is to build a critical girls-only dormitory in our northern Thailand village. It is not simply about bricks and mortar; it is about creating the conditions in which girls can thrive without fear of exploitation.

From Statistics to Stories

While data underscores the urgency, the impact is best understood through lives transformed. Girls who enter safe spaces like Not For Sale Thailand, run by our longtime director Kru Nam, no longer face the daily risks of violence or exploitation. Instead, they go to school, study alongside peers, and begin to dream of careers, from teachers to doctors to entrepreneurs, just like Lina and Meta’s stories. (link to case studies)

A Sustainable Future

The UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG 5) calls for gender equality and the elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls. Achieving this is impossible without tackling trafficking and exploitation head-on.

Efforts like Not For Sale’s, building safe dormitories, offering education, and addressing root causes like poverty and statelessness, directly contribute to SDG 5, as well as SDG 4 (quality education) and SDG 8 (decent work).

Protecting Girls Protects the Future

The statistics are sobering: girls are disproportionately vulnerable to trafficking, forced labor, and exploitation worldwide. Yet numbers alone do not define the future. The choice belongs to us, whether we allow cycles of inequality to persist, or whether we invest in safe spaces, education, and empowerment for the next generation.

Because when a girl is safe, she learns. When she learns, she thrives. And when she thrives, her entire community rises with her.

The work is urgent, but the pathway is clear. By protecting girls, we are not just saving individuals, we are building the future. Join Us. Be part of the movement. Donate Today.

Sources:

UNODC. Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2020.
ILO. Global Estimates of Modern Slavery: Forced Labour and Forced Marriage 2022.
UNESCO. Out-of-School Children and Youth. 2022.
UNICEF. Child Marriage: Latest Trends and Future Prospects. 2023.
UN Women. Beyond COVID-19: A Feminist Plan for Sustainability and Social Justice. 2021.
Insight Crime. Sex Trafficking in Peru’s Mining Camps. 2021.
European Commission. Roma and Trafficking in Human Beings in Europe. 2020.
World Bank. Missed Opportunities: The High Cost of Not Educating Girls. 2018.