Gangs exploit refugee crisis to profit from US$150 billion a year slavery trade, Nobel laureate Satyarthi says

The refugee crisis has exacerbated human trafficking and modern slavery. Global action is needed to tackle the criminal gangs now selling people as well as firearms and drugs, Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi urged on Monday.

Ahead of a summit of global leaders and Nobel laureates in Jordan this month on children’s rights, Satyarthi said organised gangs involved in other crimes had moved in to profit from slavery which is estimated to generate US$150 billion a year.

“This refugee crisis has resulted in trafficking and slavery,” said Satyarthi, joint winner of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize with Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai for his work curbing child labour and fighting for their right to education.

“Human trafficking, small firearms and drugs are the three most organised crimes. Now they are intermingled,” he told a workshop on trafficking run by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.