Conflict & Trafficking

Armed conflict is one of the most powerful drivers of human trafficking. War destroys governance structures, displaces millions, and creates power vacuums that traffickers exploit. Armed groups use trafficking as both a weapon of war and a revenue source. Displaced populations, particularly women, children, and unaccompanied minors, face exploitation at every stage of their flight, from departure to transit to arrival in refugee camps or host countries. (See also Migration & Trafficking.) The UN Security Council has repeatedly identified the nexus between conflict and trafficking as a threat to international peace and security.

ISIS & Yazidi Slavery

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) perpetrated what the United Nations, the European Parliament, and the United States Congress have recognized as genocide against the Yazidi people; a religious minority in northern Iraq. Beginning in August 2014, ISIS systematically enslaved Yazidi women and girls, establishing a formalized slave trade that was documented, codified in theological justifications, and administered through bureaucratic structures.

The Sinjar Massacre

On August 3, 2014, ISIS attacked the Sinjar region of northern Iraq, home to the largest Yazidi community. In the days that followed, ISIS fighters killed an estimated 5,000 Yazidi men and boys. Approximately 7,000 Yazidi women and children were captured and enslaved. Women and girls were separated from children, registered, and distributed to ISIS fighters as “sabaya” (slaves). ISIS published price lists for enslaved Yazidis in its propaganda magazine Dabiq, with prices varying by age; younger girls commanded higher prices.

Formalized Slave Trade

The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria documented that ISIS operated a structured slave system that included:

• Registration centers where enslaved women and girls were catalogued
• Slave markets operating in Mosul, Raqqa, and other ISIS-controlled cities
• A system of “contracts” governing the sale, purchase, and transfer of enslaved persons
• Fatwa (religious rulings) published by ISIS’s Committee of Research and Fatwas justifying slavery as religiously sanctioned
• An organized system of sexual violence, where enslaved women and girls were repeatedly raped, sold, gifted, and traded among fighters

Survivors & Accountability

As of 2024, approximately 2,700 Yazidi women and children remained missing. Nadia Murad, a Yazidi survivor of ISIS captivity, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018 for her advocacy against sexual violence as a weapon of war. In 2023, a German court convicted an ISIS member of genocide for the first time; sentencing Taha Al-Jumailly to life in prison for the murder of a five-year-old Yazidi girl and for enslaving the child’s mother. The verdict marked the first judicial recognition of the ISIS genocide against Yazidis anywhere in the world.

Boko Haram

Boko Haram, the Nigerian Islamist militant group, has systematically employed abduction, forced marriage, sexual slavery, and forced labor as central elements of its insurgency. Since 2009, the group has abducted thousands of women, girls, boys, and men across northeastern Nigeria, northern Cameroon, Niger, and Chad.

The Chibok Abduction

On April 14, 2014, Boko Haram fighters abducted 276 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State, Nigeria. The mass abduction generated global outrage and the #BringBackOurGirls campaign. Of the 276 girls, 57 escaped in the immediate aftermath. Over the following years, approximately 107 were released through negotiation, military operations, or escape. As of 2024, more than 100 Chibok girls remain unaccounted for; over a decade after their abduction.

Forced Marriage & Exploitation

Boko Haram has forcibly married abducted women and girls to fighters, used abducted persons as suicide bombers (UNICEF documented that the group used 135 children, predominantly girls, as suicide bombers in 2017 alone), and forced men and boys into combat roles. The group has established a system where abducted women and girls are “married” to fighters under coercion, with pregnancy used as a tool of control and stigmatization that prevents reintegration into their communities even after rescue.

Child Soldiers

The recruitment and use of children in armed conflict is one of the most widespread forms of trafficking in conflict zones. (See also Child Exploitation.) The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (2000) prohibits the recruitment of children under 18 into armed groups and their use in hostilities. Despite near-universal ratification, child soldier recruitment persists across multiple continents.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

The DRC has experienced one of the most prolonged child soldier crises in the world. Dozens of armed groups operating in eastern DRC have recruited children as combatants, porters, cooks, spies, and sexual slaves. The UN Secretary-General’s annual report on Children and Armed Conflict consistently lists DRC-based armed groups among the worst offenders. UNICEF has supported the demobilization of over 30,000 child soldiers in the DRC since 1998, yet recruitment continues; the cyclical nature of conflict in eastern DRC means that children demobilized from one group are frequently recruited by another.

Myanmar

Myanmar’s military (Tatmadaw) has been listed by the UN Secretary-General as a persistent recruiter of child soldiers. Children have been forcibly conscripted both by the military and by ethnic armed organizations. Following the February 2021 military coup, reports indicate that the junta has intensified forced recruitment, including of minors, as it faces armed resistance across the country. Human Rights Watch documented children as young as 14 being forcibly conscripted by the military.

Yemen

The conflict in Yemen (ongoing since 2014) has produced one of the world’s worst child soldier crises. The UN has verified the recruitment and use of over 2,000 children by parties to the conflict, with the Houthi armed group identified as the primary recruiter. Children are used as frontline combatants, guards at checkpoints, and to plant landmines. The actual number is believed to be significantly higher than verified cases, as access to conflict areas is severely restricted.

Syria & Libya: Refugee Exploitation

The Syrian civil war (2011–present) and the collapse of Libya following the 2011 intervention created two of the most significant trafficking crises of the 21st century. Both conflicts generated massive displacement and destroyed the governance structures that might otherwise protect vulnerable populations.

Syria

The Syrian conflict has displaced over 14 million people; roughly half the country’s pre-war population. Syrian refugees are vulnerable to trafficking at every stage of displacement: within Syria, during transit through Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, and along European migration routes, and in destination countries. The US State Department’s TIP Report has documented Syrian women and girls being forced into “temporary marriages” (a form of sexual exploitation) in neighboring countries, Syrian children being forced into labor in Turkish garment factories and Lebanese agriculture, and Syrian men being subjected to forced labor in Jordan’s construction sector.

Libya’s Slave Markets

In November 2017, CNN broadcast footage of an auction in Libya where sub-Saharan African migrants were being sold as slaves for as little as $400. The footage, recorded undercover by CNN journalists, showed an auctioneer selling men described as “big strong boys for farm work.” The broadcast generated international outrage and a UN Security Council statement. Subsequent investigations by the International Organization for Migration and UNHCR confirmed widespread trafficking of migrants in Libyan detention centers, including forced labor, sexual exploitation, extortion, and torture.

Libya’s position as the primary transit point for migrants attempting to reach Europe by sea means that hundreds of thousands of people pass through Libyan territory annually. Militia groups controlling detention centers operate with impunity, extorting ransoms from migrants’ families and subjecting those who cannot pay to forced labor and sexual exploitation.

Ukraine Conflict & Trafficking Risks

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 displaced over 6 million Ukrainians to neighboring countries and an additional 6 million internally within the first year. The scale and speed of displacement created acute trafficking risks that international organizations identified immediately.

Displacement & Vulnerability

The displaced population is predominantly women and children (Ukrainian men aged 18–60 are prohibited from leaving the country under martial law), creating a demographic profile that closely matches trafficking vulnerability. OSCE, Europol, and national anti-trafficking agencies across Europe issued warnings within weeks of the invasion identifying risks of sexual exploitation, labor trafficking, and exploitation of unaccompanied minors.

Forced Transfer of Children

In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova for the unlawful deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children from occupied areas to Russia. The Ukrainian government has identified over 19,000 children taken to Russia, though it acknowledges the actual number may be significantly higher. Russia has placed Ukrainian children in adoption with Russian families; a practice the ICC characterized as a war crime. This represents one of the largest documented cases of state-sponsored forced transfer of children in the 21st century.

Peacekeepers & Trafficking

United Nations peacekeeping operations have been implicated in sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), including trafficking, across multiple missions. The contradiction is stark: forces deployed to protect civilians have, in documented cases, become perpetrators of the very abuses they were sent to prevent.

Documented Cases

In 2004, an internal UN investigation (the Zeid Report) documented widespread sexual exploitation by peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including transactional sex with minors as young as 12 in exchange for food or small amounts of money. Subsequent investigations documented similar patterns in Haiti, Central African Republic, South Sudan, and other missions.

In the Central African Republic, French and UN peacekeeping forces were accused in 2015 of sexually abusing children in a camp for displaced persons near Bangui. An internal UN whistleblower, Anders Kompass, was initially suspended for sharing the allegations with French authorities; a response that drew condemnation for prioritizing institutional reputation over victim protection.

The Accountability Gap

Prosecuting peacekeepers for trafficking-related offenses remains exceptionally difficult. Contributing nations retain legal jurisdiction over their troops, and many fail to investigate or prosecute. The UN can repatriate accused peacekeepers but cannot prosecute them directly. The Secretary-General’s annual reports on SEA in peacekeeping missions have documented hundreds of allegations, but conviction rates remain vanishingly low. The systemic impunity has led to repeated calls for reform from human rights organizations and the UN itself.

Refugee Camp Exploitation

Refugee camps, designed as temporary protection, frequently become sites of trafficking and exploitation. Overcrowding, inadequate security, limited livelihood options, and prolonged stays (the average length of a refugee situation is now over 20 years) create conditions in which trafficking thrives.

Trafficking Risks in Camps

UNHCR and partner organizations have documented multiple trafficking patterns within and around refugee camps: sexual exploitation in exchange for humanitarian aid, forced labor of refugees by host community members, recruitment of children into armed groups from camps, and trafficking for sexual exploitation targeting adolescent girls. The Cox’s Bazar camps in Bangladesh, housing nearly one million Rohingya refugees, have been identified as particularly high-risk, with documented cases of trafficking for forced marriage, sexual exploitation, and labor exploitation in Malaysia, India, and the Middle East.

Exploitation by Aid Workers

In 2018, a major scandal erupted when The Times (London) reported that Oxfam staff in Haiti had hired sex workers, including potentially underage girls, in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake. The investigation revealed that the organization had allowed the accused staff to resign quietly rather than face formal investigation. The scandal spread as similar allegations emerged against staff of other humanitarian organizations, revealing a systemic pattern across the aid sector. The resulting accountability reforms included the establishment of enhanced vetting databases and mandatory reporting requirements across major humanitarian organizations.

Forced Marriage as Trafficking

Forced marriage, marriage in which one or both parties have not given or cannot give free and full consent, is one of the most widespread yet underrecognized forms of human trafficking. The ILO and Walk Free Foundation’s 2022 Global Estimates of Modern Slavery found that 22 million people were living in forced marriages at any given time, a figure that had increased by 6.6 million since the previous estimate in 2016. Forced marriage intersects directly with conflict, displacement, and trafficking, and disproportionately affects women and girls.

Forms of Forced Marriage

Child marriage: Despite legal prohibitions in most countries, an estimated 12 million girls are married before the age of 18 each year (Girls Not Brides, 2023). Child marriage is most prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, driven by poverty, gender inequality, and social norms. In conflict and displacement settings, the rate accelerates as families use marriage as a perceived protection strategy or coping mechanism for economic hardship.

Bride trafficking: In countries with severe gender imbalances, women and girls are trafficked for the specific purpose of marriage. China’s gender imbalance, a consequence of decades of sex-selective practices under the one-child policy, has fueled a market for “bought brides” trafficked from Vietnam, Myanmar, North Korea, Cambodia, and Pakistan. Victims are sold to rural Chinese men, often held in isolation, subjected to forced pregnancy, and prevented from leaving. Investigations by the South China Morning Post, Human Rights Watch, and local NGOs have documented networks of brokers operating across borders.

Bride kidnapping: The practice of abducting women for forced marriage persists in parts of Central Asia and East Africa. In Kyrgyzstan, despite legal prohibition, an estimated 12,000 women are kidnapped for marriage annually (estimates vary). In parts of Ethiopia, bride abduction remains a practiced tradition in some communities, with victims subjected to rape to compel marriage. While some governments have strengthened enforcement, cultural norms and weak rule of law enable the practice to continue.

Intersection with Conflict

Armed conflict dramatically increases forced marriage. ISIS codified forced marriage of enslaved Yazidi women as a central element of its system (documented earlier in this chapter). Boko Haram systematically forces abducted women and girls into marriages with fighters. In displacement settings, families facing economic collapse may force daughters into early marriage as a survival strategy. UNHCR and partner organizations have documented increases in child marriage among Syrian, South Sudanese, and Rohingya refugee populations.

The pattern is consistent across conflicts: displacement destroys economic resources, increases physical insecurity, and collapses the social structures that might otherwise protect girls from early marriage. Humanitarian organizations report that in some refugee settings, the rate of child marriage has doubled compared to pre-conflict levels.

The Legal Gap

A significant number of countries do not explicitly classify forced marriage as a form of human trafficking. While the Palermo Protocol’s definition of trafficking is broad enough to encompass forced marriage, many national laws treat it as a separate issue; or fail to address it at all. This legal gap means that forced marriage victims may not have access to the protections, services, and legal remedies available to other trafficking victims. Organizations including Unchained At Last (which campaigns for marriage age reform in the United States) and Girls Not Brides (a global partnership of over 1,500 organizations) have advocated for legal frameworks that explicitly recognize forced marriage as trafficking and ensure access to protective services.

Timeline: Major Conflict-Trafficking Events

Sources & Further Reading