Victims who paid recruitment fees

We analyze recruitment fees as one-time or recurring payments from victims of trafficking to recruiters or recruitment intermediaries to cover various aspects of the recruitment process. This includes recruiting, referrals, and placement services.^[1]

Between 2005 and 2022, 61 per cent of the identified trafficked persons report the involvement of recruiters in their trafficking process. Among those who provide information on whether they paid recruiters, 21 per cent report that they paid money to at least one recruiter.

Victims of trafficking who paid recruiters are mostly females (59%), particularly those between 24 and 29 years of age. They mainly came from Europe (58%), Africa (24%), and Asia (18%).

These victims are trafficked within their region of origin in 85 per cent of cases, although 95 per cent of them are trafficked outside their country of citizenship. Trafficking victims who paid recruitment fees are mainly exploited in construction, domestic work, manufacturing, and agriculture.

38 per cent of the victims who paid recruiters experienced debt bondage. They were mainly female (62%), and almost all were trafficked for forced labour (95%). In contrast, 13 per cent of those who did not pay recruitment fees are in situations of debt bondage.

^[1] For more information on recruitment fees, please refer to the ILO and IOM joint article on Recruitment fees paid by victims of trafficking (forthcoming). For a detailed explanation of the data, please check the codebook of the Global Synthetic Victim-Perpetrator Dataset. For a closer look at the victim-perpetrator relationship, check out the Perpetrators of trafficking data story.