Hedging Risk by Combating Human Trafficking: Insights from the Private Sector

The report argues that human trafficking is a significant business risk and a moral imperative for the private sector to address. It details how financial institutions use data analytics to spot trafficking patterns, how the transport industry employs employee-led training to identify victims, and how the hospitality sector uses voluntary codes of conduct to prevent child sex tourism. The document emphasizes that reframing anti-trafficking efforts as security and risk management issues is key to securing top management buy-in.

• Human trafficking is a massive global industry; the International Labour Organization estimated in 2012 that it generated $150 billion in illegal profits annually, with over two-thirds coming from commercial sexual exploitation.
• Forced labour is prevalent across multiple private sector industries, including agriculture, construction, manufacturing, and shrimp farming. A Verité study specifically found that 28% of workers in the Malaysian electronics sector were victims of exploitative practices, such as the unlawful retention of passports and deceptive recruitment fees.
• Financial institutions can detect trafficking by combining quantitative metadata analysis with qualitative investigative insights. JP Morgan and MetaBank developed typologies to identify 'red flags' such as recurrent business transactions occurring outside normal operating hours or specific patterns of pre-paid card use.
• The transport sector has seen success through bottom-up, employee-led initiatives. The 'Innocents at Risk' Flight Attendant Initiative and 'Truckers against Trafficking' (TAT) train personnel to recognize signs of trafficking, with Ryder training 24,000 employees to identify such cases.
• In the hospitality industry, 'the Code' (Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism) has created a multiplier effect, leading over 1,200 companies across countries including China, Brazil, and Russia to commit to a six-step plan to fight the trafficking of minors.
• To secure commitment from conservative corporate executives, anti-trafficking efforts should be reframed as a risk and security issue rather than a philanthropic one, as illegal activities compromise the safety of the business and its guests.
• Adopting anti-trafficking policies can enhance brand value and attract B2B customers and faith-based investors who prioritize ethical commitments and human rights over profit alone.

APA

World Economic Forum (2014). Hedging Risk by Combating Human Trafficking: Insights from the Private Sector. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Human_Trafficking_Report_2015.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Hedging Risk by Combating Human Trafficking: Insights from the Private Sector. 2014. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Human_Trafficking_Report_2015.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Hedging Risk by Combating Human Trafficking: Insights from the Private Sector |date=December 2014 |url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Human_Trafficking_Report_2015.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2014hedging, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Hedging Risk by Combating Human Trafficking: Insights from the Private Sector}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2014}, month = dec, url = {http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Human_Trafficking_Report_2015.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }