Trafficking of women, children on the rise

Human trafficking is on the rise worldwide, with millions of women and children ending up as sex slaves, beggars and mine labourers each year, UN officials said yesterday.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour, speaking at an Asia-Pacific human rights conference in Beijing, called trafficking in humans horrendous.

"By its very nature, it constitutes an acute violation of human rights and reports today suggest that more people are being trafficked than ever before," she said. The International Labour Organisation estimated more than two million people were trafficked worldwide every year, the head of the UN children's agency Unicef said.

"No country or region is immune," Unicef executive director Ann Veneman said.

"Children are forced into prostitution, begging and soliciting, labour on plantations and in mines, markets, factories and domestic work."