2026-07-19T09:39:59+00:00
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Shafaq News-
Baghdad
Iraqi
authorities detained 5,107 people in human trafficking investigations during
2025, but only 385 victims were formally identified, the Iraqi Observatory for
Human Rights (IOHR) revealed on Sunday.
The figures,
drawn from a forthcoming study based on official statistics from the Ministry
of Interior and field testimonies from survivors, show that documented victims
accounted for just 7.5% of those detained —roughly one victim for every 13
detainees.
The study
links the expansion of human trafficking to years of conflict, displacement,
poverty, weak oversight, and corruption, describing it as an “organized enterprise”
that exploits victims through deceptive recruitment, document confiscation,
debt bondage, isolation, and threats of violence. Women, children, internally
displaced people, refugees, migrant workers, and people with disabilities
remain the most vulnerable groups.
Sexual
exploitation accounted for the largest share of recorded cases in 2025, with
127 networks dismantled, 1,385 suspects detained, 505 convictions, and only 89
victims identified. Organized begging recorded the widest disparity, with 16
networks dismantled, 2,107 detainees, and just 25 documented victims.
Authorities also dismantled 63 migrant smuggling and labor exploitation
networks, identifying 233 victims, while 18 organ trafficking networks and 19
child trafficking networks were uncovered, with 12 and 26 victims documented,
respectively.
During the
year, authorities processed 2,696 investigative files, completing 1,888 while
leaving 808 pending. Of 815 arrest warrants issued, 526 were executed and 289
remained outstanding, while courts convicted 711 individuals (about 14% of
those detained).
“The
official indicators show that security institutions are making progress in
pursuing a number of trafficking networks,” IOHR head Mustafa Saadoon
said. “Yet these same figures reveal an equally significant human rights
challenge: the limited number of victims identified relative to the scale of
criminal activity that the investigations themselves reveal.”
He added
that genuine compliance with Iraq’s anti-trafficking law and international
standards extends beyond arresting perpetrators to providing victims with
protection, shelter, legal assistance, and medical and psychological care,
while ensuring they are not held accountable for acts directly linked to their
exploitation.
According to
the Interior Ministry, Iraqi authorities dismantled 36 organized crime networks
involved in human trafficking, labor smuggling, and organ trafficking during
the first quarter of 2026, including seven child trafficking networks that led
to 16 arrests.
Read more: 2.3K lives lost: Iraq’s grim toll of human
trafficking