31st Parliamentary Intelligence-Security Forum – Human Trafficking
Ms. Mary Vigil, a former executive branch official who led counter-trafficking efforts at USAID and a former congressional staffer, emphasized that human trafficking has evolved into a strategic, state-linked threat affecting global security, economic stability, and democratic governance. Drawing on a decade of experience working with survivors, she highlighted the human and systemic dimensions of the crisis.
She outlined three major fronts of concern: scam centers in Asia that coerce trafficked individuals into cybercrime and money laundering; forced and child labor in critical mineral supply chains, particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo; and state-linked forced organ harvesting targeting religious and ethnic minorities in China. Ms. Vigil stressed that these abuses are systemic and strategic, not isolated crimes, and called for coordinated international action through legislation, sanctions, supply chain transparency, whistleblower protections, and strengthened cooperation with civil society to safeguard human rights, economies, and democratic institutions.
