2.4 million human trafficking victims - UN

THE UN crime-fighting office says 2.4 million people across the globe are victims of human trafficking at any one time, and 80 per cent of them are being exploited as sexual slaves.

Yuri Fedotov, the head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, told a daylong General Assembly meeting on trafficking that 17 per cent are trafficked to perform forced labour, including in homes and sweat shops.

He said $US32 billion ($31.08 billion) is being earned every year by unscrupulous criminals running human trafficking networks, and two out of every three victims are women.

Fighting these criminals "is a challenge of extraordinary proportions", Mr Fedotov said.

"At any one time, 2.4 million people suffer the misery of this humiliating and degrading crime," he said.

According to Mr Fedotov's Vienna-based office, only one out of 100 victims of trafficking is ever rescued. (AP)