New U.N. role needed to fight human trafficking in conflict: experts

By Umberto Bacchi LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - People displaced by war across the world are at heightened risk of human trafficking due to gaps in the United Nations' response, campaigners said on Monday, calling for the creation of a new U.N. office to fight modern slavery. Refugees are considered particularly vulnerable as poverty, insecurity and the necessity to flee war push them in the arms of traffickers who often operate with impunity in conflict areas. The U.N.'s response to trafficking amid the global refugee crisis has been fragmented, according to a report by Freedom Fund, an international initiative to fight slavery.