United Nations, August 2 (RHC)-- UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says that despite efforts to combat the human trafficking, the international community must step up it’s efforts. The head of the UN urged all nations around the world to recognize their role in putting an end to the problem.

According to the U.N.'s International Labor Organization (ILO), 21 million victims of forced labor currently are “trapped in jobs into which they were coerced or deceived into and which they cannot leave.” The ILO estimates that the industry generates more than $150 billion in illegal profits a year.

In his statement issued from the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon went on to mention that U.N. Summit on Refugees and Migrants will be held in New York in September, where officials from around the world will gather to discuss strategies to prevent human trafficking.

The United Nations adopted an global treaty banning trafficking in 2000, which would become the first internationally binding agreement to define and criminalize human trafficking.

"Human traffickers prey on the most desperate and vulnerable. To end this inhumane practice, we must do more to shield migrants and refugees -- and particularly young people, women and children -- from those who would exploit their yearnings for a better, safer and more dignified future."