2026 FIFA World Cup and Human Trafficking Risk

The 2026 FIFA World Cup, hosted across the United States, Mexico and Canada, will drive large-scale cross-border travel and economic activity. 

Human trafficking uses force, fraud or coercion to exploit people for labor, services or commercial sex; commercial sex involving a minor is trafficking even without those elements.

Increased activity across travel, logistics, construction and hospitality sectors can create opportunities for traffickers to exploit vulnerable populations.

Information sharing among financial institutions (FIs), law enforcement (LE) and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) — through lawful channels and focused on shareable typologies, indicators and escalation contacts — is essential to preventing, detecting and disrupting activity tied to large-scale global events.