Growing Evidence Of Terror Groups Reviving Slave Trade: Report

United Nations: A new report on fighting human trafficking in conflict says there is growing evidence that terrorist groups, including the Islamic State and Boko Haram, are reviving slavery and organizing slave markets.

James Cockayne, head of the United Nations University office in New York and lead author of the report, said "there is strong evidence that social media is being used to both recruit and trade enslaved Yazidi and other peoples."

The report, launched Thursday, said that over 5,000 women, children and men from the Yazidi religious minority are thought to have been enslaved by ISIS terrorists in Iraq.

In the past year, ISIS fighters have used encrypted communications app Telegram and others including WhatsApp, Twitter and Threema to auction enslaved Yazidi women and launder profits, it said.