What is human trafficking?

Human trafficking is a crime in which people enter into forced labor, sexual slavery or commercial sexual exploitation by means of fraud, coercion or force. The US Justice Department’s definition of human trafficking also includes any sexual exploitation of a minor “regardless if any form of force, fraud or coercion was used.” 

During their abuse, victims’ bodies are rented to individuals wanting to act out depraved sexual fantasies and/or exert control over vulnerable individuals. In cases of labor trafficking, greedy individuals receive cheap or free labor from their victims. 

Where does human trafficking take place?

Human trafficking occurs in all countries around the world and can occur in any setting. It is a common misconception that trafficking involves smuggling or transporting an individual to another area by an organized criminal gang. Many trafficking victims lead what appears to others as normal lives and suffer in silence while daily going to their workplace where they suffer terrible abuse by their perpetrators.

Other victims’ exploitation may be recorded and sold online in places you expect they would be safe, such as their own home. Traffickers are, more often than not, not part of an organized crime syndicate.

What fuels human trafficking?

Greed and the brokenness of this world create the demand and a cycle for human trafficking. Sadly, traffickers view people merely as “products.” Many criminals have transitioned to human trafficking from other crimes because, unlike other illegal forms of generating revenue, the “product” can be sold over and over.

Often lacking education, a means to make a living, and sometimes being forced by their trafficker, many traffickers were also once victims themselves who transitioned to now abusing others, continuing the cycle of exploitation.

In some cases, victims are trapped in a survival trafficking situation without having a trafficker. These desperate individuals lack other means to earn an income and offer themselves to be abused for payment to afford basic necessities such as food and shelter.