HUMAN TRAFFICKING FACTS

Human trafficking is a modern-day form of slavery. Victims of human trafficking are subjected to force, fraud, or coercion, for the purpose of sexual exploitation or forced labor. Victims are young children, teenagers, men and women.

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) defines "severe forms of trafficking in persons" as:

• Sex Trafficking : the recruitment, harboring, transporting, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act, in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person forced to perform such an act is under the age of 18 years; or
  
  
• Labor Trafficking : the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion fort he purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage or slavery.

Types of Trafficking & Slavery

• Prostitution
• Child commercial sexual exploitation
• Pornography
• Sex tourism
• Servile marriage
• Domestic service
• Factory work
• Begging
• Agriculture
• Restaurant work
• Construction
• Hotel housekeeping
• Other informal labor sectors

Statistics

• Approximately, 600,000 to 800,000 victims annually are trafficked across international borders worldwide, and between
• 15,000 to 18,000 of those victims are trafficked into the U.S.
• 27 million people are enslaved globally
• $9 billion industry annual profits for the traffickers
• Ranks 3 rd next to arms and drug smuggling in organized crime activities

Trafficking vs. Smuggling

Trafficking is not smuggling. There are several important differences between trafficking and smuggling: