What is Human Trafficking?

Human trafficking is a modern day form of slavery. Victims of trafficking are controlled by violence and/or threats of violence and harm to themselves or their families. They often face physical abuse or literal captivity. They are controlled by force or debt bondage. They may be tricked into doing work they otherwise would not choose and for which they are not paid. It is a process through which men, women, and children become enslaved.  

It surprises people that there’s actually a very large number of slaves in the world today—our best estimate is 27 million. And that is defining a slave in a very narrow way; we’re not talking about sweatshop workers or people who are just poor, we’re talking about people who are controlled by violence, who cannot walk away, who are being held against their will, who are being paid nothing. --Kevin Bales (Free the Slaves)

Human trafficking involves the recruitment, transport, receipt, transfer, or confinement--accomplished by means of coercion, deception, abuse of power, threat or use of force, payment to another person, or abduction--of another person for the purpose of exploitation. 

   

Trafficking activities can be contained within a country or region, or they can expand into transnational operations. Victims of trafficking can come from a range of socioeconomic, cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds. However, poverty, lack of access to education, refugee or IDP status, and/or living in the midst of armed conflict or post-conflict transitions are all factors that make women and girls particularly vulnerable to trafficking and exploitation. 

   

Approximately 80% of trafficking victims are female--and of these, at least 70% end up in the commercial sex industry. Human beings are treated like disposable commodities. The average price of a slave today is $90.00. And in the sex trade, a child can be bought for a night for only a few US dollars. 

   

Human trafficking is an illegal activity that generates over $32 BILLION in revenue a year. And the United States is one of the largest consumers of human trafficking in the world. Trafficking is incredibly widespread--it is happening all over the world to people of every race, class, creed, etc. Even the most conservative estimates that at least 800,000 people are trafficking across international borders every year--and even more are trafficked within national boundaries. 

   

For more information about trafficking and how you can help, check out the links in the Resources section of the side panel. 

   

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Check out some awesome PSA videos addressing human trafficking and modern day slavery: