What is human trafficking?

Vulnerable people, overwhelmingly women and girls, are tricked or forced into the sex trade. It often begins with a promise of good work in hospitality or modeling, or a ‘boyfriend’ is responsible.

This is when a person has no choice or control over their work, with the money they earn taken by someone else, who often also controls where they live and even who they can speak with.

A less common type of human trafficking, when a person is forced to cook, clean or do childcare for little or no pay, often living in the home with the ’employer’ and not allowed to live their own life.

Victims are forced to grow or transport drugs, made to shoplift or pickpocket, are forced to beg or panhandle on the streets, or used for fraud. The threat of being reported becomes another method of control.

In some jurisdictions outside the U.S., forced marriage is categorized as a type of modern-day slavery. Globally, 22 million people are thought to have been forced into a marriage without consent, nearly all women and girls, often to an older man in another country.

Source: Hope for Justice case analysis

The number of people who are in human trafficking or living in modern-day slavery is estimated at 49.6 million, including the 22 million in forced marriages. The remaining 27.6 million is made up of: ^[9]

Estimates suggest the number of people living in conditions of modern slavery in the United States is up to 1,091,000. No-one knows exactly how many people are trafficked in or to the U.S. each year, because this is a hidden crime, but in 2021, the National Human Trafficking Hotline received 10,360 reports of suspected human trafficking cases, involving 16,710 victims. This is widely acknowledged to be the tip of the iceberg.^[10]

Modern slavery is an internationally recognized umbrella term covering all forms of slavery, servitude, human trafficking and related exploitation, including forced labor, debt bondage, forced child labor, forced marriage, and commercial sexual exploitation. In some countries, including the UK, the term has a specific meaning in criminal law, while in other countries it is used in a more general sense or not used at all. In certain countries, particularly the U.S and parts of Africa, the term ‘slavery’ has a strong emotional and historical connection to the racist enslavement of African people and many people choose to avoid using this word outside of that specific context.  

Under international conventions, human trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Many countries have their own specific definitions under domestic criminal law that fall outside of this definition. For example, in the United States, when a person younger than 18 is encouraged to perform a commercial sex act, that is a trafficking crime, regardless of any other factors usually necessary for something to be categorized as trafficking. In general usage, human trafficking is often used interchangeably with the term modern slavery (especially in the UK) – but in law the two concepts remain distinct.

Human traffickers use various forms of force, fraud, and coercion to control and exploit victims. This includes the imposing of debt, fraudulent employment opportunities, false promises of love or a better life, psychological coercion, isolation, addiction, and violence or threats of violence.

Trafficking is a power and control dynamic. Victims become trapped and fear leaving for many reasons, including psychological trauma, lack of documentation, shame, emotional attachment and dependency, distrust of systems and law enforcement, or physical threats to themselves or their families.

Source: Hope for Justice case analysis

Sex trafficking is a market-driven criminal industry based on supply and demand. People who purchase commercial sex increase the demand for commercial sex and likewise provide a profit incentive for traffickers, who seek to maximize profits by exploiting trafficking victims.

Labor trafficking is far more common than people realize. Human trafficking victims make an alarmingly high number of consumer goods and food products, imported to the United States and produced domestically. More often than we realize, elements of forced labor may be present within the supply chain of products we buy or the services we pay for. These consumers can include companies that subcontract certain types of services, end-consumers who buy cheap goods produced by trafficking victims, or individuals who use the services of trafficking victims (Polaris, 2021).

Source: Hope for Justice case analysis

The relationship between human traffickers and their victims is complex. It is rare for the control to be based on physical confinement like locked doors or shackles. Instead, victims are exploited through manipulation, fear, dependency (including drugs), threats or debt bondage.

This means that during the time they are actually in exploitation, few people think of themselves as being a ‘victim’. They often describe feeling hopeless or having no options, or even feel a sense of obligation towards those who trafficked them. They do not understand their situation as being one that they could run away from or escape from.

For many, it is only once they get long-term help from an organization like Hope for Justice that they understand the extent of the exploitation and that a different life is possible, with the right support.

Anyone from any walk of life can be targeted and can end up as a victim of human trafficking. But people experiencing any of the following things can be at particular risk:

Source: Hope for Justice case analysis