Understanding Human Trafficking
“Trafficking in persons” and “human trafficking” are umbrella terms—often used interchangeably—to refer to a crime whereby traffickers exploit and profit at the expense of adults or children by compelling them to perform labor or engage in commercial sex. When a person younger than 18 is used to perform a commercial sex act, it is a crime regardless of whether there is any force, fraud, or coercion involved.
The United States recognizes two primary forms of trafficking in persons: sex trafficking and forced labor. The basic meaning of these forms of human trafficking, along with unique characteristics of each, are set forth below, followed by several key principles and concepts that relate to all forms of human trafficking.
The U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, as amended (TVPA), defines “severe forms of trafficking in persons” as:
- sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age; or
- the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.
More than 180 nations have ratified or acceded to the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons (the UN TIP Protocol), which defines trafficking in persons and contains obligations to prevent and combat the crime.
The TVPA and the UN TIP Protocol contain similar definitions of human trafficking. The elements of both definitions can be described using a three-element framework focused on the trafficker’s 1) acts; 2) means; and 3) purpose:
- The “acts” element focuses on a trafficker recruiting, harboring, transporting, providing, or obtaining another person for labor, service, or commercial sex. The “acts” element for sex trafficking is also often met when the trafficker patronizes or solicits another person for commercial sex.
- The “means” element focuses on a trafficker’s use of force, fraud, or coercion to compel the other person to engage in labor, services, or commercial sex.
- The “purpose” element focuses on the perpetrator’s goal to exploit a person for labor, services, or commercial sex act.
A victim need not be physically transported from one location to another for the crime to fall within this definition.
Sex Trafficking
Sex trafficking encompasses the range of activities involved when a trafficker uses force, fraud, or coercion to compel another person to engage in a commercial sex act or causes a child to engage in a commercial sex act.
Coercion in the case of sex trafficking includes a broad array of means, including threats of serious harm, psychological harm, reputational harm, threats to others, and debt manipulation.
Sex trafficking can take place in private homes, massage parlors, hotels, or brothels, among other locations, as well as on the internet.
Child Sex Trafficking
In cases where an individual engages in any of the specified “acts” with a child (younger than 18), the means element is irrelevant regardless of whether evidence of force, fraud, or coercion exists. The use of children in commercial sex acts is prohibited by law in the United States and most countries around the world.
Forced Labor
Forced labor, sometimes also referred to as labor trafficking, encompasses the range of activities involved when a person uses force, fraud, or coercion to exploit the labor or services of another person.
Traffickers’ coercive schemes can include threats of force, debt manipulation, withholding of pay, confiscation of identity documents, psychological coercion, reputational harm, manipulation of the use of addictive substances, threats to other people, or other forms of coercion.
There is no limit on the location or type of industry. Forced labor can occur in any sector or setting, whether legal or illicit, including but not limited to agricultural fields, factories, restaurants, hotels, massage parlors, retail stores, fishing vessels, mines, private homes, or drug trafficking operations.
There are certain types of forced labor that are frequently distinguished for emphasis or because they are widespread:
Domestic Servitude
“Domestic servitude” is a form of forced labor in which the trafficker requires a victim to perform work in a private residence. Such circumstances create unique vulnerabilities. Domestic workers are often isolated and may work alone in a house. Their employer often controls their access to food, transportation, and housing. What happens in a private residence is hidden from the world – including from law enforcement and labor inspectors – resulting in barriers to victim identification. Foreign domestic workers are particularly vulnerable to abuse due to language and cultural barriers, as well as a lack of community ties. Some perpetrators use these types of conditions as part of their coercive schemes to compel the labor of domestic workers with little risk of detection.
Forced Child Labor
The term “forced child labor” describes forced labor schemes in which traffickers compel children to work. Traffickers often target children because they are more vulnerable. Although some children may legally engage in certain forms of work, forcing or coercing children to work remains illegal under many countries’ laws. Forms of slavery or slavery-like practices – including the sale of children, forced or compulsory child labor, and debt bondage and serfdom of children – continue to exist, despite legal prohibitions and widespread condemnation. Some indicators of forced labor of a child include situations in which the child appears to be in the custody of a non-family member and the child’s work financially benefits someone outside the child’s family or the denial of food, rest, or schooling to a child who is working.
Institutional Care Settings
While not defined under international law, “orphanage trafficking” is a common term used to describe a form of child trafficking in which children are placed in residential care — including orphanages and children’s homes — for the purpose of exploitation and profit. Placement may involve manipulation or outright deception by recruiters or facility operators targeting vulnerable communities and families through false promises of education, food, or shelter. In some cases, children may be exploited through forced labor or sexual exploitation. The presence of living parents or initial consent does not preclude a trafficking determination. Depending on the circumstances, such conduct may constitute forced labor or child sex trafficking under the TVPA and similarly fall within the definition of trafficking under the UN TIP Protocol.