Human Trafficking

Human Trafficking is defined as: 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 involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.

Sex Trafficking is defined as: The recruitment, harboring, transportation, 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 induced to perform such act is under 18 years of age.

All minors involved in commercial striping, pornography or being prostituted are victims of human trafficking according to federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act [18 U.S.C. Sections 1589-1594] and are not to be arrested or criminalized for their participation, rather to be offered victim services and protection from pimps, purchasers and traffickers.

Victims of human trafficking are people forced or coerced into labor or sexual exploitation. Labor trafficking here in the US involves foreign nationals caught up in a variety of situations that encompass individuals in domestic service and farming, to larger scale operations such as sweatshops, construction, landscaping, restaurants and hotels, as well as major multinational corporations. Sex trafficking is the most profitable regarding the illegal trade in people, and involves all forms of sexual exploitation including prostitution, pornography, striping, escort, bride trafficking and the commercial sexual abuse of children.

Identifying the Possible Victims of Human Trafficking: A helpful guide to the warning signs and indicators to look for when working with clients as a service provider and identifying possible hot spots of trafficking activity in your community.