Human trafficking and smuggling are global problems affecting people of all ages, genders, and nationalities. Every year, millions of men, women, and children are bought and sold against their will, and forced to work in dangerous and often abusive conditions. Women and girls make up the vast majority of trafficking victims and are especially vulnerable to sexual exploitation. Trafficking occurs in every region of the world and takes many different forms.
Traffickers often target vulnerable people who are seeking better opportunities or have faced difficult life circumstances. They may promise their victims a good job, a loving relationship, or a better life. But once they have lured their victims into their trap, they begin to control them using violence, threats, deception, and manipulation.
Tactics used by recruiters, traffickers, and their associates are often the same tactics used by batterers and can mirror the dynamics of domestic violence. Most trafficking victims are often not held physically captive but are not free to leave their trafficker.
What Is Human Trafficking?
Human trafficking is the business of recruiting, transporting, harboring or receiving people to exploit them.
Traffickers use force, fraud, or coercion to lure their victims into forced labor or sexual servitude. Victims of human trafficking often suffer from physical and emotional abuse, as well as a lack of basic rights and freedoms. They may be working long hours for little or no pay, living in cramped and unsanitary conditions, and having little or no contact with the outside world.
Significant risk factors include recent migration or relocation, substance use, mental health concerns, involvement with the child welfare system, and being a runaway or homeless youth.
What Are the Different Types of Human Trafficking?
Human trafficking can take many different forms. Victims may be forced into labor, sexual servitude, or other types of exploitation. It’s a horrible criminal industry where people profit from the imposed misery and forced servitude of other people. It’s the second-biggest criminal industry in the world after drug trafficking.
Labor trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, harboring, or receiving of people for labor or services through the use of force, fraud, or coercion. Labor trafficking includes domestic servitude, agriculture, manufacturing, janitorial work, construction, and more.
Sexual trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, harboring, or receipt of persons for a commercial sex act. This can include prostitution, pornography, stripping, live-sex shows, and sex tourism.
Each type has unique strategies for recruiting and controlling victims and concealing the crime.
What Is Smuggling?
Human trafficking is a crime against the person, while human smuggling is a crime against the state. Human trafficking involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act, while human smuggling simply involves the transport of a person across a national border, without that person’s consent, to evade immigration laws.
Human trafficking is always involuntary, while human smuggling may be voluntary. Human trafficking victims are often forced to work in dangerous or deplorable conditions, while smuggled migrants typically have more control over their situation. Human smuggling is generally with the consent of the person(s) being smuggled, and that person is free to leave upon payment of a prearranged fee.
How to Identify and Prevent Human Trafficking?
It is sometimes said that human trafficking is an “invisible crime,” because its signs are not always obvious to the untrained eye, and it can be difficult to identify victims. Because of this, it’s important to be aware of the signs that someone may be a victim of trafficking.
Some common indicators that someone may be a victim of human trafficking include:
- Having few or no personal possessions
- Not being able to freely come and go as they please
- Working long hours for little or no pay
- Living in cramped, unsanitary conditions
- Showing signs of physical abuse, such as bruises or scars
- appearing withdrew or disconnected from the world around them
Language barriers and fear of law enforcement frequently keep victims from seeking help, making human trafficking a hidden crime. The trauma caused by the traffickers can be so great that many may not identify themselves as victims or ask for help, even in highly public settings.
Traffickers teach their victims to trust no one but the traffickers, so victims are often suspicious of genuine offers to help; they often expect that they will have to give something in return. This makes it more difficult to identify the crime because victims rarely report their situation. Often victims are misidentified and treated as criminals or undocumented migrants.
What Judicial Remedies Are Available to Victims of Trafficking?
If you or someone you know is a victim of human trafficking, several judicial remedies may be available. More on human trafficking laws.
These remedies can include:
- Filing a civil lawsuit against the trafficker
- Obtaining a restraining order or injunction against the trafficker
- Seeking damages for injuries caused by the trafficking
- Pursuing criminal charges against the trafficker
Victims have a right to pursue justice and hold their abusers accountable for their crimes. In addition, non-governmental, community, and faith-based organizations around the country continue to provide a wide range of social services for both U.S.- and foreign-born trafficking victims.
If you suspect someone is in danger, don’t approach them yourself. Instead, contact law enforcement and allow them to respond. If you or someone you know is a victim of human trafficking, please call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 to get more information about your legal options.
What You Can Do to Help?
There are many ways you can help prevent human trafficking and support victims of this crime.
Some ways you can help include:
- Learning about human trafficking and sharing what you’ve learned with others
- Supporting organizations that work to prevent human trafficking and assist victims
- Reporting suspicious activity to authorities
- Refusing to participate in activities that could contribute to trafficking, such as buying products or services that may have been produced by trafficking victims
By taking action and raising awareness, we can all help put an end to human trafficking. If you think someone may be a victim of human trafficking, it’s important to reach out for help. Many organizations can assist victims and help them get back on their feet. With the right support, victims of human trafficking can rebuild their lives and pursue their dreams.
Get help, report a tip, find services, and learn more about your options. The National Human Trafficking Hotline assists victims in crisis through safety planning, emotional support, and connections to local resources. For more information and what you can do to help, please visit the website of the National Human Trafficking Hotline.