What is Human Trafficking?
Human Trafficking is modern day slavery. It takes many forms:
Labor Trafficking: includes the use of force, fraud, or coercion to make people work against their will. Traffickers often use physical restraints, beatings, or threats against the victims and their families to prevent them from leaving. Sometimes traffickers seize victims' identity documents so they cannot leave. Often victims are told they cannot leave a job until they pay off a debt.
Sex Trafficking: the use of force, fraud, or coercion for commercial sex. Traffickers use physical force, threats, and psychological abuse in order to maintain control over victims. Traffickers tell victims that they will be arrested or deported if they call the police. Any one under the age of 18 cannot consent and is considered a trafficking victim if involved in the commercial sex industry.
Traffickers prey upon the vulnerability of their victims. Groups such as children, immigrants, individuals with drug addictions, and people with mental health problems are often targets. However, anyone can fall into the hands of a trafficker.