An Overview of Human Trafficking

According to the U.S. State Department, anywhere from 600,000 to 800,000 human beings are trafficked across international borders every year. Some 80 percent of that total is female, and up to half are minors. Further, between 14,500 and 17,500 are trafficked into the U.S. alone.

Human trafficking is nothing more than modern-day slavery of the vilest kind. After drug dealing, human trafficking and arms dealing are tied for the second largest criminal enterprise in the world. Victims of human trafficking consist of not just women and children, but small children, teenagers and men are also victimized by this growing illegal enterprise.

Although many human trafficking victims are forced to work in prostitution or the sex entertainment industry, a large number of others are forced laborers. They work in jobs ranging from domestic servitude to restaurants to janitorial work to sweatshop factory work to migrant agricultural work. In too many instances, children as young as 10 years of age are sold by their own parents and forced to work long hours for little or no pay.

USINFO staff writer Jane Morse said in a July 23, 2007, online article that Mark Taylor, the senior coordinator for the State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, has put the global value of trafficked labor at approximately $9.5 billion annually.

Traffickers use a variety of ploys and techniques to keep their victims enslaved. Although beating them, keeping them under lock and key and instilling constant fear is frequently used, many other less visible or more subtle techniques are just as effective and just as enslaving.

Traffickers sometimes use financial obligations to keep their victims trapped. Called debt bondage or bonded labor, victims are pledged several thousand dollars for working over a certain contracted time. The catch: these pledged amounts are more than victims could possibly work off within the terms of the contract. Along with keeping victims financially obligated, traffickers will often also hold victims' money for "safe-keeping."

Never leaving human trafficking victims alone with "outsiders" is another ploy that keeps them enslaved. Keeping them isolated from the public, limiting their contact with others, and making sure they are monitored when having outside contact is often the case. This includes isolating human trafficking victims from even their own family members if necessary.

Human traffickers usually confiscate passports, visas and other identifying documents. Along with that, comes threats of imprisonment or deportation if victims attempt to contact authorities.

In October 2000, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) made human trafficking a Federal crime. Prior to 2000, there was no Federal law to protect victims of human trafficking or to prosecute their traffickers.

Although the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) made human trafficking a Federal crime in the U.S., human trafficking remains the fastest growing criminal activity in the world. For its part, the U.S. government has funded more than $448 million to fight human trafficking since 2001, including more than $74 million contributed abroad in fiscal year 2006 to fund 154 international anti-trafficking projects in 70 countries. But looking at the State Department's own report, the government's impact on this growing enterprise is debatable.

Resources:

U.S. State Department

Article, "Forced Labor a Growing Problem Worldwide, U.S. Officials Say;" http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2007&m=July&x=20070723135828mjesrom0.5709955