Graphic Courtesy of Polaris Project
When you think of human trafficking, what comes to mind? For many, it’s synonymous with the sale of humans for sexual exploitation. And while sex trafficking certainly is a type of human trafficking, it isn’t the only type.
Human trafficking is a complex issue spanning sexual exploitation to debt or forced labor. According to Polaris Project, the United States National Human Trafficking Hotline saw nearly a 20 percent increase from 2018 to 2019 of victims and survivors reaching out directly.
Sex Trafficking
“Sex trafficking is a crime when women, men and/or children are forcefully involved in commercial sex acts. In the United States, any minor under the age of 18 engaged in commercial sex acts is automatically considered a victim of sex trafficking under the law.” — End Slavery Now
Traffickers utilize vast networks of paying customers that have been long established and work to broaden those networks through the use of social media and internet platforms. According to End Slavery Now, “when the U.S. Craigslist Adult Services Section was available, there were 10,000-16,000 adult services postings per day in the U.S. alone.” While it’s difficult to determine which ads are independent ads and which are trafficking-related, it is safe to assume that a significant number were likely were influenced by traffickers.
The National Human Trafficking Hotline reminds people that sex trafficking is a market-driven industry. If there isn’t demand, there is no need for supply. People who purchase and support the commercial sex industry provide incentive for traffickers.
But again, human trafficking isn’t just sex trafficking. Dressember, a human trafficking non profit organization, has provided excellent information on the types of human trafficking outside of sex trafficking.
- Forced Labor
- Debt Bondage
- Child Militia
- Forced Marriage
The following information was taken from their website:
Forced Labor
“Forced or compulsory labor is all work or service which is exacted from any person under the threat of a penalty and for which the person has not offered himself or herself voluntarily.” — International Labor Organization’s Forced Labor Convention
Although sex trafficking is the most widely recognized form of human trafficking, it isn’t actually the most pervasive form. According to the U.S. State Department, forced labor, also known as involuntary servitude, is the biggest sector of trafficking in the world, and it is truly a global epidemic.
Perhaps surprisingly, forced labor is prevalent in the supply chains that give us many of the products we use everyday. According to estimates by the International Labor Organization (ILO) in 2012, there are 14.2 million forced laborers within the agriculture, construction, domestic work, and manufacturing industries. Ten million children are also in forced labor. In Uzbekistan, 1.4 million children have been forced to work in the cotton fields, which is more than the number of children in the entire New York City public school system.
The private economy – businesses and individuals seeking to create a profit – exploits 90% of the world’s forced laborers. This means that the desire to produce a profit is the largest motivating force behind forced labor.
Debt Bondage
“Bonded labor, also known as debt bondage, happens when people give themselves into slavery as security against a loan or when they inherit a debt from a relative. It can be made to look like an employment agreement but one where the worker starts with a debt to repay – usually in brutal conditions – only to find that repayment of the loan is impossible. Then, their enslavement becomes permanent.” — End Slavery Now
The ILO estimates that eight million people are affected by debt bondage worldwide. Debt bondage is often used as coercion in both labor and sex trafficking. Bonded labor is most widespread in South Asian countries, such as India and Pakistan, and it is often fueled by poverty and caste-based discrimination. It is not uncommon for entire families to work to pay off a debt of another family member. Generational debt, in which children are forced to work off the debt of their ancestors, is also prevalent.
Bonded labor is used for most of Southeast Asia’s shrimping industry, which sends more shrimp to the United States than any other country. And although the 13th Amendment explicitly prohibits slavery, bonded labor, among other forms of slavery, still occurs within the U.S. Immigrants, both legal and illegal, are particularly vulnerable to exploitation through bonded labor, often in agriculture and construction industries. Withholding documentation and exploiting a person’s need for employment are common means of coercion for both forced labor and debt bondage.
Child Soldiers
“Any child—boy or girl—under eighteen years of age, who is part of any kind of regular or irregular armed force or armed group in any capacity.” — UNICEF
Over 30% of children used as combatants are girls.
Estimates suggest as many as 300,000 child soldiers are engaged in violent conflicts around the world. Shockingly, 40 percent of armed forces use children, including national armies, militias, gangs, terrorist organizations, and rebel forces. The sad truth is that children make effective soldiers. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, child soldiers are trusting, vulnerable, and easily manipulated. They can be daring and tenacious in combat, especially under the influence of drugs; which is a common practice. Child soldiers have been used as scouts, messengers, and suicide bombers. In addition, 30 percent of forces that use children also have girls, many of whom suffer sexual abuse, as well. One study of child soldiers in Asia found the average age of child soldiers to be 13-years-old, with as many as 34 percent of them being taken before age 12.
The recruitment and use of child soldiers is a form of human trafficking that is given much less attention in most discussions surrounding modern-day slavery. However, the brutal and scarring reality child soldiers face leaves no question that this egregious form of trafficking deserves more of our attention.
Forced Marriage
“Forced marriage occurs when an individual, regardless of their age, has been forced to marry without consent.” — Human Trafficking Search
The ILO estimates that over 15 million people worldwide are in situations of forced marriage, although the undocumented nature of most forced marriages make accurate statistics difficult. This form of trafficking is most prevalent among young women and girls, although there are cases of young boys and men in forced marriages. Forced marriage was recognized as a form of modern-day slavery by the ILO in 2017 helping to bring this hidden crime further into the spotlight. Forced marriages can lead to increased vulnerability to abuse, including coerced sexual initiation, marital and statutory rape, interrupted education, transnational abandonment, reproductive coercion, and femicide.
Child marriage is a subset of forced marriage associated with the greatest risks for abuse. In South Asia, almost half of young women, and similarly more than one-third of young women in sub-saharan Africa, are married by their 18th birthday. The Tahirih Justice Center also reported at least 3,000 forced marriage cases in the U.S. between 2009 and 2011.
In Haryana, the pejorative terms paro or molki (‘molki’ literally means ‘one who has a price’) are used to describe women who have been purchased in other states and brought to the region.
According to a UNICEF report on child marriage, girls are not only denied their childhood, but they are often isolated from family and friends with limited opportunities for education and employment. In addition, over one-third of women aged 20 to 24 who were married by 15 had three or more children in Nepal.
While many conceptualize forced marriage as an ancient or outdated practice, the reality is that forced marriage is alive and well today.
UNICEF reported that unless there is a “reduction in the practice of child marriage, up to 280 million girls alive today are at risk of becoming brides by the time they turn 18. [And t]he total number of women married in childhood will grow from more than 700 million today to approximately 950 million by 2030, and nearly 1.2 billion by 2050.”
When taking those types of human trafficking situations into consideration, we are now forced to realize even more the gravity of what women, men and children face across the globe.
Human trafficking is more than the act of trafficking itself — it’s the culmination of a number of injustices in our society. Data collected by Polaris Project, which runs the National Human Trafficking Hotline, shows more clearly than ever that victims of trafficking in the United States tend to people who have faced discrimination. Those of minority ethnicities, LGBTQ+ community members, living below the poverty line, in foster care or those who struggle with trauma, unstable housing or homelessness, abuse, addiction or any combination of those are at a higher risk for trafficking.
Discussions with survivors provided the common denominator between those groups of people — they’re all in need. Traffickers latch onto people who are in need because it’s an easy in. They win their victims over by filling the holes in their lives, whether that be tangible or not. The illusion of acceptance and care is just as effective if not more so than a safe place to stay and access to drugs.
To truly prevent human trafficking means to enact change in the underlying issues and inequalities, to stop offering band-aid solutions to problems that require stitches and staples.
“Human trafficking is a community-wide problem, and as such, it requires community-wide solutions.” — Jacky Rosen