Human Trafficking

Human trafficking for forced prostitution or involuntary labor is one of the most widespread and lucrative forms of transnational crime. Almost every country has some form of human trafficking—whether as a country of origin, transit, or destination. The United Nations (UN) has tracked victims from 127 countries of origin to 137 destination countries. Measuring the extent of human trafficking (like other illegal activity including drug trafficking, smuggling, and arms trafficking) is difficult because of its criminal and hidden nature; however, the U.S. Department of State estimates that between 600,000 and 800,000 people were trafficked globally in 2005, and 12.3 million adults and children were in either forced labor or prostitution in 2010. Other estimates of people currently trafficked around the world range widely from 4.5 to 27 million. Nevertheless, UN statistics suggest that there are more people living in conditions of enslavement now than at any time in history—in part due to lower transportation costs and increased [Page 352]globalization. The UN estimates that traffickers currently earn about $10 billion a year, and some scholars suggest that human trafficking will surpass drugs and arms trafficking in its incidence and economic scale within the next decade.

According to existing international law and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), human trafficking involves three distinct elements: (1) the act, (2) the means, and (3) the purpose. The act is recruiting, transporting, sheltering, or receiving people. The means include the use (or threat) of force, coercion, fraud, or deception. The purpose is the exploitation of victims for sexual exploitation, forced labor, or organ removal. This definition comes from the Palermo Protocol, part of the 2000 Convention Against Organized Crime, which came into effect in 2003. The Palermo Protocol was the first global legally binding instrument to fight trafficking that included a consensus definition of human trafficking now used by governments, scholars, and practitioners. The word trafficking places a focus on human trafficking's short-term transactional nature; however, it should be seen as a lasting phenomenon more akin to enslavement. Victims are often sold repeatedly for forced prostitution or are held as bonded labor for extended periods of time, often years.

There are a number of different types of human trafficking including commercial sexual exploitation, forced and bonded labor, forced marriage, domestic servitude, forced organ removal, and child soldiers. What all human trafficking victims share is the fact that they are forced or coerced into working against their will. Thus, human trafficking is fundamentally the control of one human by another, often using violence or the threat of violence. This entry provides an overview of the nature, causes, and government reactions to human trafficking. It first discusses the extent and types of trafficking, the supply and demand factors involved, and the efforts governments have taken to combat it.