What is Human Trafficking?    

Human slave trafficking, also known as trafficking in persons, is modern-day slavery. It is the third largest and fastest growing criminal industry in the world, victimizing millions of people and reaping billions in profits. Trafficking is considered one of the most urgent human rights issues in the world today.

Human trafficking may take many forms, including trafficking:

• in the sex industry
• into forced labor in factories, restaurants, or agricultural work
  
• into domestic servitude as a servant, housekeeper, or nanny
  
• as a bride
  
• of organs
  

Slave Traffickers use a variety of techniques to control their victims. A hallmark of the criminal industry is the sophisticated use of psychological and financial control mechanisms, often minimizing or precluding the need for physical violence or confinement.

Slave Traffickers use a variety of techniques to control their victims. A hallmark of the criminal industry is the sophisticated use of psychological and financial control mechanisms, often minimizing or precluding the need for physical violence or confinement.

Victims of slave trafficking often come from vulnerable populations, including migrants, oppressed or marginalized groups, runaways or displaced persons, and the poor.

Slave Traffickers may be individuals, families, or more organized groups of criminals, and are facilitated by other 'indirect' beneficiaries, such as advertising, distribution, or retail companies or consumers (who may include you).

Slave Trafficking occurs in almost every country in the world, though some countries are primarily sites of origin, transit, destination, and/or internal slave trafficking.

Types of Slave Trafficking    

Women and children are enslaved and trafficked into various forms of commercial sexual exploitation, including prostitution and pornography, bride trafficking, military prostitution, and sex tourism.

Prostitution and Pornography

Women and children who are trafficked into prostitution and pornography are usually involved in the most exploitative forms of these commercial sex operations. Sex trafficking operations occur in highly visible venues such as street prostitution, as well as more underground locations like closed-brothel systems that operate out of residential homes. Sex trafficking operations also occur in a mixture of public and private locations such as massage parlors, spas, and other fronts for prostitution. Women and children who may start off by dancing and stripping in clubs are often coerced into more exploitative situations of prostitution and pornography.

Bride Trafficking

While traditional and modern bridal practices are not in themselves forms of enslaved sex trafficking, slave traders use these cultural systems to help facilitate the selling of women and girls. In some countries, women are considered the virtual property of families, or are treated equivalently, and may be unwillingly sold or bartered into marriages.

The dowry system in many countries also facilitates bride trafficking. Slave Traders take advantage of poor families by promising to marry their daughters to grooms in other countries who require little or no dowry. After receiving the family’s permission to take their daughter to a foreign country, the slave trader can then force the women or child into prostitution. Sometimes, the family knowingly sells their daughter into prostitution because they are unable or unwilling to pay a dowry.

In certain areas of Latin America, where men significantly outnumber the women, grooms pay a ‘bride price’ to the bride’s family before a marriage. This practice has created an increased demand for cheaper brides, and slave traders meet this demand by trafficking women from poorer regions of Latin America or from other parts of the world.  Mail-order bride systems in the United States and other Western countries also facilitate the trafficking in women and children.

While many unions are legitimate, slave traders work through mail-order bride companies to bring women across international borders where  they end up in sham marriages leading to prostitution or in violent and abusive relationships.

Military Prostitution

Women and girls have been victims of military violence and abuse throughout history, often being used as sex slaves or as civilian targets. In Latin American civil wars, the military use women as sex slaves under the rationale that it would prevent the men from raping civilian women, control the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, and improve the morale of soldiers. Today they are known as ‘rest and relaxation centers’ and can be found in countries around the world, where women from the Latin America, Philippines and Russia have been sexually trafficked to entertain, serve, and improve the morale of the U.S. military. In other countries such as Sierra Leone, rebel armies have kidnapped and trafficked thousands of girls as young as seven years old as military sex slaves.

Sex Tourism

Sex tourism, which involves travel to foreign countries for the purposes of engaging in commercial sex acts, is one of the most profitable aspects of the tourism industry. In some countries, sex tourism contributes to a significant percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Sex tourism is prevalent in  Latin America, Asia, and Eastern Europe. It often utilizes trafficked women and children to meet the demand created by an international market of sex tourists. Sex tourism agencies and businesses market their travel packages, primarily through the internet, targeting both male and female customers. While sex tourists are mostly male customers, female customers participate in sex tourism in locations like Bali to form sexual relationships with young men and sometimes boys.  The growth and popularity of sex tourism stem from the opening of country borders, affordable transportation, and increased advertising through the internet. Sex tourists also rely on weak law enforcement, anonymity, and the freedom from social constraints found in their home countries. Sex tourism is an increasing concern among human rights activists, particularly because of its facilitation of the commercial sexual exploitation of children.

Because of its profitability, few governments have sufficiently addressed the abuses found within the sex tourism industry. Some efforts have been made to strengthen laws, particularly on child sex tourism. Other efforts have included public education campaigns where videos have been shown on select airlines, warning tourists of international laws regarding illicit sex tourism.

How many?  

When people think of Latin America they think of beautiful vacation resorts, and captivating beaches. But if you stop for a moment and step out of the fantasy world that hotel resorts have created you will witness a deep rooted history of poverty, abuse, and slavery. Travel throughout Latin America and learn the truth about the lives of children that are suffering as visitors are chillin on the beaches sipping on margaritas.

• 12.3 million Victims of forced labor worldwide
• 2.4 million are forced into labor because of trafficking
  
• $31.6 billion annual profits generated by forced laborers
  

When people think of Latin America they think of beautiful vacation resorts, and captivating beaches. But if you stop for a moment and step out of the fantasy world that hotel resorts have created you will witness a deep rooted history of poverty, abuse, and slavery. Travel throughout Latin America and learn the truth about the lives of children that are suffering as visitors are chillin on the beaches sipping on margaritas.

An estimated 500,000 girls younger than 16 are in prostitution in the northeast states of Argentina. Peru has over 10,000 child slaves in the city of Lima alone. According to a Brazilian Congressional Inquiry, Brazil has over 12,000,000 street children, and over 500,000 women and children in prostitution. Experts also estimate that over 35,000 women are trafficked out of Colombia. San Jose, Costa Rica receives millions of foreign visitors every year. Many foreign businessman (majority from the United States) come to Costa Rica to enjoy the freedom of legal prostitution, and the easy access to under-aged girls and boys for sexual purposes. You can go on the web and search through thousands of websites offering a travel agency type service to Costa Rica and throughout Latin America to reserve a girl for a night before you even enter the country. There are over 30,000 children involved in prostitution in Costa Rica. South America into the international prostitution market, bringing $500 million dollars in criminal profits to the traffickers. That figure represents over $14,000 per trafficked person.

Many women and children are kidnapped, purchased, and sold as products for the Sex Trade Industry from all over the world and trafficked into Latin America, and into the United States. Central American countries are gateways into the United States. The U.S. Department of State conservatively estimates that 50,000 women and children are trafficked [illegally and against their will] into the United States annually. There is more slavery today than there has been in all of history. It just has a different face, and uses more modern methods to disguise its sick motives.

The sex trade industry is well organized, and it is estimated that it earns an income of over six billion dollars annually. Please remember the good outnumber the bad. The reason why the sex trade industry has been more successful in its efforts is because they are unified. When the good begin to unify, working hand and hand in a movement of love and hope. Only then will we defeat those who attempt to rob and sell innocence.

Who are the Victims of Human Trafficking?

Victims of slavery often come from vulnerable populations, including undocumented migrants, runaways and at-risk youth, oppressed or marginalized groups, and the poor. Slave Traffickers specifically target individuals in these populations because they are often easiest to recruit and control and are least likely to be protected by law enforcement.

The needs of survivors of slavery are among the most complex of crime victims, often requiring a multidisciplinary approach to address severe trauma and medical needs, immigration and other legal issues, safety concerns, multicultural barriers, and financial hardship.

Undocumented Immigrants

Undocumented immigrants are highly vulnerable to being trafficked due to a combination of factors, including lack of legal status and protections, limited language skills and employment options, poverty and immigration-related debts, and social isolation. They are often victimized by slave traffickers from a similar ethnic or national background, on whom they may be dependent for employment or support in the foreign country.

Runaways and At-Risk Youth

Runaways and at-risk youth are targeted by pimps and traffickers for exploitation in the commercial sex industry as well as for begging. Pimps and sex slave traffickers are skilled at manipulating child victims, maintaining control and often their loyalty through a combination of affection and violence.UNICEF estimates that between 1,000-1,500 children are trafficking under the disguise of illegal adoptions in Guatemala annually. It was estimates that over 500 children disappeared in Honduras in 2000, all of who are assumed to have been trafficked. Likewise, in El Salvador, 206 individuals were found to be involved in the business of trafficking in children between 1998 - 2000; 43 of them were women. Over 50,000 women from the Dominican Republic participate in the sex industry abroad, according to ECPAT's 2002 report.

This number has not been disaggregated by age, but even if 10 of them are children, the number is intolerable.We offer some preliminary statistics as to the number of children victims of sexual exploitation and children in Guatemala who are illegally adopted, both end points for trafficked children in the region. It is important to point out that this figures represent children trafficked internationally; yet especially in Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Honduras, children are trafficked within their own countries. No aggregate numbers exist for the trafficking of children in Latin America and the Caribbean due largely to the lack of a unified definition of the problem; as well as the absence of indicators and registers; and the lack of resources to track cases, make accusations, and bring cases before a judge. Finally, difficulty in identifying victims of trafficking further complicates quantification of victims. While a majority of trafficking in the region occurs for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation, no aggregate statistics are available to quantify this phenomenon either.

How does it happen?

Deception, international adoptions, and illegal documents all facilitate trafficking in children in Latin America and the Caribbean. Slave trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation requires the collaboration of many individuals:

• A brothel or other organization asks for specific types of children for the purposes of prostitution;
• An intermediate contacts the child and offers opportunity for travel or employment;
  
• Corrupt officials create falsified documents to grant children identification showing them to be adults;  
  
• Corrupt lawyers create documents to permit exit from the country;
  
• Migration officials facilitate the passage across the border;
  

In other cases, the falsifying of documents is bypassed and children are slipped across the borders without officials' knowledge. Clearly, many corrupt individuals are important for the success of this business, including truck drivers, migration officials, police, bar and brothel owners and retention homes. Still, investigations have led to the accusations and convictions of few perpetrators.

One of the most common systems used by Dutch traffickers is to officially invite a Dominican woman to visit the country, or falsely recognize a Dominican daughter, whereby children under 17 can obtain Dutch nationality and travel to the Netherlands. Slave Traffickers falsify or forge birth certificates, according to ECPAT.

Once children have been trafficked to an unknown location, they lack options to escape: they find themselves in an unfamiliar area with no resources. Not only do they not have money, but also they are told that they are indebted to the people who provided their transportation. They consider their only "solution" to participate in bonded labor, usually where their traffickers place them as prostitutes.

Why can’t they just leave?

Some slave trafficking victims are physically imprisoned by locks, bars or guards. Those with apparent freedom to leave are controlled by other means. Physical, sexual and psychological violence are employed against them effectively. Former slave trafficking victims report being beaten, in some cases with iron rods, for refusing clients, attempting escape, or “causing trouble.” Others have reported being drugged or forced to consume alcohol, some to the extent that they became addicted. Many women are “free to go”—as soon as they pay off a debt that grows each day. Slave Traffickers threaten to have victims arrested, or their family members harmed, if they misbehave or tell anyone. Slave Traffickers take care to instill an acute fear of police and immigration officials, to silence the women and smother their hope of escape. In one case, women were so terrified when police raided their brothel that they hid in the closet. The complex mixture of fear, intimidation and violence used by traffickers and brothel owners effectively immobilizes the victims.  

Slave Trafficking in the Americas

Lack of information on trafficking in the Americas should not be mistaken for the absence of large-scale slave trafficking activity. A growing number of reports from non-governmental organizations, the media, and legal cases indicate that slave trafficking in women and children for sexual exploitation is a significant problem in the Americas. Available data show that women and children are trafficked to, from and within the region, with accounts reported in nearly every country. Political instability and social unrest in some areas have created environments conducive to trafficking. Victims in the Americas are sexually exploited through brothels, bars, massage parlors, street prostitution, and pornography. The popularity of Latin America as a destination for sex tourists, which has increased since Asia began measures to reduce sex tourism, is particularly alarming. Growth of the sex industry and the demand for commercial sex assure that, without action, the incidence of trafficking will only increase.

Some estimates for the Americas:

• 50,000 women and children trafficked to the USA annually (CIA)
• 35,000 women trafficked out of Colombia annually (Interpol)
  
• 50,000 women from the Dominican Republic working abroad in the sex industry in 1996 (IOM)
  
• 2,000 children exploited in 600 brothels in Guatemala City (Guatemala City police)
  
• 500,000 girls in prostitution in Brazil, many trafficked into the gold mining regions of the Amazon (CBIA)
  

Despite growing concern and awareness of trafficking, the victims, perpetrators, and even the issue itself remain nearly invisible. Lack of data obscures the full extent of the problem and impedes the policy process. Recognizing that research and international collaboration are essential steps in addressing the issue, organizations have launched an intensive investigation of trafficking patterns and practices in 14 countries of the Americas region. 

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