Human Trafficking
Human Trafficking is Slavery
Trafficking in humans refers to all acts related
to recruitment, transport, sale or purchase of
individuals through force, fraud or other
coercive means for the purpose of
exploitation.
(UN Protocol on Trafficking, 2000)
How many people are enslaved?
27 million people are enslaved worldwide
(Dr. Kevin Bales, www.freetheslaves.net)
In the U.S.
• U.S. State Department estimates that approx.
700,000 persons are trafficked across
international borders each year. (TIP, 2006, 2007,
2008)
• Of these, the State Department reports that
14,500 to 17,500 people are trafficked into the
U.S. each year.
Who is trafficked into slavery?
• Women and girls comprise 80% of the
persons trafficked across international
borders.
• Approximately 70% of victims are trafficked
for commercial sexual exploitation.
(TIP Report 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008)
Trafficking in persons is the fastest-growing
and second largest criminal industry in the
world today.
Trafficking is second only to drug trafficking
and fluctuates from 2nd to 3rd along with the
illegal arms industry.
Forms of trafficking/slavery
Labor trafficking
• Domestic Servitude • Janitorial services
• Agriculture • Food service industry
• Sweatshop labor • Begging
Forms of trafficking/slavery
Sex trafficking
• Street work • Dancers
• Brothels • Pornography
• Mail order brides • Massage parlors
Economics of Human Trafficking
SUPPLY drives DEMAND
Supply factors
• Poverty
• Political instability/armed conflict
• Real/perceived opportunity for a better life
• Absence of a social safety net
• Absence of employment opportunities
• Status of violence against women & children
Demand factors
• Demand for prostitution and other aspects of the
sex industry is high throughout the world
• Demand for cheap labor; corporations seek to
produce products the lowest possible cost.
• Potential profits are very high – trafficked persons
can be bought and sold many times.
Methods of control
• Finances – debt bondage, financial obligations
• Control of victims’ money
• Isolation from family members, members of their
ethnic/religious communities
• Isolation from the public/limited
contact/monitored contact
Methods of control
• Confiscation of passports, visas and other
identification documents
• Telling victims they will be imprisoned or
deported if they contact authorities
• Use of threats of violence towards victims and
their family members
Living and working conditions
• Physically demanding • Isolation from the
work public and other
• Under constant watch victims
or supervision • High risk for work-
• Threats of physical related injuries
harm or deportation • High risk for sexually-
transmitted diseases
Living and working conditions
• Physical and • Little or no medical
psychological abuse attention
and/or trauma • Malnourishment
• Long hours and little
or no compensation
Primary concerns
In countries of destination:
• Increasing community awareness in support of
identifying victims
• Organizing social services in support of meeting
victims’ needs (food, housing, health care, legal
assistance, ESL classes, work training, etc.)
• Protection/building support networks
Primary concerns
In countries of origin:
• Focus on decreasing citizen vulnerability
• Increasing ability to identify potential traffickers
Theological Reflection Resources
Human Trafficking
“Whatever insults human dignity, such as… slavery,
prostitution, the selling of women and children… all
these things… are infamies indeed. They poison
human society… they are supreme dishonor to the
Creator.”
Gaudium et Spes, 1965
“We publicly declare our determination to address
insistently at every level the abuse and sexual
exploitation of women and children with particular
attention to the trafficking of women which has
become a lucrative, multinational business.”
Declaration of Women Religious Leaders – UISG –
May 13, 2001
“The trade in human persons constitutes a
shocking offense against human dignity and a grave
violation of fundamental human rights… Such
situations are an affront to fundamental values
shared by all cultures and peoples, values rooted in
the very nature of the human person.”
John Paul II, 2002
“Trafficking in persons – in which men, women and
children from all over the globe are transported to
other countries for the purposes of forced
prostitution or labor – inherently rejects the dignity
of the human person and exploits conditions of
global poverty.”
Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope
Joint US/Mexican Bishops’ Pastoral Letter,
November 2002
“Human trafficking will never be truly defeated
without eliminating the consumerism that feeds it
and prosecuting those actors in receiving countries,
including our own, that benefit because of the
exploitation of vulnerable human beings.”
On Human Trafficking,
U.S. Catholic Bishops, 2007
Learn more about trafficking
• Talitha Kum – International Network of
Consecrated Life Against Trafficking in Persons
(and national member networks)
• Unanima International
• UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish
Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and
Children
Learn more about trafficking
• U.S. State Department Trafficking in Persons
Report 2010
• Many more resources on your CD
Resources
• The Project to End Human Trafficking (Mary
Burke Ph.D)
• “A Matter of Spirit” Newsletter from the
Intercommunity Peace and Justice Center,
Seattle, Washington.
• U.S. Department of State Trafficking in Persons
Report, 2010.
• www.freetheslaves.net