Human Trafficking.

Human trafficking is a modern form of slavery. It is the exploitation of people for the sexual gratification of others, for any form of labor, or both. Victims are forced to work against their will, and control techniques such as severe physical punishment are used both to prevent escape and to keep victims from testifying against their traffickers.

Nobody knows the true numbers, because the crime is clandestine and underreported. The outline cites an International Labour Organization estimate of more than 40 million victims worldwide. In the United States, most sex trafficking victims are domestic and most labor trafficking victims are not, although labor trafficking can be domestic too, especially among at-risk groups such as the homeless and the mentally ill.

Trafficking thrives because it is profitable. Drugs and weapons are sold once. A human being can be sold over and over again. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime ranks it as the second most profitable international crime, behind drug trafficking. Traffickers may also believe the risk of being caught and punished is low compared with drug and weapons crimes.

The international definition comes from the Palermo Protocol: the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons by threat, force, coercion, abduction, fraud or deception, for the purpose of exploitation. Building on it, Congress passed the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), which divides trafficking into sex trafficking and labor trafficking.

Both kinds share three components: force, fraud and coercion. The exception is a minor in commercial sex. When the person is under 18, no force, fraud or coercion has to be shown. Under the Protocol a child is any person under 18, and a victim’s consent to the exploitation is irrelevant when any of the listed means were used.

Separate trafficking from smuggling. A smuggled person agrees to be moved, the relationship ends at the destination, and a border is always crossed. A trafficked person is exploited, and no border or movement is needed. Trafficking is a crime against a person. Smuggling is a crime against a country.

Separate trafficking from prostitution as well. The outline puts it this way: a prostitute can be trafficked, but a trafficking victim cannot be a prostitute. A trafficking victim is a sexual assault victim.

Under Texas law, child sex trafficking means knowingly trafficking a child under 18 and causing the child by any means to engage in or become the victim of commercial sex or sexual abuse, receiving a benefit from such a venture, or engaging in sexual conduct with a trafficked child. It does not matter whether the actor knew the child’s age. Trafficking a child is also “abuse” under the Family Code.

The forms vary, but every one of them abuses the victim’s vulnerability. The most common form is women forced to work in the sex industry. Sex tourism is travel to a foreign country for sexual gratification, chosen because that country cannot or will not enforce its laws. It does not generally occur in the United States, but U.S. citizens make up a large share of sex tourists elsewhere.

CSEC and child pornography cover crimes such as prostituting a minor, survival sex (trading sex for money, shelter, food or drugs), using a minor in pornography, and having a minor perform in sexual venues. When the victim is under 18, no proof of force, fraud or coercion is needed. When the exploiter is a parent, guardian or other relative, it is called familial trafficking.

Forced labor, or involuntary servitude, happens when unscrupulous employers take advantage of vulnerable workers. It is often harder to identify than sex trafficking. Examples include domestic work, sweatshops, janitorial work, construction, farm work, restaurants and panhandling.

Debt bondage keeps many victims in place. The trafficker claims the victim owes money for travel, documents, room and board, then keeps adding inflated expenses so the debt can never be paid. Most sex trafficking has also moved to the internet, because online ads give traffickers anonymity and let them vet customers and spot law enforcement.