Human Trafficking
Most of us were incarcerated in basements, underneath casinos and in abandoned warehouses. Our desperate cries for help were silenced by the walls, which separated us from the rest of the world. While tourists roamed the streets of Las Vegas admiring the architectural beauty and the celestial lights, which permeated the night sky, we, the victims, were in perpetual fear for our lives.
-Human Trafficking Survivor Testimony
Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery where people profit from the control and exploitation of others. As defined under U.S. federal law, victims of human trafficking include children involved in the sex trade, adults age 18 or over who are coerced or deceived into commercial sex acts, and anyone forced into different forms of "labor or services," such as domestic workers held in a home, or farm-workers forced to labor against their will. The factors that each of these situations have in common are elements of force, fraud, or coercion that are used to control people. Then, that control is tied to inducing someone into commercial sex acts, or labor or services. Numerous people in the field have summed up the concept of human trafficking as "compelled service." Every year, human traffickers generate billions of dollars in profits by victimizing millions of people around the world, and here in the United States. Human trafficking is considered to be one of the fastest growing criminal industries in the world.
-Source: Polaris Project
Victims of Trafficking Can Be Found in: Prostitution, Construction, Landscaping, Strip Clubs, Massage Parlors, Servile Marriages, Restaurant Services, Domestic Situations (nannies or maids), Sweatshop Factories, Farming and Agriculture, and many more places.
The Law
Human trafficking is an abuse against a person and is against the law. There is federal legislation for human trafficking (TVPA) as well as state legislation for human trafficking (KRS 529.100) . Under the law, there are two types of human trafficking; labor trafficking and sex trafficking.
- Labor trafficking occurs when a person is subjected to force, fraud or coercion for the purpose of forced labor or services.
- Sex trafficking occurs when a person is subjected to force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of participation in a commercial sex act. - OR - When any minor is involved in any commercial sex act, they are automatically a victim of human trafficking. Evidence of force, fraud, or coercion need not be present because children cannot legally consent to commercial sex.
Methods of Control
Force, fraud, and coercion are some of the methods used by traffickers to lure victims and then subject them to servitude and abuse:
- Force: Physical intimidation, rapes, beatings, physical confinement, etc.
- Fraud: Lies, false promises, and trickery. False promises of employment, manipulation of immigration documentation, illusions of marriage or relationships.
- Coercion: Threats and manipulation. For example, threats to harm someone or their family if they attempt to leave. Threats to abuse the legal process and have the victim thrown in jail and/or deported. Confiscation of legal or immigration documents.
-Source: Bluegrass Rape Crisis Center
