Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery where people profit from the control and exploitation of others. Human trafficking is most commonly defined as:
- Sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age
- The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage or slavery.
- A victim does not need to be physically transported from one location to another in order for the crime to fall within these definitions.
There are several types of human trafficking including forced labor, sex trafficking, forced child labor, bonded labor, involuntary domestic servitude, debt bondage among migrant laborers and child soldiers. Human trafficking occurs in every part of the world, from less developed countries to more developed countries. As such, it is a crime under U.S. and international law. Victims can be any age, any gender and from any economic standing in life.