Human trafficking is one of the largest humanitarian issues of our lifetime, and everyone should gain an understanding of what it is. In essence, human trafficking is labor-based exploitation. It involves coercing or forcing victims to provide a service or labor against their will.
Human trafficking is commonly associated with sex trafficking, domestic servitude, and forced labor in sweatshops or on farms. However, any form of forced labor where someone is not free to leave can be considered human trafficking.
Human Trafficking Exists in Communities Throughout the United States
January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month, a good opportunity to reflect on what we can do to protect victims from human trafficking.
According to a 2022 report from the International Labour Organization, Walk Free and the International Migration Organization, 49.6 million people around the world are around the world are forced into human trafficking. The report also notes that 12 million of these human trafficking victims are children.
However, it is hard to accurately identify the number of human trafficking victims that exist because many cases go unreported. Human trafficking has been identified in all 50 states in the United States.
Some Victims Don’t Realize They Are Being Trafficked
As a criminologist, I have interviewed incarcerated human traffickers to gain a deeper understanding of trafficking operations. I have also spoken to countless human trafficking victims.
Some of the most consistent trends that I have found in my research is that many people do not realize that they have become human trafficking victims. This problem is due to a lack of awareness of what human trafficking is.
For example, if prostitutes are not free to leave that line of work because someone else controls else controls their money or housing, then they are being trafficked. Any commercial sex act involving a minor, regardless of whether it is consensual, is also considered human trafficking.
Why Do Human Trafficking Victims Become Vulnerable to Predators?
To gain a deeper understanding of human trafficking, it is necessary to connect the dots and understand the other forms of abuse that create vulnerabilities and lead to people being trafficked. Food insecurity, homelessness, and children who use the internet without parental oversight can become vulnerable to groomers who target potential victims.
Based on my interviews with human trafficking survivors, being approached and groomed on the internet is the most common way they became trapped in human trafficking. Traffickers monitor social media, gaming platforms, and chatrooms, looking for people who display emotional vulnerabilities.
For example, children on an online site might say that no one understands them or they hate their parents; these are the vulnerabilities traffickers seek. Once a trafficker locates a potential victim online, they mine the victim’s profile for information and create a false persona based on the victim’s interests.
Groomers exploit the emotional vulnerabilities of their victim until they gain the victim’s trust. Then, the groomer sets up an in-person meeting and the victim is forced into trafficking through coercion and false promises.
The Role Everyone Can Take in Preventing Human Trafficking
Everyone can have a role in combating human trafficking. For example, businesses can provide training to their employees on internet safety and how to protect children from traffickers on the internet.
Schools can help to prevent grooming and protect children by providing human trafficking awareness to their students. This education should include internet safety, common tactics used by traffickers to identify and groom victims, and the dangers of sextortion.
Teaching children about sextortion is especially important, because it is the fastest-growing online crime targeting children.
Sextortion involves the threat of releasing sexual images of a victim if a trafficker’s demands are not met. Those demands often include:
- Sending money
- Sending sexually explicit images
- Forcing the victim into sex trafficking
Schools and communities have an important responsibility to help their students learn about sextortion. Unfortunately, Unfortunately, sextortion has played a role in the death of children.
Sadly, a 13-year-old named Levi Maciejewski took his life in Pennsylvania, and it was not an isolated case. According to news station KFOX14, the family stated that “Levi’s death was the result of a heinous and rapidly growing crime known as ‘sextortion.’ An online predator coerced, threatened, and blackmailed him, leading to devastating consequences.”
Recognizing Human Traffickers at Medical Facilities
Healthcare facilities have an important role in combating human trafficking. Trafficking victims are under the strict control of their traffickers. They are often coached on what to say and are not in possession of their personal belongings, such as their money, identification, or vehicles.
In many cases, victims have a hard time asking for help because their traffickers always remain present with them in public. However, medical facilities such as a physician’s office or a hospital medical are places where a patient and a trafficker can be separated.
If medical staff notice the visible signs of human trafficking, they should separate the patient from the trafficker and summon law enforcement. These visible signs include:
- An attitude of fear or subservience
- Bruises at various stages of healing
- Special tattoos such as bar codes, money bags, dollar bills, coins or currency symbols
- Another person who insists on talking for the patient
Resources such as the National Human Trafficking Hotline should also be readily available at medical facilities.
Why It’s Difficult to Catch Human Traffickers
Human trafficking victims are often coached on what to say to authorities. Traffickers often threaten their victims with physical harm to themselves or their family members if they speak out about their trafficking situation.
But for every person who recognizes the signs of human trafficking and takes action by notifying either parents or law enforcement, that is one less victim.
I am actively involved in the fight against human trafficking, and, and I provide training and presentations nationwide on what communities and everyone can do to combat human trafficking. Feel free to reach out to me with any questions at jarrod.sadulski@mycampus.apus.edu.
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