You may have heard terms like human trafficking, trafficking in persons, and sex trafficking used interchangeably. But what’s the real difference? Are they all the same, or is there a distinction between sex trafficking vs. human trafficking?
“Human trafficking” is an umbrella term that encompasses all forms of trafficking. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) defines human trafficking as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of people through force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them for profit.”
According to the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), there are two primary forms of human trafficking:
All forms of human trafficking can involve illegally transporting people across borders (human smuggling). However, human smuggling isn’t always involved, and it doesn’t have to be for the crime to fit the human trafficking definition. Human trafficking is defined by coercion and exploitation, regardless of whether victims are transported.
Globally, there are an estimated 27.6 million human trafficking victims. Of those victims, 6.3 are subjected to commercial sexual exploitation. Traffickers remorselessly buy and sell their fellow humans, grossing over $236 billion* in profit each year. That’s more than the combined net profits of some of the world’s largest, most well-known corporations.
Victims include women, children, and men. Males make up an estimated 40% of victims, and are considered to be the most rapidly-growing demographic.
Just like sex trafficking is a component of human trafficking, so is forced labor—and it has its own subtypes. Labor trafficking can involve forced labor in a number of industries, including manufacturing, hospitality, domestic labor, construction, agriculture, and more. Victims of labor trafficking may be held as domestic servants in private residences, or forced to work on behalf of the state.
Forced labor and sex trafficking sometimes overlap. That’s because traffickers sometimes use threats of sexual exploitation to keep victims under control. Some trafficking victims experience both forced labor and sex trafficking.
Sex trafficking involves forcing or coercing victims into commercial sex acts. This criminal exchange always involves three parties: traffickers (sellers), buyers, and victims. This form of trafficking continues to exist because buyers create demand.
Victims have no personal autonomy and are trafficked in many different settings. These include private homes, hotels, brothels, massage parlors, social media, and online marketplaces. They’re often accompanied by a “sponsor” or a partner who appears much older, and who speaks for them and controls their movements and communication.
Women and girls make up the majority of sex trafficking victims. Almost 4 out of 5 are female.
If you want to know more about the signs of sex trafficking and what to look out for, you can read more here.
Children make up 38% of total human trafficking victims—a staggering statistic. One in 6 sex trafficking victims is under age 12, and the average age of entry into sex trafficking in the U.S. is 14.
Kids should be learning safely at school and playing on playgrounds. They should be surrounded by loving, nurturing families—not forced to work in dangerous factories or brothels. All types of human trafficking have devastating consequences for children; that’s why the Atlas Free Network is dedicated to restoring freedom and hope to sex trafficking victims of all ages.
Atlas Free focuses on fighting sex trafficking. Network Members around the world collaborate, organizing around a common goal: to end sex trafficking and exploitation. We think of ourselves as a multi-cylinder engine; more powerful together than we are alone.
Traffickers are organized and well-resourced, so we must be, too. Since 2012, we’ve been carefully vetting and uniting local anti-trafficking organizations to fight sex traffickers around the globe. The Atlas Free Network is made up of unstoppable frontline fighters, collaborating strategically to stop traffickers and restore victims’ freedom and hope for the future.
Ultimately, traffickers are operating from a dark, illicit business model that thrives in the shadows. It’s crucial to dismantle that business wherever possible to stop the industry once and for all.
The $648 million traffickers will make today is truly criminal. Your generosity can help stop traffickers, bring them to justice, and restore freedom and hope to innocent victims. Join Team Freedom, and your $20 monthly donation can help free an average of 59 victims per week.
Together, we can fight organized evil with organized good. Join Team Freedom today.
*International Labour Organization 2024
