2022 Quick Facts about Human Trafficking
AAUW - American Association University of Women
In the past decade, human trafficking has emerged as
one of the fastest-growing criminal activities in the world. This modern-day form of slavery claims an estimated
24.9 million victims of all ages around the world and is a serious violation of human rights. Although some traffick- ing is global, human trafficking is largely a regional and local issue with 65% of trafficking happening domestically. Traffickers use violence, debt bondage, and other forms of coercion to manipulate victims into engaging in commer- cial sex acts, labor services, or other forms of exploitation against their will. Traffickers particularly target marginal- ized or vulnerable populations, including children, undocu- mented migrants, and LGBTQ+ people. Though awareness and concern around this industry have grown in recent years, human trafficking is consistently underreported due to its covert nature, low community awareness, lack of law enforcement, limited resources for victim recovery, and social blaming of victims.
Sex Trafficking
Sex trafficking is the recruitment, harboring, transportation, or soliciting of a person for commercial sex acts through force or other forms of coercion. As a growing global industry, sex trafficking occurs in a wide variety of venues including residential brothels, online escort services, fraud- ulent massage businesses, strip clubs, and on the streets. Under federal law, any minor under the age of 18 who has engaged in commercial sex is a victim of sex trafficking— regardless of whether or not the trafficker used force, fraud, or coercion. The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime reports that 50% of human trafficking victims were trafficked for sexual exploitation globally.
Labor Trafficking
Similar to sex trafficking, labor-trafficked victims are co- erced; however, instead of being sexually exploited, victims are abused in a variety of labor settings including farms, factories, and domestic work in homes. Trafficked victims in these industries often work long hours and receive little
January 2022
to no pay, but are forced to work by traffickers through debt bondage, violence, or other forms of coercion. Globally, 38% of all human trafficking victims were trafficked for forced labor, and the majority of trafficked men and boys are victims of labor trafficking.
Human Trafficking Disproportionately Affects Women
Though human trafficking affects people across different backgrounds and in all areas of the world, women and girls are disproportionately impacted. Women and girls account for 71% of trafficking victims globally, and the majority are trafficked for sexual exploitation—77% of trafficked women and 72% of trafficked girls are victims of sex trafficking. Resulting from a global tendency to de- value women, women who face social and legal discrim- ination, poverty, or other marginalization become more vulnerable to trafficking.
Human Trafficking in the United States
Contrary to popular belief, human trafficking also occurs in the United States across all 50 states and Washington, D.C. The U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline esti- mates there are hundreds of thousands of human traffick- ing victims in the United States. In 2019 alone, the Na- tional Human Trafficking Hotline fielded 11,500 cases of human trafficking in the U.S. involving over 22,000 victims and survivors. The National Human Trafficking Resource Center found that 41% of sex trafficking cases and 20% of labor trafficking cases reported in the United States from 2007 to 2012 identified U.S. citizens as victims. Of sex trafficking cases reported in the U.S. in that same period, 85% of victims were women. In North America general-
ly, sex trafficking is the most common form of human trafficking, with 72% of all victims on the continent being trafficked for sexual exploitation.
