Understanding human trafficking is crucial for several reasons. Recognition can save lives with the following purposes:
- Being able to identify trafficking situations can lead to intervention.
- Effective support: Knowledge helps you support anti-trafficking efforts in your community.
- Awareness creates change: Raising awareness promotes societal change to combat this crime.
By learning about human trafficking as a healthcare worker, you contribute to creating a safer, more informed community that can help prevent exploitation and support survivors.
Types of Human Trafficking
The United States Department of State recognizes two primary forms of trafficking in persons which are forced labor and sex trafficking.
Forced Labor sometimes also referred to as labor trafficking, includes activities involved when a person uses force, fraud, or coercion to exploit the labor or services of another person.
Sex trafficking encompasses the range of activities involved when a trafficker uses force, fraud, or coercion to compel another person to engage in a commercial sex act or causes a child (person under 18) to engage in a commercial sex act. Sex trafficking occurs in various settings, such as fake massage establishments, escort services, brothels, city streets, truck stops, strip clubs, hostess clubs, hotels, and motels.
Perpetrators of human trafficking span all racial, ethnic, and gender demographics and are as diverse as survivors. Some use their privilege, wealth, and power as a means of control while others experience the same socio-economic oppression as their victims.
Physical transportation is not required for this crime; a trafficker can control a victim mentally, compelling them to act on the trafficker’s behalf. According to the United Nations’ International Labour Organization, human traffickers victimize an estimated 27.6 million people worldwide.
77% of all victims are in forced labor
23% of all victims are in sex trafficking
57% are men and boys
43% are women and girls
Within Sex Trafficking the Statistics are:
78% are women and girls and 22% are men and boys
92% are adults and 8% are children
Within forced labor the Statistics are:
33% are women and girls and 67% men and boys
73% are adults and 27% are children
The US Department of Homeland Security states Human trafficking has been reported in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, on Tribal land, and within U.S. territories. In FY 2024, DHS agencies helped over 800 human trafficking victims, provided protections to more than 24,000 people, and made 2,500+ related arrests. DHS supported 914 indictments, 405 convictions, and trained thousands in identifying and reporting human trafficking.
Identifying Victims of Human Trafficking
There are several physical, behavioral and environmental indicators to consider. These indicators may appear alone or in combination, and not all victims will show every sign.
There is no single profile of a human trafficking victim as traffickers may target anyone who can earn them a profit regardless of age, sex, socioeconomic background, nationality, or immigration status.
The following are examples of groups who may be at increased risk:
- Individuals who have experienced childhood abuse or neglect
- Children and youth involved in the foster care and juvenile justice systems
- People experiencing homelessness
- Individuals living in poverty
- Survivors of violence such as intimate partner or domestic violence
- Unaccompanied alien children
- Individuals displaced due to political instability, war, and disaster
- Individuals working in industries with fewer legal protections
- Physical Indicators
- Delayed care or an unexplained progression of an illness
- Evidence of severe workplace injuries, including prolonged and unprotected exposure to toxic chemicals or hazardous conditions
- History of multiple STIs/STDs, multiple pregnancies, or frequent requests for STI/STD testing, substance use and/or poor hygiene
- Physical signs of injury or mistreatment, including
- Long-term trauma
- Bruises in various stages of healing
- Signs of physical or sexual abuse
- Malnourishment
- Severe exhaustion
- Behavioral Indicators Include:
- Overly fearful or nervous behavior
- Use of scripted answers and/or stories about their condition
- Talk that minimizes abuse or the state of their injuries
- Being unwilling or hesitant to answer questions
- Being unaware of their location or the date/time
- Symptoms related to depression or PTSD
- Refusal of care or the need to leave despite medical advice
Environmental Indicators Include:
- An individual consistently speaks on behalf of the patient or requests to be present during examinations
- A person who may be in possession of the patient’s ID or money and/or insists on filling out all paperwork
- A person who lacks essential information about the patient’s medical history or identity, despite claiming to be related
- Reports of experiencing high-risk environmental factors, such as living at a workplace, sleeping in crowded conditions, or not having a fixed home address
Traffickers’ methods of control
Not all control is physical – it can be mental as well. Traffickers use force, fraud, and coercion to compel labor or services and commercial sex. Force may involve threats or acts of physical assault and sexual violence directed at the victim, others present, or family members, which makes the threat even more credible.
Controlling victims through fraud is often false promises – of education, a relationship, a specific job, good pay and days off, paying off a debt, sending money home to support the family, or generally of a new more secure life – but the reality is something different and inescapable.
A traffickers coercion with victims can be subtle or overt. Some common tactics include taking identity documents and threatening arrest and/or deportation, inhumane treatment, blackmail, shaming, isolation, addiction, and economic coercion, which can be taking advantage of existing debt or creating a debt.
To learn more about human trafficking prevention, please register for one of our courses at: https://ceinstitute.com/collections/mandatory
Comments