Sex trafficking is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. It has been called a form of modern slavery because of the way victims are forced into sexual acts non-consensually, in a form of sexual slavery. Perpetrators of the crime are called sex traffickers or pimps—people who manipulate victims to engage in various forms of commercial sex with paying customers. Sex traffickers use force, fraud, and coercion as they recruit, transport, and provide their victims as prostitutes. Sometimes victims are brought into a situation of dependency on their trafficker(s), financially or emotionally. Every aspect of sex trafficking is considered a crime, from acquisition to transportation and exploitation of victims. This includes any sexual exploitation of adults or minors, including child sex tourism (CST) and domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST).
Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation.
Laura J. Lederer is a pioneer in the work to stop human trafficking. She is a legal scholar and former Senior Advisor on Trafficking in Persons in the Office for Democracy and Global Affairs of the United States Department of State. She has also been an activist against human trafficking, prostitution, pornography, and hate speech. Lederer is founder of The Protection Project, a legal research institute at Johns Hopkins University devoted to combating trafficking in persons.
Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST) is a Los Angeles-based anti-human trafficking organization. Through legal, social, and advocacy services, CAST helps rehabilitate survivors of human trafficking, raises awareness, and affects legislation and public policy surrounding human trafficking.
The Arizona League to End Regional Trafficking (ALERT) is a coalition representing partnerships with law enforcement, faith-based communities, non-profit organizations, social service agencies, attorneys and concerned citizens. ALERT helps victims of human trafficking by providing: food and shelter; medical care; mental health counseling; immigration assistance; legal assistance; language interpretation; case management; and other culturally appropriate services throughout the state of Arizona. Through education, outreach and a variety of programs and services, ALERT strives to end the suffering and dehumanization of victims of human trafficking.
In the United States, human trafficking tends to occur around international travel hubs with large immigrant populations, notably in California, Texas, and Georgia. Those trafficked include young children, teenagers, men, and women; victims can be domestic citizens or foreign nationals.
Shared Hope International (SHI) is a non-profit, non-governmental, Christian organization that exists to prevent sex trafficking, and restore and bring justice to women and children who have been victimized through sex trafficking. SHI is part of a worldwide effort to prevent and eradicate sex trafficking and slavery. Shared Hope operates programs in the United States, India, Nepal, and Jamaica. Shared Hope leads awareness and training, prevention strategies, restorative care, research, and policy initiatives to mobilize a national network of protection for victims.
Christopher Michael Kelly is an American entrepreneur, attorney, and activist. From September 2005 to August 2009, he served as Chief Privacy Officer, first General Counsel, and Head of Global Public Policy at Facebook. As an early leader at Facebook, he helped shape it into one of the most successful businesses in history. In 2010, Kelly was a candidate in the Democratic primary for California Attorney General. Since his departure from Facebook and campaign for Attorney General, he has become an investor in films, restaurants, and technology start-ups. Kelly became a co-owner of the NBA's Sacramento Kings in May 2013.
Transnational efforts to prevent human trafficking are being made to prevent human trafficking in specific countries and around the world.
Nicaragua is principally a source and transit country for women and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced prostitution and forced labor. Nicaraguan women and children are trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation within the country as well as in neighboring countries, most often to El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and the United States. Trafficking victims are recruited in rural areas for work in urban centers, particularly Managua, and subsequently coerced into prostitution. Adults and children are subjected to conditions of forced labor in agriculture, the fishing industry, and for involuntary domestic servitude within the country and in Costa Rica. There are reports of some Nicaraguans forced to engage in drug trafficking. To a lesser extent, Nicaragua is a destination country for women and children recruited from neighboring countries for forced prostitution. Managua, Granada, Estelí, and San Juan del Sur are destinations for foreign child sex tourists from the United States, Canada, and Western Europe, and some travel agencies are reportedly complicit in promoting child sex tourism. Nicaragua is a transit country for migrants from Africa and East Asia en route to the United States; some may fall victim to human trafficking.
The California state elections was held on Election Day, November 6, 2012. On the ballot were eleven propositions, various parties' nominees for the United States presidency, the Class I Senator to the United States Senate, all of California's seats to the House of Representatives, all of the seats of the State Assembly, and all odd-numbered seats of the State Senate.
Costa Rica is a source, transit, and destination country for goods and products, a great location for trade in the seas. Costa Rica is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea making it a source of imports and exports. Costa Rica is approximately 19,653 square miles of land, making it smaller than West Virginia. To a lesser but increasing extent, Costa Rica is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to conditions of forced labor, particularly in the agriculture, construction, fishing, and domestic service sectors. The economy greatly depends on the exportation of bananas and coffee, making high demands of agriculture work. Costa Rican women and children are forced into commercial sexual exploitation due to high rates of poverty and violence. Women and girls from Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Colombia, and Panama have been identified in as victims of forced prostitution. Child sex tourism is a serious problem, particularly in the provinces of Guanacaste, Limón, Puntarenas, and San José. Child sex tourists arrive mostly from the United States and Europe. Young men from Nicaragua, Vietnam, China and other Asian countries are subjected to conditions of forced labor in Costa Rica. Adults have been identified using trafficked women and children to transport and sell drugs. Neighboring countries and cities are victims as well to forced labor many times trafficked to Costa Rica.
Human trafficking in California is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, and forced labor as it occurs in the state of California. Human trafficking, widely recognized as a modern-day form of slavery, includes
"the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power, or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs."
Run for Courage is a nonprofit organization that combats human trafficking. The organization is based in Sacramento, California, and raises money for human trafficking victims and their families. Ashlie Bryant is the executive director of Run for Courage. The founder was Vicki Zito, whose daughter was abducted at age seventeen and sexually trafficked in the East Bay. The organization was founded in 2009 and holds a charity run annually, raising more than $550,000 within its first four years. In 2010, the funds raised were donated to Courage House, a building in Roseville, California, that houses teen sex trafficking victims. Approximately 2000 people participated in the 2011 run. That year, the funds raised went to Agape International Missions, A New Day For Children, Courage To Be You, and WIND Youth Services. In 2014, FreeFall Stage produced performances of She Has a Name, a play about human trafficking, and Run for Courage partnered in this initiative, having representatives at each performance.
Global Centurion is a non-profit organization that works to combat modern slavery by focusing on demand. To date, efforts to combat human trafficking have focused on rescue and restoration of victims, and prosecution of traffickers. Few efforts focus on the buyers – those that fuel the market for human trafficking – whether its sex, labor or organ trafficking. Global Centurion believes that in order to combat human trafficking, a comprehensive approach is required, one that recognizes the "slavery triangle:" the supply (victims), demand ("buyers"), and distribution (traffickers). Global Centurion addresses the demand side in three ways: 1) Research on demand reduction and related issues; 2) training and awareness programs targeting demand; and 3) partnerships and collaboration. A key project is the creation of an international modern slavery case law database, with over 6,000 cases from around the world.
Human trafficking in Virginia is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, or forced labor as it occurs in the state of Virginia, and it is widely recognized as a modern-day form of slavery. It includes "the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power, or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs."
Human trafficking in Nevada is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, and forced labor as it occurs in the state of Nevada, and it is widely recognized as a modern-day form of slavery. It includes "the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power, or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs."
Sex trafficking in the United States is a form of human trafficking which involves reproductive slavery or commercial sexual exploitation as it occurs in the United States. Sex trafficking includes the transportation of persons by means of coercion, deception and/or force into exploitative and slavery-like conditions. It is commonly associated with organized crime.
