The United Kingdom (UK) is a destination country for men,women,and children primarily from Africa,Asia,and Eastern Europe who are subjected to human trafficking for the purposes of sexual slavery and forced labour,including domestic servitude. It is ranked as a "Tier 1" country by the US Department of State which issues an annual report on human trafficking. "Tier 1" countries are those "Countries whose governments fully comply with The Trafficking Victims Protection Act's minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. The TVPA is a federal statute of the United States. It is believed that some victims,including minors from the UK,are also trafficked within the country. It is also believed that migrant workers are trafficked to the UK for forced labour in agriculture,construction,food processing,domestic servitude,and food service. Source countries for trafficking victims in the UK include the United Arab Emirates,Lithuania,Russia,Albania,Ukraine,Malaysia,Thailand,the People's Republic of China (P.R.C.),Nigeria,and Ghana. Precise details about the extent of human trafficking within the UK are not available,and many have questioned the validity of some of the more widely quoted figures. In 2020,the US State Department estimated that there were 13,000 trafficking victims in the UK.
Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour,sexual slavery,or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage,or the extraction of organs or tissues,including for surrogacy and ova removal. Human trafficking can occur within a country or trans-nationally. Human trafficking is a crime against the person because of the violation of the victim's rights of movement through coercion and because of their commercial exploitation. Human trafficking is the trade in people,especially women and children,and does not necessarily involve the movement of the person from one place to another.
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.
The Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (J/TIP) is an agency within the United States Department of State charged with investigating and creating programs to prevent human trafficking both within the United States and internationally. The office also presents the Trafficking in Persons Report annually to Congress,concerning human trafficking in the U.S. and other nations. This report aims to raise awareness about human exploitation and trafficking,and to prevent it. The office's goals are to make the public aware,protect victims,take legal action against violators,establish necessary and just sentences for criminals,and train law enforcement individuals. The office is led by the United States Ambassador-at-Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.
In the United States,human trafficking tends to occur around international travel-hubs with large immigrant populations,notably California,Texas and Georgia. The U.S. Justice Department estimates that 35,500–170,500 people enter illegally into the country every year. The 2016 Global Slavery Index estimates that including U.S. citizens and immigrants 57,700 people across the world are victims of human trafficking. Those being trafficked include young children,teenagers,men and women and can be domestic citizens or foreign nationals.
Germany is a European source,point of transit,organization and destination country for women,children,and men subjected to trafficking in persons,specifically forced prostitution and forced labor.
Barbados is a source and destination country for men,women,and children subjected to trafficking in persons,specifically forced prostitution and forced labor. Some children in Barbados are subjected to commercial sexual exploitation in “transactional sex”wherein a third party such as a parent receives a benefit from the child’s participation in sexual activity. Researchers identified patterns of transactional sex within families,most often by adult male caretakers such as step-fathers,as well as child prostitution outside the home. Women from the Dominican Republic,Guyana,and Jamaica voluntarily enter Barbados as illegal migrants,and some expect to engage in prostitution. Some of these women are exploited in forced prostitution subsequent to their arrival. Some other foreign women who entered the country illegally are exploited in involuntary domestic servitude in private homes. Foreign men have been transported to Barbados for the purpose of labor exploitation in construction and other sectors. Sex traffickers,primarily organized criminals from Guyana,form partnerships with pimps and brothel owners from Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados,and lure women to Barbados with offers of legitimate work. Trafficking victims tend to enter the country through legal means,usually by air;traffickers later use force and coercion to obtain and maintain the victims’work in strip clubs,massage parlors,some private residences,and “entertainment clubs”which operate as brothels. Traffickers use methods such as threats of physical harm or deportation,debt bondage,false contracts,psychological abuse,and confinement to force victims to work in construction,the garment industry,agriculture,or private households.
Belgium is a source,destination,and transit country for men,women,and children subjected to trafficking in persons,specifically forced labor and forced prostitution. Victims originate in Eastern Europe,Africa,East Asia,as well as Brazil and India. Some victims are smuggled through Belgium to other European countries,where they are subjected to forced labor and forced prostitution. Male victims are subjected to forced labor and exploitation in restaurants,bars,sweatshops,horticulture sites,fruit farms,construction sites,and retail shops. There were reportedly seven Belgian women subjected to forced prostitution in Luxembourg in 2009. According to a 2009 ECPAT Report,the majority of girls and children subjected to forced prostitution in Belgium originate from Balkan and CIS countries,Eastern Europe,Asia and West Africa;some young foreign boys are exploited in prostitution in major cities in the country. Local observers also report that a large portion of children trafficked in Belgium are unaccompanied,vulnerable asylum seekers and refugees. Criminal organizations from Thailand use Thai massage parlors in Belgium,which are run by Belgian managers,to sexually exploit young Thai women. These networks are involved in human smuggling and trafficking to exploit victims economically and sexually. Belgium is not only a destination country,but also a transit country for children to be transported to other European country destinations.
Trinidad and Tobago is a destination,source,and transit country for women and children subjected to trafficking in persons,specifically forced prostitution,and children and men in conditions of forced labor. Some women and girls from Colombia,Dominican Republic,Venezuela,and Suriname who had been in prostitution in Trinidadian brothels and clubs have been identified as trafficking victims. Trinidadian trafficking victims have been identified in the United Kingdom and the United States. Undocumented economic migrants from the region and from Asia may be vulnerable to forced labor and forced prostitution. As a hub for regional travel,Trinidad and Tobago also is a potential transit point for trafficking victims traveling to Caribbean and South American destinations.
Papua New Guinea is a source,destination,and transit country for men,women,and children subjected to trafficking in persons,specifically forced prostitution and forced labor. Women and children are subjected to commercial sexual exploitation and involuntary domestic servitude;trafficked men are forced to provide labor in logging and mining camps. Children,especially young girls from tribal areas,are most vulnerable to being pushed into commercial sexual exploitation or forced labor by members of their immediate family or tribe. Families traditionally sell girls into forced marriages to settle their debts,leaving them vulnerable to involuntary domestic servitude,and tribal leaders trade the exploitative labor and service of girls and women for guns and political advantage. Young girls sold into marriage are often forced into domestic servitude for the husband’s extended family. In more urban areas,some children from poorer families are prostituted by their parents or sold to brothels. Migrant women and teenage girls from Malaysia,Thailand,China,and the Philippines are subjected to forced prostitution,and men from China are transported to the country for forced labor.
Peru is a source,transit,and destination country for men,women,and children subjected to trafficking in persons,specifically forced labor and forced prostitution. Several thousand persons are estimated to be subjected to conditions of forced labor within Peru,mainly in mining,logging,agriculture,brick making,and domestic servitude. Many trafficking victims are women and girls from impoverished rural regions of the Amazon,recruited and coerced into prostitution in urban nightclubs,bars,and brothels,often through false employment offers or promises of education. Indigenous persons are particularly vulnerable to debt bondage. Forced child labor remains a problem,particularly in informal gold mines,cocaine production,and transportation. There were reports the terrorist group Sendero Luminoso,or Shining Path,recruited children as soldiers and drug mules. To a lesser extent,Peruvians are subjected to forced prostitution in Ecuador,Spain,Italy,Japan,and the United States,and forced labor in Argentina,Chile,and Brazil. Peru also is a destination country for some Ecuadorian and Bolivian females in forced prostitution,and some Bolivian citizens in conditions of forced labor. Child sex tourism is present in Iquitos,Madre de Dios,and Cuzco. Traffickers reportedly operate with impunity in certain regions where there is little or no government presence.
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.
Niger is a source,transit,and destination country for children and women subjected to trafficking in persons,specifically forced labor and forced prostitution. Caste-based slavery practices,rooted in ancestral master-slave relationships,continue primarily in the northern part of the country. Children are trafficked within Niger for forced begging by religious instructors known as marabouts;forced labor in gold mines,agriculture,and stone quarries;as well as for involuntary domestic servitude and forced prostitution. The ILO estimates at least 10,000 children work in gold mines in Niger,many of whom may be forced to work. Nigerien children,primarily girls,are also subjected to commercial sexual exploitation along the border with Nigeria,particularly in the towns of Birni N'Konni and Zinder along the main highway,and boys are trafficked to Nigeria and Mali for forced begging and manual labor. There were reports Nigerien girls entered into "false marriages" with citizens of Nigeria,Saudi Arabia,and the United Arab Emirates:upon arrival in these countries,the girls are often forced into involuntary domestic servitude. Child marriage was a problem,especially in rural areas,and may have contributed to conditions of human trafficking. Niger is a transit country for women and children from Benin,Burkina Faso,Gabon,Ghana,Mali,Nigeria,and Togo en route to Northern Africa and Western Europe;some may be subjected to forced labor in Niger as domestic servants,forced laborers in mines and on farms,and as mechanics and welders. To a lesser extent,Nigerien women and children are sometimes trafficked from Niger to North Africa the Middle East,and Europe for involuntary domestic servitude and forced commercial sexual exploitation."
Iceland is a destination and transit country for women subjected to human trafficking,specifically forced prostitution. Some reports maintain Iceland also may be a destination country for men and women who are subjected to conditions of forced labor in the restaurant and construction industries. A 2009 Icelandic Red Cross report claimed that there were at least 59 and possibly as many as 128 cases of human trafficking in Iceland over the previous three years;female victims of human trafficking in Iceland came from Eastern Europe,Russia,Africa,South America and Southeast Asia. During the reporting period,foreign women working in Iceland’s strip clubs or in brothels were vulnerable to sex trafficking. According to the Red Cross report,undocumented foreign workers –mostly from Eastern Europe –in Iceland’s manufacturing and construction industries were vulnerable to forced labor. During the reporting period,local authorities were unable to document cases of forced labor but did acknowledge violations of immigration or employment law.
Human trafficking in the Gambia covers ongoing activities in trafficking women and children in the Gambia as forced labor and prostitution.
Mali is a source,transit,and destination country for men,women,and children subjected to trafficking in persons,specifically forced labor and,to a lesser extent,forced prostitution. Within Mali,women and girls are forced into domestic servitude and,to a limited extent,prostitution. Malian boys are found in conditions of forced begging and forced labor in gold mines and agricultural settings both within Mali and neighboring countries. Reports indicate that Malian children are trafficked to Senegal and Guinea for forced labor in gold mines and for forced labor on cotton and cocoa farms in Côte d'Ivoire. Boys from Mali,Guinea,Burkina Faso,Niger and other countries are forced into begging and exploited for labor by religious instructors within Mali and across borders. Adult men and boys,primarily of Songhai ethnicity,are subjected to the longstanding practice of debt bondage in the salt mines of Taoudenni in northern Mali. Some members of Mali's black Tamachek community are subjected to traditional slavery-related practices rooted in hereditary master-slave relationships.
Human trafficking in Brazil is an ongoing problem. Brazil is a source country for men,women,girls,and boys subjected to human trafficking,specifically forced prostitution within the country and abroad,as well as a source country for men and boys in forced labor within the country.
The country of Colombia,South America,has a high prevalence of women and girls who are subjected to trafficking in persons,specifically forced prostitution. These women and girls work within Colombia,and are also sent to sex tourism destinations in other parts of Latin America,the Caribbean,Western Europe,Asia,and North America,including the United States. The humanitarian crisis in Venezuela has worsened from 2010 to the present,with almost 1.5 million people fleeing from Venezuela to cities throughout Colombia in recent years. Immigrants in major Colombian cities such as Bogotá,Medellín,and Cali find work scarce,and some turn to prostitution as a last resort to feed their families. Within Colombia,some men are found in conditions of forced labor,but the forced prostitution of women and children from rural areas and urban areas remains a larger problem. Individual cases of forced marriage –a risk factor for trafficking –involuntary domestic servitude,and forced begging have been reported. Some children are subjected to forced labor in mines and quarries,in the agricultural sector or as domestic servants. Groups at high risk for internal trafficking include displaced persons,poor women in rural areas,and relatives of members of criminal organizations. Continued armed violence in Colombia has displaced many in rural communities,making them vulnerable to human trafficking. Guerillas and new illegal armed groups have been reported to forcibly recruit children to join their ranks;the government estimates thousands of children are exploited under such conditions. Members of gangs and organized criminal networks may force their relatives and acquaintances,and displaced persons –typically women and children –into conditions of forced prostitution and forced labor,including forced work in the illegal drug trade. Colombia is also a destination for foreign child sex tourists,particularly in coastal cities such as Cartagena and Barranquilla. Migrants from South America,Africa,and China transit Colombia en route to the United States and Europe;some may fall victim to traffickers.
Cuba is principally a source country for children subjected to trafficking in persons,specifically commercial sexual exploitation within the country. The scope of trafficking within Cuba is difficult to gauge due to the closed nature of the government and sparse non-governmental or independent reporting.
Women,and children from Eastern Europe,West Africa,and Asia,as well as the Caribbean and Brazil,subjected to trafficking in persons,forced prostitution and forced labor. U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons placed the country in "Tier 1" in 2017. Women and children,many from Africa,continued to be subjected to forced domestic servitude. Often their “employers”are diplomats who enjoy diplomatic immunity from prosecution,including those from Saudi Arabia. Reportedly men from North Africa are subjected to forced labor in the agricultural and construction sectors in southern France. The Government of France estimates that the majority of the 18,000 women in France's commercial sex trade are likely forced into prostitution. It also estimates a significant number of children in France are victims of forced prostitution,primarily from Romania,West Africa,and North Africa. Romani and other unaccompanied minors in France continued to be vulnerable to forced begging. There were reportedly six French women subjected to forced prostitution in Luxembourg in 2009.
