Sex trafficking

Sex trafficking is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Perpetrators of the crime are called sex traffickers or sometimes 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 by their trafficker(s), financially or emotionally.

In 2012, the International Labour Organization (ILO) reported 20.9 million people were subjected to forced labor, and 22% (4.5 million) were victims of forced sexual exploitation, 300,000 of them in Developed Economies and the EU. The ILO reported in 2016 that of the estimated 25 million persons in forced labor, 5 million were victims of sexual exploitation. However, due to the covertness of sex trafficking, obtaining accurate, reliable statistics sometimes poses a challenge for researchers.

Sex trafficking typically occurs in situations from which escape is both difficult and dangerous. Networks of traffickers exist in every country. Therefore, victims are often trafficked across state and country lines which causes jurisdictional concerns and make cases difficult to prosecute.

Definition

Global uses

In 2000, countries adopted a definition set forth by the United Moms. The United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, is also referred to as the Palermo Protocol. The Palermo Protocol created this definition. Article 3 of the Palermo Protocol states the definition as:

Article 5 of the Palermo Protocol requires member states to criminalize trafficking based on the definition outlined in Article 3; however, many member states' domestic laws reflect a narrower definition than Article 3. Through this act, sex trafficking crimes were defined as "the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act". If the victim is a child under the age of 18 no force, fraud, or coercion needs to be proven based on this legislation. To clarify previous legal inconsistencies in regards to youth and trafficking, the United States took legal measures to define more varieties of exploitive situations in relation to children. Emotional and physical coercion are used to build trust between a victim and their abductor. This coercion often makes the relationships between trafficker and trafficked and pimp and prostitute difficult to identify.

Northern Virginia is one of the top sex trafficking hotspots in the United States. The National Human Trafficking Resource Center reported that in 2018, they received 198 reports of human trafficking from Northern Virginia. In 2017 Virginia was ranked 4th as the top ten federal court districts involving domestic sex trafficking cases where prosecutors were involved with minors.

Profile and modus operandi of traffickers

Profile of traffickers

United States

A 2017 analysis of 1,416 child sex traffickers arrested in the United States in the last decade found that 75.4% of traffickers were male and 24.4% were female. The average age of male traffickers was 29.2 years and the average age of female traffickers was 26.3. Of those whose race was identified, 71.7% were African American, 20.5% were Caucasian, 3.7% were Hispanic, and the remaining classified as Pacific Islander/Asian and other.

Federal data from 2020 show similar patterns, with the average defendant in human trafficking prosecutions being a 36-year-old man, while women were more frequently represented in cases involving forced labor. Since the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 was enacted, fewer than one percent of federal human trafficking defendants have been corporate entities, with nearly all traffickers being private individuals. Most traffickers acted independently rather than as part of organized criminal networks, having pre-existing relationships with their victims, such as employers, partners, friends, or through social media.

According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, many human traffickers are financially motivated. While trafficking other people for their own monetary gain, some traffickers will also promise their victims things like financial stability and other basic necessities, including shelter. Making these promises to their victims sometimes help them recruit other people to be trafficked which expands the traffickers financial gains.

Pimp-controlled trafficking

In pimp-controlled trafficking, the victim is controlled by a single trafficker, sometimes called a pimp. The victim can be controlled by the trafficker physically, psychologically, and/or emotionally. To obtain control over their victims, traffickers will use force and drugs, as well as emotional tactics. In certain circumstances, they will even resort to various forms of violence, such as gang rape and mental and physical abuse. Traffickers sometimes use offers of marriage or modeling careers to obtain victims. Other times they use threats, intimidation, brainwashing and kidnapping.

Child grooming is commonly used. The trafficker will first gain the trust of the victim, through emotional manipulation. The trafficker may express love and admiration, offer them a job or an education, or buying them a ticket to a new location. The main types of work offered are in the catering and hotel industry, in bars and clubs, modeling contracts, or au pair work. Once the victim becomes comfortable, they may consensually request sexual acts from the victim. The victim, under the guise that they are in a relationship, may oblige. The requests may progress, and the trafficker may reference previous sexual acts in order to normalize the behavior, as well as participating in blackmail, especially when the encounter occurs over the internet. Victims may become trapped due to fears of social ramifications. Social media has been used to groom and advertise victims.

After the victim has joined the offender, various techniques are used to restrict the victim's access to communication with home, such as imposing physical punishment unless the victim complies with the trafficker's demands and making threats of harm and even death to the victim and their family.

In India, those who traffic young girls into prostitution are often women who have been trafficked themselves. As adults they use personal relationships and trust in their villages of origin to recruit additional girls. Also, some migrating prostitutes can become victims of human trafficking because the women know they will be working as prostitutes; however, they are given an inaccurate description by their "boss" of the circumstances. Therefore, they consequently get exploited due to their misconception of what conditions to expect of their sex work in the new destination country.

Gang-controlled trafficking

Gang-controlled differs from other kinds of sex trafficking as it is conducted by gang members as a group. In general, Gang members are expected or forced to participate in tasks that involve illegal and violent activity. Some of these criminal behaviors may include: distributing drugs, robbery, trafficking drugs, extortion, and murder. Gangs may see sex trafficking as a faster way to earn money, and may believe it attracts less police attention than drug trafficking. Gangs may partner with different gangs in the area, to work as a joint sex trafficking ring. This enables them to increase profits by trading different victims. This gives their client, also known as a john, a greater variety of options to choose from. Clients are often willing to pay a larger price for a 'type' of victim. Another reason that gangs will share victims is because this makes it more difficult for law enforcement to keep track of the victims, preventing them from making a positive identification. It consists of different manipulation techniques. A member will take the victim to a restaurant, give gifts, and take them to parties where they are provided with supplies of drugs and alcohol. They also learn their weaknesses and find vulnerabilities that can be used against them.

Megan's law puts certain procedures in place to provide the community with information regarding sex offenders who live close to them in the area. This allows parents to be more aware of who their children are surrounded by and makes it easier to keep their children safe. This is a procedure that further prevents grooming.

Branding

Gang members often wear certain types or color of clothing to show membership. It is also common for members to wear a gang affiliation with tattoos. Many victims of sex trafficking are tattooed as well. By forcing a tattoo onto their victims, traffickers display ownership. These tattoos might have the name of the trafficker with symbols or words such as "loyalty" and "respect." The location of tattoos varies. Some of these tattoos are around the necks, arms, hips, back, or above the groin. Survivors are usually branded by different gangs with known human trafficking enterprises. For example, the Bloods, Folk Nation, Crips, Latin kings, Hell's Angels, or similar syndicates.

Familial trafficking

In familial trafficking, the victim is controlled by family members who allow them to be sexually exploited in exchange for something of value, such as drugs or money. This is most common in trafficking of minors (e.g. a mother may allow a boyfriend to abuse a child in exchange for housing). One study found that 60% of all child victims are related to their sex trafficker. Another study reveals that familial trafficking is most commonly headed by the mother: she was the primary trafficker in 64.5% of the cases. The father was the trafficker in 32.3% of the cases, and another family member in the remaining 3.2%. Familial trafficking may be difficult to detect because these children often have a larger degree of freedom and may still attend school and after-school functions. These children may not understand that they are being trafficked or may not have a way out. Familial trafficking is considered by some to be the most prevalent form of human sex trafficking within the United States.

This form of trafficking is also extremely common outside of the United States. Many families from impoverished areas (India, Pakistan, Thailand, Philippines, etc.) find themselves in situations where debt or tradition calls for the selling of a loved one, most commonly female. In Thailand there is a tradition known as bhun kun, which establishes the youngest daughter as financially responsible for her parents as they grow old. Author Kara Siddharth interviewed a Thai victim who stated that she was "proud to fulfill her duty to her parents in the form of tiny payments that the brothel owner sent to her father after her trafficking debts were repaid". Many children are sold to repay debts, or to put food on the table for their family.

Cybersex trafficking

Cybersex trafficking involves trafficking and the live streaming of coerced sexual acts and/or rape on webcam. Victims are abducted, threatened, or deceived and transferred to 'cybersex dens.' The dens can be in any location where the cybersex traffickers have a computer, tablet, or phone with internet connection. and other platforms.

This type of sex trafficking has surged since the advent of the Digital Age and cryptocurrencies that hide the transactors' identities. Millions of reports of its occurrence are sent to authorities annually. New laws and police procedures combating cybersex trafficking are needed in the twenty-first century.

Forced marriage

A forced marriage is a marriage where one or both participants are married without their freely given consent.

Servile marriage is defined as a marriage involving a person being sold, transferred or inherited into that marriage. According to ECPAT, "Child trafficking for forced marriage is simply another manifestation of trafficking and is not restricted to particular nationalities or countries".

A forced marriage qualifies as a form of human trafficking in certain situations. If a woman is sent abroad, forced into the marriage and then repeatedly compelled to engage in sexual conduct with her new husband, then her experience is that of sex trafficking. If the bride is treated as a domestic servant by her new husband and/or his family, then this is a form of labor trafficking.

Approximately 140 million girls under the age of 18, which is about 39,000 a day, were forced into early marriages between 2011 and 2020. Forced marriage, which is identified by the United Nations as a "contemporary form of slavery", occurs without full consent of the man or woman, and is associated with threats by family members or the bride/groom. Forced marriage occurs not only in foreign countries but in the U.S. as well. The service providers in the United States cannot successfully respond to forced marriage cases because they lack clarity and a true definition of what a forced marriage is. in Vanity Fair explicitly compares Epstein to Keith Raniere, the convicted and imprisoned founder of NXIVM.

Since the 1960s there have been allegations of sex trafficking against a number of Hindu gurus and yoga instructors. Some of these allegations have led to investigations and convictions, both in the US (and other Western countries), and in India. See also Sexual abuse by yoga gurus.

Causes

A complex, interconnected web of political socioeconomic, governmental, and societal factors contribute to sex trafficking.

Many scholars critique the power hierarchies based on gender, race, and class which underlie economic systems as perpetrators of victims' vulnerability to sex trafficking. Copley argues that women in underdeveloped countries are powerless due to these hierarchies of power. Ideas of gender are thus perpetuated through globalization, leaving women vulnerable.

Nikovic-Ristanovic analyzes the role of perceived femininity in women's vulnerability to sex trafficking, by specifically looking at the links between militarism and female sexuality. Duong identifies the prevailing narrative of women as the disadvantaged victim. Tiefenbrun, unlike Duong, cites cultural norms as the cause of this vulnerability. Chuang notes that women are thus more vulnerable to being taken advantage of by sex traffickers who provide opportunities for illegal migration. He argues that the growing disparity of wealth between developed and underdeveloped countries leads to migration of women from underdeveloped countries. Also, a study of a group of female sex workers in Canada found that 64 percent of them had been in the child welfare system as children (this includes foster and group homes).

There are numerous fake businesses that sound realistic that convince people to apply for the job. Some places have a reputation for holding an illegal business to attract their victims.

Children are at risk because of their vulnerable characteristics; naïve outlook, size, and tendency to be easily intimidated". The International Labor Organization estimates that of the 20.9 million people who are trafficked in the world (for all types of work) 5.5 million are children. In 2016, it was estimated that approximately one million children worldwide were victims of sex trafficking. Both boys and girls may be trafficked, though girls are more frequently victims; 23% of human trafficking victims identified by a United Nations Report were girls, compared to 7% for boys. Female child trafficking victims are more likely to experience sexual exploitation: 72% and 27% incidence rates for girls and boy, respectively.

In the U.S., children do not need to be forced into sexual exploitation according to the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 to be considered victims of sex trafficking. Under this act, a child is defined as anyone under the age of 18, however the exploitation of children under the age of 14 carries a harsher punishment, though this is rarely enforced. The Bureau of Justice Statistics states that there are 100,000 child victims of sex trafficking, but only 150 child trafficking cases were brought to court in 2011. Of these, only 81 convictions were made. Many children who are trafficked are also at higher risk of turning to prostitution, a crime that many of them face criminal charges for, even under the age of 18.

Consequences to victims

Sex trafficked people face similar health consequences to women exploited for labor purposes, people who have experienced domestic violence, and migrant women. Many of the sex workers contract sexually transmitted infections (STIs). More than likely, these were never addressed while they were held captive and will take serious intervention once they are rescued or released to heal. In another systematic review done, the "studies… reported a high prevalence of physical… health problems among women who had been trafficked [such as] headache, back pain, stomach pain, and memory problems," (Oram et al. 9).

The mental health implications range from depression to anxiety to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to the abuse and violence victims face from their pimps or "johns". Of course, this seems obvious, considering that these women are enduring constant abuse and manipulation. Looking at just post-traumatic stress disorder, which is "a mental disorder that may develop after exposure to exceptionally threatening or horrifying events," it seems evident that these women would walk away with lasting mental health effects (Bisson et al. 1). Another study done through BMC Public health revealed that there was a negative relationship between the how much girls and women were exposed to SEA (sexual exploitation and abuse) and their "social status" (Gray et al. 1). These girls were subjected to more public shame and isolation. So, even after the fact, they continue to experience isolation, which certainly isn't benefitting their mental health or healing.

With such a mindset, many individuals develop alcohol or drug addictions and abusive habits. They would give them the drugs and then manage their withdrawal symptoms to the point where the victims needed them to live. However, Chon also explains that, even those who did not endure this type of abuse, still reported using drugs and alcohol to cope with what they had gone through. In "Understanding Human Trafficking in the United States" the authors express that "many victims are forced to commit… illegal activities such as drug use" and that because many of these victims are having their legal documentation withheld from them, they can't do anything about it for fear of criminal prosecution (Logan et al. 6). So, they become stuck in a cycle, forced into something they likely didn't want, but now reliant on it. Many victims use these substances as a coping mechanism or escape which further promotes the rate of addiction in this population. In Ghana, "connection men" or traffickers are witnessed regularly at border crossings and transport individuals via fake visas. Women are most commonly trafficked to Belgium, Italy, Lebanon, Libya, the Netherlands, Nigeria, and the United States.

Americas

Sex trafficking is a problem in North America, Central America, and South America People have been sex trafficked to and through Mexico.

It has been estimated that two-thirds of trafficking victims in the United States are U.S. citizens. Most victims who are foreign-born come into the U.S. legally, on various visas. State Department estimated that between 15,000 and 50,000 women and girls are trafficked each year into the United States.

The Girls Educational and Mentoring Services (GEMS), an organization based in New York, claims that the majority of girls in the sex trade were abused as children. Poverty and a lack of education play major roles in the lives of many women in the sex industry.

According to a report conducted by the University of Pennsylvania, anywhere from 100,000 up to 300,000 American children at any given time may be at risk of exploitation due to factors such as drug use, homelessness, or other factors connected with increased risk for commercial sexual exploitation. However, the report emphasized, "The numbers presented in these exhibits do not, therefore, reflect the actual number of cases of CSEC in the United States but, rather, what we estimate to be the number of children 'at risk' of commercial sexual exploitation." Richard J. Estes, one of the report's authors, noted that the report was based on 25 year old data, and was out of date because the world of the 1990s "was quite a different one from that in which we live today." A report from the University of New Hampshire says that only 1,700 kids reported having engaged in prostitution. David Finkelhor, one of the authors of that report, said "Given that running away has declined, I wouldn't put any stock in these figures as indicators of what is going on today". People of color may also have high risks of sex trafficking due to lack of documentation, fear, distrust, etc. They often have difficulties contacting authorities or others for support due to inabilities to understand the language or the laws of the area.

In 2003, 1,400 minors were arrested for prostitution, 14% of whom were younger than 14 years old. A study conducted by the International Labor Union indicated that boys are at a higher risk of being trafficked into agricultural work, the drug trade, and petty crime. Girls were at a higher risk of being forced into the sex industry and domestic work. In 2004, the Department of Labor found 1,087 minors employed in situations that violated hazardous occupation standards. The same year, 5,480 children were employed violating child labor laws. Due to the secretive nature of trafficking, it is difficult to piece together an accurate picture of how widespread the problem is.

Asia

The key hubs for both source transportation and destination of the sub-region of Asia include India, Japan, South Korea and Thailand. India is a major hub for trafficked Bangladeshi and Nepali women. In India itself, there are an estimated 3 million sex workers, 40% of whom are trafficked children, mostly girls from ethnic minorities and lower castes. In Thailand, 800,000 children under the age of 16 were involved in prostitution in 2004. Also, according to UNICEF and the International Labour Organization there are 40,000 child prostitutes in Sri Lanka. 36% of trafficked victims in Asia are children, while 64% are adults.

Canada

According to Statistics Canada, in instances of human trafficking, 44% are sexually related, which predominantly include offering sexually related services, sexual assault, offences, and exploitation. Sex trafficking is one of Canada's largest and fastest-growing criminal activities. It is also one of the world's largest criminal enterprises that generates (USD) in profit. The Global Slavery Index noted in 2016 that roughly 17,000 people were experiencing modern-day slavery in Canada. Instances of human trafficking occur, 90% of the time, in metropolitan areas, with 97% of victims being female. The Criminal Code of Canada and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act state that human trafficking is an offence, but do not make a distinction specifically between sex trafficking or exploitation, and other forms of human trafficking. thumb|Offences related to sex trafficking in Canada|420x420pxWithin recent years, the Canadian federal government has shifted its approach to sex trafficking away from an international perspective towards a domestic emphasis. This also includes the government's voicing of victims and witnesses along with a greater degree of attention to sex trafficking involving minors. This fund will be administered by two federal departments, Women and Gender Equality Canada and Public Safety Canada, that will be responsible for the implementation of the Government's five-year National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking. The organization works with other nonprofits, businesses, and stakeholders to establish what the best practices are, and ensure that no duplicate efforts are happening due to miscommunications between various actors. Initiatives exist at federal, provincial and municipal levels. Traffick Stop helps people develop skills to recognize the indicators of sex trafficking. In 1997 alone as many as 175,000 young women from Russia, the former Soviet Union and Eastern and Central Europe were sold as commodities in the sex markets of the developed countries in Europe and the Americas. The European Union reported that from 2010 to 2013 30,146 individuals were identified and registered as human trafficking victims. Of those registered, 69 percent of the victims were sexually exploited and more than 1,000 were children. Girls from Moldova become sex slaves starting at the age of 14. On average, they have sex with 12 to 15 men per day. The national Bureau of Statistics in Moldova says that in 2008 there were almost 25,000 victims of trafficking. When the women from Moldova are being trafficked for sex, they are most likely to be sent to countries such as Russia, Cyprus, Turkey, and other Middle Western and Eastern European countries. 85 percent of the victims leave their country to find a better job to support their family, but they are tricked into becoming a sex slave and are forced to become a prostitute. Dozens of girls from Iran are brought to Pakistan to be sold as sex slaves every day. Most of these women have already been raped within the first 24 hours of their departure. It was also said in the Tehran newspapers that senior figures from the government have been involved in buying, selling, and abusing young women and children. Runaway girls in Iran are sought out for by the traffickers because it is incredibly easy to put them in the sex trafficking market since they have no home.

In 2000, the Knesset amended the Penal Law to prohibit sex trafficking. In 2006, an Anti-Trafficking Law was enacted. In 2001, Israel was placed in U.S. State Department Trafficking in Persons Report Tier 3. Between 2002 and 2011 Israel was placed in Tier 2. Since 2012 through the recent 2019 report Israel has been ranked Tier 1 (full compliance with the TVPA's minimum standards).

Public health response

Healthcare interventions

There are many public health initiatives that are being implemented to identify victims of sex trafficking. There are few professionals that are likely to encounter victims of sex trafficking, but healthcare providers are a unique group because they are more likely to come into contact with individuals that are still in captivity. The National Human Trafficking Resource Center provides guidelines to aid healthcare providers in identifying victims of sex trafficking. They provide general guidelines to indicate human trafficking (i.e. inconsistent/scripted history, unwillingness to answer questions about illness or injury, etc.), but also includes indicators to home in on sex trafficking. In addition, this network has created a framework for sex trafficking protocols in healthcare settings once a victim is suspected or identified. The goal of the protocol is to provide those interacting with the patient step-by-step instructions on how to proceed once a potential trafficking victim has been identified. The goal of the toolkit is to provide a uniform medical response to trafficking. The toolkit combines known policies and procedures with tenets of trauma informed care. The toolkit is intended for the use of different healthcare providers such as community health workers, social workers, mental health counselors, nurses, and many others.

A second initiative was taken on by the Centers for Disease Control. They have started to implement new fields of data collection through International Classification of Diseases (ICD) to better identify and categorize cases of sex trafficking. The new fields are ICD-10-CM codes. These are further categorized into T codes and Z codes. The T codes are further subcategorized into specific diagnoses that are used to indicate suspected and confirmed cases of trafficking. In addition, Z codes are also further categorized, but will be used for examination or observation of trafficking victims for other reasons.

Physicians against the trafficking of humans (PATH) is a program of the American Medical Women's Association (AMWA) that was started in 2014 with efforts to encourage medical professionals including physicians, residents, and medical students to become more aware of human trafficking. The initiative was initially brought into discussion by Dr. Gayatri Devi in 2012, the president of AMWA at the time. She identified human sex trafficking as a key issue to be addressed. This discussion then progressed into forming a Human Trafficking Committee to handle the issue. PATH has since been creating content for hospitals and other medical facilities to use to educate professionals and students on the identification and advocacy for human trafficking. PATH has also been featured in many media outlets such as Politico and TEDx.

There are three main tactics social workers use to aid in the recovery of sex trafficking survivors: ecological, strengths-based, and victim-centered. Using the ecological approach, the social worker evaluates their client's current environment and goals for reintegration into the community. By examining how justice systems, legal, and medical services impact their client, they can help them look into areas of future employment, gaining legal status, and reuniting with family. The strengths-based approach aims to create a bond of trust between the social worker and their client to build confidence as well as autonomy and leadership skills. Lastly, when using the victim-centered approach, social workers develop services and plans for the future specifically catered to their client's individual needs. These services are developed through a survivor's lens, which allows social workers to easily meet the needs of their clients. All three methods have proven to be effective in the recovery of sex trafficking survivors. The University of Minnesota Duluth published the Power and Control Wheel to help target domestic abuse intervention. The wheel identifies eight different mechanisms of power and control used on victims including: intimidation, emotional abuse, isolation, denying, blaming, and minimizing, sexual abuse, physical abuse, using privilege, economic abuse, coercion and threats. The wheel was developed to be used in counseling and education groups for victims of sex trafficking. It breaks down the tactics used against victims so the cycle of violence may become visible and stopped.

thumb|Abbreviated version of the Power and Control Wheel

Another mechanism used to understand control is the BITE Model created by Steven Hassan. The BITE Model describes four categories of coercion used on sex trafficking victims: behavior control, information control, thought control, and emotional control. He says that it is essential to understand the loss of identity victims experience to help them get out or recover from sex trafficking.

Anti-sex trafficking efforts

History of international legislation

International legislation against sex trafficking started with the international campaign against the so-called white slave trade in the second half of the 19th century.

In Anglophone countries in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the phrase "white slavery" was used to refer to sexual enslavement of white women. It was particularly associated with accounts of women enslaved in Middle Eastern harems for the purpose of concubinage, such as the so-called Circassian beauties, provided by the Circassian slave trade that was still ongoing in the early 20th century.

Many of the procurers and prostitutes who had accompanied the British and French troops to Constantinople during the Crimean War in the 1850s opened brothels in Port Said in Egypt during the construction of the Suez Canal, and these brothels was a destination for many victims of the white slave trade, since they were under protection of the foreign consulates because of the Capitulatory privileges until 1937, and therefore protected from the police.

An international campaign against the white slave trade started in several countries in the West in the late 19th-century. In 1877 the first international congress for the abolition of prostitution took place in Geneva in Switzerland, followed by the foundation of the International Association of Friends of Young Girls (German: Internationale Verein Freundinnen junger Mädchen or FJM; French: Amies de la jeune fille); after this, national associations to combat the white slave trade was gradually founded in a number of nations, such as the Freundinnenverein in Germany, the National Vigilance Association in Britain and Vaksamhet in Sweden.

Moral panic over the "traffic in women" rose to a peak in England in the 1880s, after the exposure of the

Eliza Armstrong case and the internationally infamous White slave trade affair in the 1880s.

In 1899 the first international congress against white slave trade took place in London, where the International Bureau for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women and Children was founded to coordinate an international campaign, and as a result of the campaign of the movement suggestions was put forward on how to combat the white slave trade in Paris in 1902, which eventually resulted in the International Agreement for the suppression of the White Slave Traffic in May 1904.

International pressure to address trafficking in women and children became a growing part of the social Reform movement in the United States and Europe during the late nineteenth century, as well as the abolitionist movement against the regulation system. International legislation against the trafficking of women and children began with the conclusion of an international convention in 1901, and the International Agreement for the suppression of the White Slave Traffic in 1904. (The latter was revised in 1910.) The first formal international research into the issue was funded by American philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, through the American Bureau of Social Hygiene. The League of Nations, formed in 1919, took over as the international coordinator of legislation intended to end the trafficking of women and children. An international Conference on White Slave Traffic was held in 1921, attended by the 34 countries that ratified the 1901 and 1904 conventions. Another convention against trafficking was ratified by League members in 1922, and like the 1904 international convention, this one required ratifying countries to submit annual reports on their progress in tackling the problem. Compliance with this requirement was not complete, although it gradually improved: in 1924, approximately 34 percent of the member countries submitted reports as required: this rose to 46 percent in 1929, 52 percent in 1933, and 61 percent in 1934. The 1921 International Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women and Children was sponsored by the League of Nations. In 1923, a committee from the bureau was tasked with investigating trafficking in 28 countries, interviewing approximately 5,000 informants and analyzing information over two years before issuing its final report. This was the first formal report on trafficking in women and children to be issued by an official body. As such, sex trafficking victims often risk legal persecution when alerting authorities to their situation.

Jane Addams was one of the most notable reformers during the Progressive Era, and refined the still early concepts of white slavery and sex work in her book A New Conscience and an Ancient Evil. She, among others, fought to classify all people coerced into prostitution as victims of sexual slavery, and believed that all sex work was sexual exploitation of women by more powerful men. Addams also believed that abolishing white slavery would bring more women into the suffrage movement.

thumb|170px|Newspaper clip: "Wanted 60,000 girls to take the place of 60,000 white slaves who will die this year"

United Nations

The first international protocol dealing with sex slavery was the 1949 UN Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and Exploitation of Prostitution of Others. This convention followed the abolitionist idea of sex trafficking as incompatible with the dignity and worth of the human person. Serving as a model for future legislation, the 1949 UN Convention was not ratified by every country, but came into force in 1951. These early efforts led to the 2000 Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, mentioned above. These instruments contain the elements of the current international law on trafficking in humans.

In 2011, the United Nations reported that girl victims made up two-thirds of all trafficked children. Girls constituted 15 to 20 percent of the total number of all detected victims, whereas boys comprised about 10 percent. The UN report was based on official data supplied by 132 countries.

In 2013, a resolution to create the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons was adopted by the United Nations. The first World Day against Trafficking in Persons took place July 30, 2014, and the day is now observed every July 30.

The Commercial Sex Act makes it illegal to recruit, entice, obtain, provide, move or harbor a person or to benefit from such activities knowing that the person will be caused to engage in commercial sex acts where the person is under 18 or where force, fraud or coercion exists. However, these signs may only be shown through a number of people—there may be more severe, serious indicators of sex trafficking. Another way to prevent sex trafficking is to become an advocate and educate others in communities and schools.

Towards the end of President Clinton's administration, Congress passed the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), intended to fight human trafficking globally.

On the state level, sex trafficking legislation varies in terms of definitions and approaches.

Towards the end of 2021, President Joe Biden signed an updated plan to fight against human trafficking. It is titled The National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking (NAP). The new version is targeted toward those in society that are most impacted by trafficking. This includes marginalized groups who disproportionately face social and economic inequalities and are thus more susceptible to being trafficked. The National Action Plan requires collaboration between all levels of government and agencies to effectively support anti-trafficking services and policies. During this time, efforts and progress to prevent trafficking are celebrated. The U.S. Department of State is tasked with disseminating information regarding human trafficking internationally. As of November 2020, the convention has been ratified by 47 states, with Ireland having signed but not yet ratified. The goal of the convention is to provide the framework for an independent and effective monitoring system that holds the member states accountable for addressing human trafficking and providing protecting to victims. To monitor the implementation of this act, the Council of Europe established the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA). The Convention address the structure and purpose of GRETA and holds the group accountable to publish reports evaluating the measures taken by the states who have signed the convention. Some government actions include:

introducing legislation specifically aimed at criminalizing human trafficking;
developing co-operation between law enforcement agencies and non-government organizations (NGOs) of numerous nations; and
raising awareness of the issue.

Raising awareness can take three forms. First, governments can raise awareness among potential victims, particularly in countries where human traffickers are active. Second, they can raise awareness amongst the police, social welfare workers and immigration officers to equip them to deal appropriately with the problem. And finally, in countries where prostitution is legal or semi-legal, they can raise awareness amongst the clients of prostitution so that they can watch for signs of human trafficking victims. Methods to raise general awareness often include television programs, documentary films, internet communications, and posters.

Criticism of Prevention and Intervention Efforts

Many countries have come under criticism for inaction, or ineffective action. Criticisms include the failure of governments to properly identify and protect trafficking victims, enactment of immigration policies which potentially re-victimize trafficking victims, including by deporting them, and insufficient action in helping prevent vulnerable populations from becoming trafficking victims. A particular criticism has been the reluctance of some countries to tackle trafficking for purposes other than sex.

Studies of sex work and anti-sex trafficking efforts, intended to combat sex trafficking or provide support to victims, have raised concerns over the unintended effects of certain national and international policies, law enforcement strategies, and activist efforts on both sex-trafficked individuals and non-trafficked sex workers. For example, The United States' Tier 2 assessment of Japan on its 2004 TIP Report encouraged the Japanese government to add additional constraints to its procedures and policies for obtaining an entertainer visa, sometimes used by migrant workers seeking employment at businesses within the sex industry. However, these regulations provided opportunities for some third-party facilitators of these visas to exploit migrants while also limiting migrants' ability to leave employers with poor working conditions or overly restrictive practices, such as holding their passports or limiting their ability to leave the premises of the business.

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)

Many NGOs work on the issue of sex trafficking. One major NGO is the International Justice Mission (IJM). IJM is a U.S.-based non-profit human rights organization that combats human trafficking in developing countries in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. IJM states that it is a "human rights agency that brings rescue to victims of slavery, sexual exploitation, and other forms of violent oppression." It is a faith-based organization since its purported goal is to "restore to victims of oppression the things that God intends for them: their lives, their liberty, their dignity, the fruits of their labor." The IJM receives over from the U.S. government. The organization has two methods for rescuing victims: brothel raids in cooperation with local police, and "buy bust" operations in which undercover agencies pretend to purchase sex services from an underage girl. After the raid and rescue, the women are sent to rehabilitation programs run by NGOs (such as churches) or the government.

There are also survivor-led organizations that provide services to victims of exploitation and trafficking including Treasures, founded by Harmony (Dust) Grillo in 2003 and GEMS founded by Rachel Lloyd in 1998.

There are also national non-governmental organizations working on the issue of human trafficking, including sex trafficking. In Kenya, for example, Awareness Against Human Trafficking (HAART) works on ending all human trafficking in the country. HAART has also participated in the UNANIMA International Stop the Demand campaign.

In India, J. Walter Thompson Amsterdam has opened a school called School for Justice. Here, survivors of sex trafficking are educated to become lawyers. The entire program is expected to take five to six years for each girl to complete. The women will graduate with law degrees, with a special focus on commercial sexual exploitation cases. JWT hopes that one day they may become prosecutors, or even judges, empowered to combat the criminals who once exploited and abused them.

NGOs often have the best of intentions when combating sex-trafficking. NGOs are often funded by the West and are implemented in countries that have a very different culture. Research shows that employees of the Western NGOs are slow to adapt to the culture of the community they are providing services to. This often leads to a disconnect between the NGO and the community. Employees of NGOs hold the responsibility of relaying the narrative of sex-trafficked people. This can create a hierarchical structure that makes the voice of Western NGOs as more legitimate than the voice of the people they are serving. Thus, reinforcing the essentialized notion of third-world women as backwards and other.

Japan is a popular place for sex-trafficking. Japan has a long history with the trade of women for sex. For a good part of the country's history, sex work was legal in Japan. This makes it difficult for the government to decipher between legal sex work and illegal prostitution. This is where NGOs step in to assist the government. NGOs provide services in countries where the government policies are failing to combat a specific issue. However, in Japan it is difficult for NGOs focused on issues with women to receive local funding. This weak political support makes the work for NGOs in Japan much more difficult. Japan's lack of support for women's rights shows why the role of NGOs is so important in that country.

Campaigns and initiatives

Public information campaigns are defined as a "government-directed and sponsored effort to communicate to the public or a segment of the public in order to achieve a policy result".

In the past ten years, Spain has seen a surge of sex trafficking. In light of this crisis, social movements, organizations and government institutions have enacted policies like the Second National Plan against Sex Trafficking and Anti-Trafficking laws. Campaigns to fight against sex trafficking in Spain between 2008 and 2017 have been examined by researchers. Their research showed that many campaigns focus on the narrative of the victim as vulnerable and weak, rather than focusing on the actual crime of sex trafficking and the economic system that allows it to flourish. According to the research these narratives disempower sex trafficked people through repeated language of vulnerability and innocence. The researchers explain that the lack of information provided in these campaigns hinders their success. Campaigns will throw out huge numbers of women exploited into sex work but gives no context to the system that allows sex trafficking to flourish.

In 1994, Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women was established to combat trafficking in women on any grounds. It is an alliance of more than 100 non-governmental organizations from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean and North America. The popular TV channel MTV started a campaign to combat sex trafficking. The initiative called MTV EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) is a multimedia initiative produced by MTV EXIT Foundation (formerly known as the MTV Europe Foundation) to raise awareness and increase prevention of human trafficking.

Another campaign is the A21 Campaign, Abolishing Injustice in the 21st Century, which focuses on addressing human trafficking through a holistic approach. They provide potential victims with the education and valuable information on how to best reduce their likelihood of being trafficked through strategies that reduce their vulnerability. The organization also provides safe environments for victims and runs restoration programs in their aftercare facilities. This helps trafficked individuals re-enter into the workforce through a dignified form of work. In the organization's 2013 Annual Impact Report, it was determined that 75 percent of the victims had been sexually exploited.

While globalization fostered new technologies that may exacerbate sex trafficking, technology can also be used to assist law enforcement and anti-trafficking efforts. A study was done on online classified ads surrounding the Super Bowl. A number of reports have noticed increase in sex trafficking during previous years of the Super Bowl. For the 2011 Super Bowl held in Dallas, Texas, the Backpage website for the Dallas area experienced a 136 percent increase on the number of posts in the Adult section that Sunday. Typically, Sundays were known to be the day of the week with the lowest number of posts in the Adult section. Researchers analyzed the most salient terms in these online ads and found that most commonly used words suggested that many escorts were traveling across state lines to Dallas specifically for the Super Bowl. Also, the self-reported ages were higher than usual which conveys that an older population of sex workers were drawn to the event, but since these are self-reported the data is not reliable. Despite a lot of media hype about a supposed spike in sex trafficking surrounding the Super Bowl, academics and anti-trafficking campaigners have said this is largely a myth. They say that while the commercial sex market does grow modestly during large events, sex trafficking is a year-round problem. Twitter was another social networking platform studied for detecting sex trafficking. Digital tools can be used to narrow the pool of sex trafficking cases, albeit imperfectly and with uncertainty.

Celebrity Campaigns: #RealMenDontBuyGirls

Scholars have examined how high-profile anti-trafficking campaigns circulated through Western media reinforce gendered narratives about trafficking, emphasizing a “girl versus pimp” dichotomy. The "Real Men Don't Buy Girls" campaign—launched by Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher and amplified through Western popular culture—has received criticism since its release in 2010.

Intersectional scholars argue that the initiative portrays trafficking primarily as the exploitation of young girls by predatory men, focusing on individual “bad actors” while overlooking the social and economic systems—poverty, labor market exploration, immigration barriers, and gender inequality—that shape susceptibility to exploitation.

Through celebrity amplification and social media, the campaign shapes public perception of trafficking, influencing who is recognized as a victim and who receives attention or aid. By circulating globally, #RealMenDontBuyGirls reproduces Western-centric “rescue” narratives that reduce complex forms of exploitation to simplified stories of villains, victims, and saviors. In the 1990s, for example, specific media attention was paid to sex trafficking of women outside the United States. The feminist reaction to this at the time was to not just call for social services for trafficked people but also for harsher punishments for johns. Proponents of the End Demand strategy support initiatives such as john schools to "rehabilitate" the johns, increased arrests of johns, and public shaming (e.g. billboards and websites that publicly name johns who were caught). John schools were pioneered in San Francisco in 1995 and now used in many cities across the U.S. as well as other countries such as the UK and Canada. Some compare john schools programs to driver's safety courses, because first offenders can pay a fee to attend class(es) on the harms of prostitution, and upon completion, the charges against the john will be dropped. Another initiative in line with the End Demand strategy is the cross-country tour "Ignite the Road to Justice", launched by the 2011 Miss Canada, Tara Teng. Teng's initiative circulates a petition to end the demand for commercial sex that drives prostitution and sex trafficking. End Demand efforts also include large-scale public awareness campaigns. Campaigns were started in Sweden, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Atlanta, Georgia. Massachusetts and Rhode Island also had legislative efforts that criminalized prostitution and increased end demand efforts by targeting johns. Experts describe the "perceived agency and resilience in young males" to be a strong force in deterring male victims from seeking the support they need, and discouraging male-inclusive anti-trafficking service and support networks from forming in the first place. Within the spare support frameworks for male victims that do exist, the specific vulnerabilities of different populations in different areas around the world—regarding nationality and migration status, sexual orientation, drug use, socio-economic status, health status, family structure, and more—are often unaddressed, leaving crucial groups' needs unmet. The double stigma that surrounds male victims of sex trafficking, involving homosexuality and sex work more broadly—makes it incredibly difficult for male victims to come forward and seek help, or even to self-organize. Some scholars report that male victims have also faced higher rates of police violence and brutality than female victims in regards to contact with law enforcement.

Criminalizing and legalizing prostitution

Laws regarding the purchase and sale of voluntary and involuntary sex vary greatly across the developed world. Their effects on sex trafficking are difficult to discern. In the U.S., people who immigrate to the U.S. and have a role in sex trade, are criminalized on the bases of if they are voluntarily or involuntarily brought to the U.S. or come to the U.S. through sex trafficking or consensual sex work/prostitution. One tactic used to identify an individual's role within sex trade is the presence of consent within the situation or context, which is used to determine if someone is a victim of sex trafficking or a prostitute. Holes do exist within this framework because the ability to identify consent is not always simple in every case. Additionally the influence of the criminalization of sex work within a country influences the way people who have a role within slave trade are handled. Those who immigrate to the U.S. for sex work, if identified as a prostitute instead of a victim of sex trafficking, can have their ability to receive legal aid or future citizenship impaired.

Proponents of various forms of criminalization, legalization, or regulation of prostitution, may all argue their model decreases sex trafficking. The Dutch model of legalization and regulation and the Swedish model of criminalizing purchasers and pimps but not prostitutes are often discussed. The difference of these models casts the prevention of trafficking against the rights of voluntary sex workers and purchasers. It is argued that a hybrid model of licensing sex workers and criminalizing the purchase of unlicensed sex would reduce trafficking without crushing civil rights.

The General Assembly in 2010, adopted the Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons, encouraging Governments around the world to undergo drastic measures in order defeat human trafficking. The goal was to put the fight against human trafficking into the United Nation's programmes to strengthen positive development and security around the world. A main section of the plan is to place a United Nations Trust Fund for the women and children who fell victim of trafficking. The Trust Fund in the plan ensures to assist and protect the victims of trafficking through grants to certified NGOs. In the future, the goal is to make the victims a priority who are come were victims and had issues with migration. It also places a focus on the aid to victims who were trafficked by their perpetrator for the goal of sexual relations, organ removal, forced begging, forced criminality, and emerging exploitative reasons.

The General Assembly in the year 2013, gathered a meeting to go over the world's plan of action. Numerous states also declared July 30 as the World Day against Trafficking in Persons. They came to the conclusion that day of remembrance and awareness was crucial to remember the victims, the right's they possess and their protection.

Buying Sex Is A Crime

"Buying Sex Is A Crime" is a slogan used by anti human trafficking and abolitionist groups. The first known public use of the slogan was by thetraffickedhuman.org. in 2016 on a billboard campaign in metro Vancouver, British Columbia. thetraffickedhuman.org is a coalition that works to end the exploitation of women, youth, and girls.

The slogan with the same billboard artwork was also used by buyingsexisacrime.ca in 2017 throughout Canada including Edmonton, Alberta. The slogan was also picked up by the Edmonton Police's own awareness initiative.

References

External links

National Human Trafficking Hotline (U.S.)
Polaris Project
2019 Trafficking in Persons Report (country rankings by the U.S. Department of State)