Women, men and children are trafficked for a range of purposes, including forced and exploitative labour in factories, farms and private households, sexual exploitation, and forced marriage. Continuing reading to learn more about the different types of human trafficking, and how you can help.
Forced labour can be understood as work that is performed involuntarily and under the menace of any penalty. It refers to situations in which persons are coerced to work through the use of violence or intimidation, or by more subtle means such as manipulated debt, retention of identity papers or threats of denunciation to immigration authorities.
The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons by means of threat, use of force, coercion, or deception with the intent of exploiting that person to perform a commercial sexual act.
When a child (persons under 18 years of age) is involved, the use of force, threats, or coercion is not necessary for the offense to be prosecuted as human trafficking.
The commercial sexual exploitation of children is a heinous form of child abuse which takes many forms, including child prostitution, child pornography and trafficking in children.
Online child sexual abuse and online child sexual exploitation involve the use of information and communication technology as a means to sexually abuse and/or sexually exploit children. Examples of the crimes proscribed by law (to varying degrees) are:
The term “child labour” is often defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development. The worst forms of child labour involve children being:
A form of coercion used in both sex trafficking and forced labour involving the imposition of a bond or debt.
A form of human trafficking found in distinct circumstances—work in a private residence—in which a domestic worker is not free to leave his or her employment and is abused and underpaid, if paid at all.
Child soldiering is a manifestation of human trafficking when it involves the unlawful recruitment or use of children by armed forces as combatants or other forms of labor.
Forced marriages are marriages in which one and/or both parties have not personally expressed their full and free consent to the union. Child marriage, or early marriage, is any marriage where at least one of the parties is under 18 years of age.
Download the free guide to learn how you can help:
Though trafficking can look different in different countries, one thing remains the same: traffickers always prey on vulnerability.
The more children, youth and parents understand how trafficking takes place, the better chance we have of stopping trafficking before it even happens.