Sex trafficking

Sex trafficking is a form of slavery in which a person is forced into sex work for little or no money. Victims can be of any gender, but young women are the majority of people forced into this type of work. Many times, trafficked persons know their traffickers, who lure them into the industry through various deceptions. They then are held captive. Most are threatened with violence, so they do not leave. Some are force-fed drugs or subjected to other forms of abuse. Sex trafficking is tied to human trafficking, which is the act of exploiting someone else for forced labor or sex acts, typically through force, fraud, and coercion; forcing or coercing a minor under the age of eighteen into sex work is also considered trafficking. Reliable statistics are often difficult to come by, but in 2022 the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported that of the multiple thousands of detected victims of human trafficking worldwide in 2020, approximately 39 percent were trafficked for sexual exploitation.

Overview

Sex trafficking has existed in one form or another since ancient times. Both children and adults were sold, traded, and forced into sex work for money. The term, however, has been in use since the 1980s, when feminists used it to protest the sexual exploitation of women and girls in the commercial sex industry.

The United States addressed this worldwide problem in 2000 when Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), which defined sex trafficking as the recruitment of an adult or a minor (person under the age of eighteen) and forcing, tricking, or coercing the person to perform sex acts against their will. Also in 2000, the United Nations drafted the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, which includes provisions against both human and sex trafficking.

For an incident to be considered a sex-trafficking crime, it has to involve a commercial sex act, which means it must be related to the sex industry. For example, a person who is kidnapped and forced to work as a sex worker and perform sexual acts for money is a victim of sex trafficking. A person who is kidnapped and forced to perform a sexual act on their perpetrator is a victim of kidnapping and rape, not sex trafficking. Victims can also be forced to work at strip clubs or to perform in pornographic films. They can be trafficked as mail-order brides or forced into the sex tourism industry, in which people travel to pay for sexual acts.

Perpetrators, or traffickers, typically use several tactics to coerce their victims. First, they need to gain the victims' trust. Usually they look for vulnerable victims, such as runaways or young people with few friends, poor family lives, low self-esteem, or drug problems. They befriend them and court them, for as long as it takes. This phase, sometimes called "seasoning" or "grooming," can take months. The traffickers shower potential victims with gifts and affection. They make their victims believe they are loved and cared for—usually feelings the victims are lacking at home.

While sex trafficking can take many forms and occur in different ways, certain trends and tactics are common to many trafficking situations. For example, traffickers typically begin by gaining their victims' trust, then begin manipulating and controlling them. Sometimes they trick their victims and offer them false promises, such as well-paying jobs, marriage proposals, or something else the victim readily agrees to. At other times, traffickers rely on violence or other methods to force victims into a trafficking situation. If victims refuse to obey the perpetrators' demands, they may be beaten, threatened, sexually abused, or subject to some other type of violence to make them comply. Victims who are addicted to drugs may be particularly vulnerable, as they may be forced into a trafficking situation to get the drugs they need to feed their addiction. Sometimes victims are drugged against their will or kidnapped. Typically, traffickers psychologically damage their victims and make them believe that no one else cares about them, which makes trafficked individuals feel isolated and less likely to reach out for help. Traffickers also often threaten the lives of trafficked people or the lives of loved ones if they try to retaliate or leave.

In some instances, perpetrators prey on families experiencing poverty or those addicted to drugs and trick them into selling their children, spouses, or other family members. This is very common in impoverished countries such as Cambodia. Traffickers make up stories about having children work for them in return for money or drugs, but in reality, they sell the victims into the sex industry. It is often too late by the time families learn the truth. The families are forced to continue the deal or face violence or poverty. In some cases, family members willingly sell their children or spouses into the sex industry to resolve debts or complete drug deals.

Sex Trafficking Today

Sex trafficking is an ongoing issue worldwide, not only in impoverished or underdeveloped countries but also in industrialized nations such as the United States. Large numbers of victims are lured, coerced, or forced into the industry each year. Although women—mostly young women and underage girls—have accounted for the majority of victims, a growing number of young men, boys, and transgender individuals have been targeted. The exact number of victims affected by sex trafficking is difficult to estimate because many victims are afraid to speak up to police officers and other officials. Many countries have task forces devoted to breaking up sex-trafficking rings, yet it is impossible to know the scope of the issue since it usually crosses international lines and jurisdictions.

The sex-trafficking industry of the twenty-first century is very organized and encompasses numerous countries. Traffickers come from every socioeconomic and racial background. They are not only men, as many women—some of whom were trafficked themselves—run their own trafficking rings. Rings typically are organized in a hierarchy system, with the trafficker at the top and various associates and victims below them. Victims who have earned a trafficker's trust are usually higher up in the hierarchy and have more freedom than others.

The industry is also very violent. Many victims suffer from severe abuse and are abducted, terrorized, raped, and drugged. They fear for their lives, and intimidation has caused many of them to resign themselves to this life; they may stop trying to escape or thwart their traffickers. Because of the physical and mental abuse suffered over an extended period, some victims may be vulnerable to experiencing Stockholm syndrome, a condition in which a trafficked or kidnapped person begins to care for and become attached to their traffickers or kidnappers. Sex traffickers are typically experienced in manipulating victims and making them feel loved and needed, which, combined with the threat of violence, often makes it difficult for victims to break free of perpetrators.

Victims who are able to get away from traffickers usually have no way to support themselves. Victims from other countries may not have identifying documents, such as birth certificates, passports, and drivers' licenses. These circumstances—among others—may lead the victims to return to traffickers and the sex-trafficking cycle. Many times, traffickers severely punish the victims for leaving or trying to leave. The victims may be subjected to horrific abuse, such as gang rape, death threats, beatings, and other violent acts.

The global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic declared in early 2020 had such a pervasive impact on societies and economies that experts monitoring the issue of human trafficking, including sex trafficking, observed that victims had only become more vulnerable. Reports, such as that conducted by the US Department of State in 2021, found that as local and federal resources, including both financial and personnel, were shifted to focus on combating the pandemic, sex traffickers had taken advantage of the chaotic environment, interrupted anti-trafficking efforts, and negative economic effects to conduct operations more freely and to expand their influence. The State Department report also indicated an increase in traffickers' use of online methods to locate and manipulate younger victims, as everyone had an even greater online presence under pandemic conditions, including school closures that led to more virtual learning. In its 2022 report, the UNODC also cited the pandemic as a factor in increased victim vulnerability and decreased case detection. At the same time, it noted that displacement due to climate change and conflict was additionally continuing to play a major role.

Bibliography

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