Doc No: OTIP-FS-18-01

Issuance Date: November 21, 2017

FACT SHEET: Human Trafficking
Human trafficking is a public health issue that impacts individuals, families, and communities. Traffickers
disproportionately target at-risk populations including individuals who have experienced or been
exposed to other forms of violence (child abuse and maltreatment, interpersonal violence and sexualassault, community and gang violence) and individuals disconnected from stable support networks(runaway and homeless youth, unaccompanied minors, persons displaced during natural disasters).

Definition of Trafficking in Persons
The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), as amended (22 U.S.C. § 7102), defines “severeforms of trafficking in persons” as:••Sex trafficking: the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, obtaining, patronizing, orsoliciting of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act, in which the commercial sex act isinduced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not
attained 18 years of age; (and)Labor trafficking: the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person
for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection
to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.

Human Trafficking versus Human Smuggling
Human trafficking and human smuggling are two separate crimes under federal law:

HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Victims are forced, defrauded, or coerced intotrafficking. Even if victims initially offer consent,that consent is rendered meaningless by theactions of the traffickers to exploit them for labor,services, or commercial sex.
Human trafficking is a crime committed against anindividual.
Trafficking does not need to involve the physicalmovement of a person. Trafficking victimization
can be transnational or domestic.

vs.

HUMAN SMUGGLING

Individuals consent to being smuggled. The
transaction is mutual and ends upon arrival atdesired destination.
Smuggling is a crime committed against a country.
Smuggling involves the illegal transport of anindividual across a national border. Smuggling isalways transnational.

Learn more at www.acf.hhs.gov/otip.

How Victims Are Trafficked
Traffickers use force, fraud, or coercion to subject victims to engage in commercial sex orforced labor. Anyone can be a victim of trafficking anywhere, including in the United States.

MEANSACTIONSDoes not need to be present in asituation of sex trafficking of minors

PURPOSE

Recruiting includes
proactive targeting ofvulnerability and grooming
behaviors

Force includes physical restraint,
physical harm, sexual assault, andbeatings. Monitoring andconfinement is often used tocontrol victims, especially during
early stages of victimization tobreak down the victim’sresistance.

Commercial Sex Act is any sex act on account ofanything of value given to or received by any
person.

Harboring includes
isolation, confinement,
monitoring
Transporting includes
movement and arranging
travelProviding includes giving
to another individual
Obtaining includes forcibly
taking, exchanging
something for ability tocontrol*Soliciting includes
offering something ofvalue*Patronizing includes
receiving something ofvalue

Fraud includes false promises
regarding employment, wages,
working conditions, love,marriage, or better life. Overtime, there may be unexpectedchanges in work conditions,compensation or debt
agreements, or nature ofrelationship.
Coercion includes threats ofserious harm to or physicalrestraint against any person,psychological manipulation,
document confiscation, andshame and fear-inducing threats
to share information or pictureswith others or report toauthorities.

*Only for sex trafficking

Involuntary Servitude is any scheme, plan, orpattern intended to cause a person to believe
that, if the person did not enter into or continue
in such condition, that person or anotherperson would suffer serious harm or physicalrestraint; or the abuse or threatened abuse of
the legal process.
Debt Bondage includes a pledge of services by
the debtor or someone under debtor’s control
to pay down known or unknown charges (e.g.
fees for transportation, boarding, food, andother incidentals; interest, fines for missing
quotas, and charges for “bad behavior). The
length and nature of those services are notrespectively limited and defined, where an
individual is trapped in a cycle of debt that he or
she can never pay down.
Peonage is a status or condition of involuntary
servitude based on real or alleged indebtedness
Slavery is the state of being under theownership or control of someone where aperson is forced to work for another.

Help for Victims of Trafficking
Get help, report a tip, find services, and learn more about your options. The National Human Trafficking
Hotline provides assistance to victims in crisis through safety planning, emotional support, andconnections to local resources.
CONFIDENTIAL | TOLL-FREE | 24/7

CALL
TEXT
EMAIL
VISIT

1-888-373-7888
HELP to BEFREE (233733)
help@humantraffickinghotline.org
www.humantraffickinghotline.org

Learn more at www.acf.hhs.gov/otip.