It can occur across international borders or within a single country. It differs from smuggling of persons in that trafficking moves people for the purpose of placing them in modern-day slavery or servitude. Men are also trafficked, especially for forced labor, but the United States has focused primarily on women and children because they are the overwhelming predominant targets of traffickers, U.S. officials say. The President's Interagency Council on Women estimates that over one million women and children are trafficked around the world each year, with about 50,000 of them trafficked into the United States, primarily from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Latin America and Southeast Asia. About half of the 50,000 are trafficked for sweatshop labor and domestic servitude, the Council says.
Traffickers follow the profits and as such often engage in more than one kind of trafficking.
For example, traffickers may force some girls lured from a village into domestic servitude or carpet weaving while the more attractive are sold to brothels. U.S. officials stress that it is important that all three points are pursued. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has made trafficking a priority issue. Albright, who chairs The President's Interagency Council on Women, established a senior governmental working group on trafficking to address the areas of prevention, victim assistance and protection, and enforcement. She consults closely with private organizations and members of Congress on trafficking.