Human trafficking is the deplorable act of transporting a person against their will for the purposes of exploitation. It is a form of modern day slavery in which the basic rights of the victim are repeatedly and continuously violated.
Most trafficking victims are women and children from poor socioeconomic backgrounds. They are commonly lured with the promise of employment opportunity in a restaurant or factory, only to be stripped of their papers upon arrival and forced into sexual servitude or bonded labor. A trafficker may use force, deception, coercion, fraud, or other forms of intimidation to obtain, harbor, and traffic their victim.
The United States Department of State estimates that “600,000 to 800,000 men, women, and children [are] trafficked across international borders each year, approximately 80 percent are women and girls and up to 50 percent are minors”. This figure fails to account for victims who are trafficked within national borders, likely representing a significant portion of all trafficking victims. In fact, if domestic trafficking were to be included, up to 4 million persons per year would be considered victims of human trafficking.
Globally this modern day slave trade represents a ten billion dollar a year industry. The vast majority of trafficking victims are sold into prostitution, sexual servitude, or other forms of sexual exploitation. Human trafficking to support bonded labor is also widespread, as is the trafficking of children to serve in military conflicts in various regions of the world.
(http://endexploitation.org/resources.html)
