Get the Facts…
Human Trafficking, as defined by the United Nations, is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of people through force, fraud, or deception, with the aim of exploiting them for profit. Sex Trafficking is one kind of human trafficking.
- Sex trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery in which individuals perform commercial sex through the use of force, fraud, or coercion.
- Sex traffickers target victims and then use violence, threats, lies, false promises, or other forms of control and manipulation to keep victims involved in the sex industry for their own profit.
- Sex trafficking exists in public on urban and rural city streets and within a range of venues and businesses including hotels, motels, truck stops, massage parlors, escort services, and residential brothels.
The Face of Sex Trafficking
- The majority of those who end up in a trafficking situation have a clear and identifiable vulnerability that a trafficker preys upon. The top five risk factors/vulnerabilities for sex trafficking victims are substance use, runaway/homeless youth, unstable housing, mental health concerns, and recent migration/relocation.
- The Polaris Project’s data shows that trafficking victims are recruited by someone they know such as fa family member or caregiver (33%), an intimate partner (28%), or an employer (22%). Polaris also reports that the internet is the top reported recruitment location.
Trafficking is under-reported and under researched. The numbers are likely only a fraction of the problem:
- 9,619 human trafficking cases, involving 16, 999 victims, were reported to the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline in 2023. (Cases can involve multiple victims.)
https://humantraffickinghotline.org/en/statistics
- According to a 2021 report from the National Human Trafficking Hotline, Illinois is among the states with high levels of reported human trafficking activity. The report cites 243 cases and identifies 355 victims.