Human Trafficking Definitions and Legal Considerations

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This page contains information about Human Trafficking, including sexual assault and abuse. There are links to videos which include survivor's first hand account of their experiences.

Introduction

"Human Trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of people through force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them for profit. Men, women and children of all ages and from all backgrounds can become victims of this crime, which occurs in every region of the world." -United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime

The United States Department of States describes "trafficking in persons" "human trafficking" and "modern slavery" as interchangeable terms.

Information about healthcare being first line of recognition.

Definitions and Concepts

Below is a list of definitions and concepts within the context of human trafficking. Please refer to this list as needed throughout the Rehabilitation's Role in Human Trafficking Intervention course.Source

• Coercion is a means of control. It is the act of persuading another person into action by means of threats or force. In context of human trafficking this can include: threats of serious bodily harm, physical restraint, psychological or emotional manipulation, and document confiscation.
• Commercial Sex Act refers to any sexual act or conduct, or sexually explicit performance promised to/given to/or received by any person in exchange for anything of value.
• 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, and other incidentals; interest, fines for missing quotas, and charges for “bad behavior). The length and nature of those services are not respectively limited and defined, where an individual is trapped in a cycle of debt that he or she can never pay down.  
• Force includes physical restraint, physical harm, sexual assault, and beatings. Monitoring and confinement is often used to control victims, especially during early stages of victimization to break down the victim’s resistance.
• Fraud includes false promises regarding employment, wages, working conditions, love, marriage, or better life. Over time, there may be unexpected changes in work conditions, compensation or debt agreements, or nature of relationship.
• Harboring includes isolation, confinement, monitoring
• Involuntary Servitude is any scheme, plan, or pattern intended to cause a person to believe that, if the person did not enter into or continue in such condition, that person or another person would suffer serious harm or physical restraint; or the abuse or threatened abuse of the legal process.
• Obtaining includes forcibly taking, exchanging something for ability to control
• Patronizing includes receiving something of value (only for sex trafficking)
• Peonage is a status or condition of involuntary servitude based on real or alleged indebtedness
• Providing includes giving to another individual
• Recruiting includes proactive targeting of vulnerability and grooming behaviors
• Slavery is the state of being under the ownership or control of someone where a person is forced to work for another.  
• Soliciting includes offering something of value (only for sex trafficking)
• Transporting includes movement and arranging travel

Human Trafficking versus Human Smuggling

Human Trafficking	Human Smuggling
Victims are forced, defrauded, or coerced into trafficking. Even if victims initially offer consent, that consent is rendered meaningless by the actions of the traffickers to exploit them for labor, services, or commercial sex.	Individuals consent to being smuggled. The transaction is mutual and ends upon arrival at desired destination.
Human trafficking is a crime committed against an individual.	Smuggling is a crime committed against a country.
Trafficking does not need to involve the physical movement of a person. Trafficking victimization can be transnational or domestic.	Smuggling involves the illegal transport of an individual across a national border. Smuggling is always transnational.

Consensual commercial sex (vs human trafficking)

Types of Trafficking, Dynamics, and Vulnerability Factors

• Human trafficking (include all major forms including labour and sex)
  • Trafficking does not require crossing internations or state borders
  • Limitations of data on human trafficking
  • Victim: vulnerabilities to trafficking
  • Trafficker: present a variety of trafficker profiles and their recruitment techniques
• Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), as amended (22 U.S.C. §7102).

Health Impact

• Acute injuries: physical, psychological, emotional
• Chronic medical problems/issues/concerns
• Mental health issues
• Reproductive/sexual health concerns
• Impact on QoL, autonomy and independence

Identification and Assessment

• Where are you most likely to interact with a trafficked person?
  • Clinical settings in which trafficked persons may be encountered.
  • Application for rehabilitation professionals
• Identifying a trafficked person
  • the potential indicators of trafficking in persons
  • provider challenges to identification and response
  • challenges/opportunities when interfacing with trafficked persons
• Interacting with a trafficked person
  • Patient-centered
  • the role of trauma-informed care in trust-building and Communication.
  • provides samples of appropriate language to assist with identification.
  • the importance of the use of professional interpreters
  • provides strategies to have private conversations with potential trafficked persons.
  • Survivor barriers to disclosure
• Safety concerns
  • measures to keep oneself and patients safe.
  • describes the importance of appropriate documentation

Response and Follow Up

Intervention

• describes the importance of the healthcare provider role in intervention and response.
• includes a discussion of the importance of organizational Protocols.
• includes a discussion of mandated reporter obligations

Referrals

• describes the importance of survivor-centered, multidisciplinary referrals within the health care organization and with community partners.
• includes a discussion on the importance of building a trusted local network of resources
• includes a discussion of the implications of law enforcement involvement.

Resources

• provides information on how to contact your community, local, and/or state resources.
• National Human Trafficking Hotline number and text number along with any local hotlines.

Resources

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