HUMAN TRAFFICKING
Trafficking in persons is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world. Across the globe, traffickers supply millions of human beings for use in forced labor activities such as domestic service, or work in brick kilns, sweatshops, cocoa plantations, or mines. Some are trafficked into the commercial sex industry. Trafficking touches every nation across the globe - the U.S.A, European nations, Africa, Asia & beyond...
Human trafficking is a complex issue and has many roots. While poverty, inequality and gender are important factors in raising vulnerability among some populations, they are not the primary or root causes of trafficking. Trafficking is a criminal industry driven by society’s demand for cheap products and sexual services.
Focus on Cambodia...
Cambodia is a sending, receiving and transit country for trafficking. Cambodians are most commonly trafficked for the purpose of commercial sex, begging, domestic work, fishing, construction and adoption. Trafficking in Cambodia is a problem intimately linked to the sex industry.
Victims often believe they are being recruited for purposes such as domestic work, or work in a restaurant. Most victims are deceived or, in a smaller number of cases, kidnapped, and forced into sexual slavery.
For the majority of the population, there are numerous factors such as widespread poverty, high unemployment, low levels of literacy, and few income earning opportunities for women that make sale of children serious considerations for many families.
Focus on the United States...
The USA is a sending, receiving, and transit country for human trafficking. Cases of human trafficking have been reported in all 50 states, Washington D.C., and most U.S. territories. Victims of trafficking can be children or adults, U.S. citizens or foreign nationals, male or female.
The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), passed in 2000, was the first comprehensive U.S. law to address the various aspects of trafficking in persons within U.S. borders and across the globe. The TVPA aims to fight trafficking by establishing measures to prevent trafficking, protect its victims, and prosecute those accountable for trafficking.
