HUMAN TRAFFICKING
Trafficking in persons is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world. Across the globe, traffickers supply 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 - including the US, European nations, Africa, Asia & others.
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 complex problem driven by many factors, including globalization and society’s demand for cheap products and sexual services.
Trafficking in 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.
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 family members serious considerations.
Trafficking in the United States
The US 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.
