Child slavery and trafficking

What is human trafficking?

Human trafficking is akin to modern day slavery. It occurs when people are forced into exploitative situations for profit. Men, women and children are exploited for a wide range of purposes, including forced labour, sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, and child soldiers. While trafficking for sexual exploitation is more commonly reported among women and girls, it can also happen to boys.

Trafficking is a hidden crime. Unfortunately the full scale of this brutal trade can’t be definitively detected. But it’s estimated that nearly 21 million people are trafficked for profit around the world today.

People are vulnerable to trafficking for a number of reasons, including lack of education and employment opportunities, discrimination and social isolation, and lack of protection by adults or social systems.

Human trafficking is different to people smuggling. People smuggling is a crime against a country by illegally crossing borders, whereas trafficking is an exploitative crime against an individual. While people consent to being smuggled, trafficking does not involve consent. People smuggling is always across borders, while this is not necessarily the case for trafficking. And whereas people smuggling has a final destination, trafficking involves ongoing exploitation.

Trafficking is a global problem

Trafficking sometimes happens within national borders, and vulnerable people can be trafficked in their own homes and communities. However most trafficking flows are inter-regional. When people are trafficked across borders they are harder to find and it is more difficult for them to return home.

Human trafficking can occur in any country in the world – even in Australia. Most countries are involved in human trafficking to some extent, either as a place of recruitment, transit or destination for trafficked individuals. It is estimated that most trafficking cases occur in Asia, particularly across the Greater Mekong region of Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

Human trafficking is considered the second largest source of illegal income, behind the illegal drug trade. It’s an estimated US$150 billion industry, with almost a third of profits generated in wealthy industrialised countries like Australia.

Trafficking is a relatively high profit, low-risk crime. Across the world, very few offenders are convicted for trafficking. This is partly due to different perpetrators involved at different times; difficulties in law enforcement correctly identifying survivors and perpetrators, and the fear of reporting felt by survivors.