Sex trafficking

Sex trafficking is a form of human trafficking carried out for sexual exploitation. The individuals who commit this crime are known as sex traffickers or, in some cases, pimps. They manipulate victims into performing commercial sex acts for paying customers. To recruit, transport, and supply victims for prostitution, traffickers rely on force, fraud, and coercion. Victims may also be placed into a state of financial or emotional dependency by their traffickers. Every stage of sex trafficking—from acquiring victims to moving and exploiting them—is illegal. This includes the sexual exploitation of both adults and minors, such as child sex tourism and domestic minor sex trafficking. Because victims are compelled into non-consensual sexual acts, the practice is often described as a form of modern slavery or sexual slavery.

In 2012, the International Labour Organization estimated that 20.9 million people were subjected to forced labor, with 22% (4.5 million) being victims of forced sexual exploitation. Of those, 300,000 were in Developed Economies and the European Union. By 2016, the ILO reported that out of roughly 25 million people in forced labor, 5 million were victims of sexual exploitation. However, because sex trafficking is hidden, researchers often struggle to obtain accurate and reliable statistics. The ILO has estimated global commercial profits from sexual slavery to be in the billions.

Sex trafficking typically occurs in situations where escape is both difficult and dangerous. Trafficking networks exist in every country. Victims are frequently moved across state and national borders, creating jurisdictional complications that make prosecution challenging.

In 2000, countries adopted a definition from the United Nations. The United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime includes the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, known as the Palermo Protocol. This protocol established the definition. When it was published in 2000, 147 of the 192 UN member states had ratified it; by early 2026, 185 states were parties. Article 3 of the Palermo Protocol defines trafficking as: the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation includes, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude, or the removal of organs.

Article 5 of the Palermo Protocol requires member states to criminalize trafficking according to this definition. Yet many countries have domestic laws with a narrower definition than Article 3. While these nations claim to comply with Article 5, their limited laws result in fewer prosecutions for sex trafficking than the broader definition would allow.

The UN has created several anti-trafficking tools, including a Global Report on Trafficking in Persons and an Inter-Agency Coordination Group Against Trafficking in Persons. The Global Report draws on data from 155 countries and provides the first worldwide assessment of human trafficking’s scope and the efforts to combat it. The UN General Assembly has passed resolutions on measures to eliminate human trafficking. In 2010, the UN Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons was adopted. Many other organizations also work globally against sex trafficking. The UN Protocol is considered the foundation of international initiatives against human sex trafficking. It defines key elements: “action” (recruitment and transportation), “means” (coercion, fraud, or abuse of power), and “purpose” (exploitation such as prostitution, forced labor, slavery, or organ removal). The UN requires member states to make human trafficking a criminal offense.

In the United States, an internationally recognized definition for sex trafficking was established with the Trafficking Act of 2000. The U.S. passed the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 to clarify confusion and discrepancies in criminalizing human trafficking. This act defined sex trafficking as “the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act.” If the victim is a child under 18, no force, fraud, or coercion needs to be proven. Susan Tiefenbrun, a professor at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law who has written extensively on human trafficking, found that each year more than two million women worldwide are bought and sold for sexual exploitation. To address legal inconsistencies regarding youth, the U.S. defined two additional terms: “commercial sexual exploitation of children” (CSEC), which includes pornography, prostitution, child sex tourism, and child marriage, and “domestic minor sex trafficking” (DMST), a subset of CSEC involving the exchange of sex with a U.S. citizen or permanent resident child under 18 for cash, goods, or anything of value.

In the United States, sex traffickers often find victims in public places. Victims are frequently lured with promises of money, housing, or jobs, such as modeling work. Young or homeless individuals are especially vulnerable to these approaches. Emotional and physical coercion are used to build trust between a victim and their abductor. This coercion often makes the relationship between trafficker and victim difficult to break.