BACKGROUND

Human trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, harbouring, or receipt of people for the purposes of slavery, forced labour (including bonded labour or debt bondage) and servitude. Trafficking of persons exists in two distinct types: labour trafficking and sexual trafficking. Victims of sex trafficking are often found in the streets or working in establishments that offer commercial sex acts, i.e. brothels, strip clubs, pornography production houses.
People forced into indentured servitude can be found in:

• Sweatshops (where abusive labour standards are present)
• Commercial agricultural situations (fields, processing plants, canneries)
• Domestic situations (maids, nannies)
• Construction sites (particularly if public access is denied)
• Restaurant and custodial work.

Trafficking in women is a criminal phenomenon that violates basic human rights, and totally destroying victims' lives. Traffickers primarily target women because they are disproportionately affected by poverty and discrimination, factors that impede their access to employment, educational opportunities and other resources. Traffickers prey on women's vulnerable circumstances and may lure them into crime networks through deceit and false promises of decent working conditions and fair pay.

It has long been an issue that has been swept under the carpet. Though the practice is widespread and prevalent, trafficking has been one of the lesser known of the crimes against women and children.