Human trafficking is the illegal trade of human beings mainly for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation or forced labor.
Other purposes can be extraction of organs, or tissues or even surrogacy or ova removal.

Victims of human trafficking are not permitted to leave upon arrival at their destination. 


They are held against their will through acts of coercion and forced to work or provide services to the trafficker or others. 

The work or services may include anything from bonded or forced labor to commercialized sexual exploitation, sex trafficking, child labor, 

The arrangement may be structured as a work contract, but with no or low payment or on terms which are highly exploitative. 


Sometimes the arrangement is structured as debt bondage, with the victim not being permitted or able to pay off the debt

Human trafficking does not require travel or transport from one location to another, but one form of sex trafficking involves international agents and brokers who arrange travel and job placements for women from one country. 

Women are lured to accompany traffickers based on promises of lucrative opportunities unachievable in their native country. 


However, once they reach their destination, the women discover that they have been deceived and learn the true nature of the work that they will be expected to do. 

Most have been told false information regarding the financial arrangements and conditions of their employment and find themselves in coercive or abusive situations from which escape is both difficult and dangerous.

According to a 2009 U.S. Department of Justice report, there were 1,229 suspected human trafficking incidents in the United States from January 2007- September 2008. 


Of these, 83 percent were sex trafficking cases, though only 9% of all cases could be confirmed as examples of human trafficking.