January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month. Halfway through the first month of the New Year, it’s as good a time as any to dispel common myths and build a more accurate understanding of human trafficking. A realistic picture can help advocates identify trafficking situations, lead people in active trafficking situations to recognize what is happening to them and find a way out, and assist survivors to connect with relevant resources. 

One common misconception is that people are trafficked primarily or only for sex work. Although sex trafficking commands greater public awareness and is more frequently reported and prosecuted than labor trafficking, labor trafficking is thought to be the more prevalent form of exploitation. And although many people think of labor trafficking exclusively in the context of illegal industries, in reality it pervades ordinary trades such as food service, hospitality, cleaning, caregiving, agriculture, construction, factory work, and many other professions. 

Another myth is that trafficking is usually perpetrated by strangers; the phrase “human trafficking” might conjure images of someone being kidnapped by a stranger in dark clothing. But in reality, most trafficking victims, whether for labor or for sex, are recruited and exploited by people they know and trust—for example by a family member, caregiver, intimate partner, or employer. 

Human trafficking is also not necessarily a physically violent crime or one that involves physical constraint. Outdated awareness posters may show survivors in handcuffs, tied up, or behind bars. But more often, emotional abuse, economic abuse, threats, and isolation are used to control victims. Traffickers employ these intangible manipulation tactics–as well as plain fraud and lies–to exert control just as effectively as physical violence. And although some people in trafficking situations may be literally held against their will, there are often more complex factors preventing someone from leaving; someone may have nowhere else to go (e.g., if they lack stable housing, reliable transportation, and/or friends, family or other support network nearby), may be emotionally and/or financially dependent on their trafficker, and may not even realize that they are in a trafficking or abusive situation due to the way they’ve been manipulated. 

Finally, anyone can be trafficked, and trafficking survivors represent all ethnicities, genders, and backgrounds. However, some people are at greater risk than others. Immigrants (whether undocumented or with legal status), people of color, Indigenous people, and LGBTQ+ individuals are more vulnerable to trafficking. Traffickers can also more easily exploit people who need something—be it concrete, such as employment, stable housing, or drugs, or something nonmaterial, such as a (false) sense of safety, acceptance, or emotional intimacy. For this reason, people who are unhoused or without reliable housing, people experiencing poverty, abuse, addiction, trauma or mental health challenges, and people in the foster care or child welfare system are at a greater risk of being trafficked.

In the words of Mara Vanderslice Kelly and Catherine Chen (of the United Way Center on Human Trafficking & Slavery and Polaris, respectively), “human trafficking doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It is the end result of a range of other persistent injustices and inequities in our society and our economy.” 

At first, the complex intersections of inequality and disenfranchisement with human trafficking may make the problem seem insurmountable. But approached another way, this perspective also points to broader and more effective opportunities for intervention and prevention. As important as it is to recognize human trafficking and connect survivors and people in active trafficking situations with resources, it is equally important to fight for affordable housing and immigrants’ and workers’ rights, to combat racism and LGBTQ+ inequality, and to build healthy families and strong communities. These protective factors can prevent someone from ever being at risk of trafficking in the first place. So no matter your line of work or your area of activism, when you are building a more just society that gives people control over their own lives, you are already a part of the solution to human trafficking.

 

Sources: 

https://polarisproject.org/myths-facts-and-statistics/

https://polarisproject.org/blog/2021/01/human-trafficking-does-not-happen-in-a-vacuum/