What is Human Trafficking?

Trafficking in persons (TIP) is the illegal commerce in human beings. It can be helpful to think of TIP (also known as human trafficking) as a process through which a person loses his or her freedom and is reduced to the status of someone else’s “property.” People who live through the trafficking process ultimately experience slavery because through human trafficking they become people over whom others assume the powers and rights of ownership.

The elements that make up the trafficking process include recruiting, enticing, transporting, harboring, maintaining, provisioning or obtaining a person. To be a victim of human trafficking, at the end of the process the individual must find him or herself in a context of exploitation—either being exploited for their labor or for sexual access to their bodies. Accordingly, human trafficking can more or less be divided into two broad categories: labor trafficking and sex trafficking.

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