Human trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, harbouring or controlling of persons for the purpose of forced labour, including work in the sex trade.
It involves abuse, coercion and manipulation, and it’s internationally recognized as a form of slavery.
Human trafficking can include:
Human trafficking is not the same as kidnapping or cross-border smuggling.
Despite the widespread myth, human trafficking does not need to involve the movement of a person across a border or in a shipping container. In fact, most people who are trafficked in Durham Region are from Durham Region.
At StopHT, our focus is domestic sex trafficking, which is human trafficking that involves sexual exploitation.
But human trafficking can take many other forms such as domestic labour trafficking, organ trafficking, forced crime, forced child marriage, and more.
The average age of recruitment into sex trafficking is 13 years old.
Over 70% of human trafficking victims identified by police are under the age of 25.
About two-thirds of police-reported human trafficking violations in Canada occur in Ontario.
92% of sex trafficked individuals knew their trafficker beforehand.
97% of victims of human trafficking were women and girls, although boys can also be trafficked.
while 90% of police reported incidents occur in major cities, human trafficking can occur anywhere.
Often, the trafficker will:
Next, the trafficker will commonly:
Then, the trafficker may:
By now, the trafficker will have:
Finally, the trafficker commonly:
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Karly Church shares her experience as a human trafficking survivor.