Human Trafficking is an issue dealt with by people all over the world.  It is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring, or receipt of people by the threat or use of kidnapping, force, or fraud.   Human Trafficking is the giving or receiving of unlawful payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, and for the purpose of sexual exploitation of forced labor.

Sex trafficking occurs when people are forced into commercial sex against their will.  Sex traffickers usually target vulnerable people with histories of abuse.  They then use threats, lies, false promises, or other forms of control to keep the victim in the sex industry.

Labor traffickers use violence, threats, and lies to force people to work against their will.  Some common types of labor trafficking is people forced to work in homes as servants, farm workers, and at restaurants.  The workers get little or no pay for the jobs they do.

It is estimated that 12.3 million people around the world have been victims of human trafficking.  Toledo is one of the largest human trafficking cities in the United States.  It is estimated that 60 to 90 females are trafficked for sexual purposes every year in Franklin County.  It is estimated that 100,000 children are in the sex trade in the United States each year.  Victims of human trafficking in the United States are U.S. citizens, foreign nationals, adults, minors, men, or women.  The traffickers may operate as individuals, families, or as a group of people.  Human trafficking is hard to calculate because it is one of the fastest growing criminal industries.  It is estimated that there are hundreds and thousands of people in sex and labor trafficking.

Some signs of human trafficking are they are always quiet and they hang their head low.  If you think you have seen a victim of human trafficking you can call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center at 1-888-373-7888 anytime toll free twenty-four hours a day.