Children account for half of the victims of human trafficking. In fact, the average age that a young person becomes involved in sex trafficking is 12 years old.
Due to their potentially unstable living situations, physical distance from friends and family, traumatic experiences, and emotional vulnerability, children involved with child welfare are at risk for being targeted by traffickers who are actively seeking victims to exploit.
Victims of human trafficking can be young children, teenagers, men and women. They can be U.S. citizens, Lawful Permanent Residents (LPRs) or foreign nationals, and they can be found in urban, suburban, and rural areas.
Traffickers are adept at identifying people with noticeable vulnerabilities or needs. They may scour specific locations such as bus stations, shelters, or local malls looking for someone without a safe place to stay or who they may be able to charm with their flattery and attention.
Sex traffickers target children because of their vulnerability and gullibility, as well as the market demand for young victims. Those who recruit minors into prostitution violate federal anti-trafficking laws, even if there is no coercion or movement across state lines.
Who Are the Traffickers. There is no evidence that traffickers are more likely to be of a particular race, nationality, gender, or sexual orientation. They may be family members, romantic partners, acquaintances, or strangers.
Many sex traffickers lure victims by providing basic survival needs. They systematically provide distorted versions of higher needs to manipulate victims. Using threats, force and coercion, traffickers exploit the fact that, for many victims, “the life” may be their first experience of 'family' and belonging.
Victims frequently fall prey to traffickers who lure them in with an offer of food, clothes, attention, friendship, love, and a seemingly safe place to sleep.
This recruitment can happen in public places such as malls or sporting events, as well as online, through social media sites, or through false advertisements or promises about job opportunities that might appeal to young people, such as modeling or acting.
However, vulnerable populations who have little social and legal protection are the most at risk. The majority of victims are women—70 percent—and risk for women may be heightened further in areas where extreme gender discrimination prevails.
Child trafficking is very common in Africa, particularly West Africa, where approximately 100 percent of all human trafficking victims were children.
Mass displacement, conflict, extreme poverty, lack of access to education and job opportunities, violence and harmful social norms like child marriage are all factors that push individuals into situations of trafficking.
Africa and the Middle East
In recent years, trafficking has been most prevalent in African countries like Equatorial Guinea, Mauritania, Eritrea, and the Central African Republics. In the CAR, young women can be coerced into marriages that force them into domestic servitude and sexual slavery.
Women and girls represent 65 per cent of all trafficking victims globally. More than 90 per cent of detected female victims are trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
If possible, call a hotline that can help get you out of your situation. In the U.S., reach out to the National Human Trafficking Hotline by calling 888-373-7888, visiting their website or texting “BeFree” (233733). Once you escape and get settled, get emotional and mental help.
Suggested Screening Questions
Can you leave your job or situation if you want? Can you come and go as you please? Have you been threatened if you try to leave? Have you been physically harmed in any way?
Call the toll-free (24/7) National Human Trafficking Resource Center at 1-888-3737-888 (1-888-373-7888). Text HELP or INFO to BeFree (233733).
The children at risk are not just high school students – studies show that the average age a child is trafficked into the commercial sex trade is between 11 and 14 years old.