HUMAN TRAFFICKING 101

WHO ARE THE TRAFFICKERS?

Summary

Traffickers profit from consumer demand for cheap labor and goods and for sex by exploiting vulnerable populations for slave-like labor or sexual exploitation. They may operate as individuals, families, or more organized groups of criminals, and are facilitated by other 'indirect' beneficiaries, such as advertising, distribution, or retail companies and consumers. Both women and men act as traffickers in labor and sex trafficking operations.

Trafficking in persons is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world for two primary reasons: 1. high profits can be made quickly, with little or no start-up capital, and profits can be derived over a long period of time from the same victims (unlike drugs, which are quickly used up), and 2. despite its criminal nature, the risk of prosecution is usually negligible. The low start-up capital required is attractive to many non-professional as well as professional criminals, who see the opportunity created by the demand and have access to vulnerable people to exploit.

Despite the widespread impression that traffickers usually operate through large organized crime groups, the influence of these groups is often restricted to limited geographic areas and to certain roles within the trafficking networks. Much human trafficking occurs through decentralized criminal networks, or small groups of criminals that specialize in certain areas of a network, such as recruitment, transportation, or operating the 'retail' end. The groups may have formal or informal partnerships, but no overarching hierarchy that coordinates their activities.

Large organized crime groups do control large sectors of trafficking in certain geographic areas, including Russia, Eastern Europe and the FSU, Japan, Hong Kong and Colombia. These crime groups often wield significant politcal power through corruption and extortion, and are known for their use of extreme violence. Cooperation between the groups has also been documented by law enforcement and NGO's.

Examples of a Decentralized Sex Trafficking Network in the U.S.

The Korean brothels in the United States are set-up and run in an extremely stereotyped manner, but have no overarching coordination or hierarchy. A shared understanding of how to operate the brothels, high degree of rotation through the networks, and informal ties between transporters and owners have all contributed to the relative uniformity of their networks.

The three actors described below operate independently, but belong to the same general network of groups that do business together.

Broker-> Arranges for the smuggling of women into the country.
Taxi Service-> Monitors the needs of the different brothels and transports women between them, filling the positions.
Brothel Operator-> Manages a brothel, including hiring, firing, and controlling the women. May or not be the owner, or may own the brothel and a few others.

The examples below are different typical configurations of a sex trafficking network in the United States, based on the operations of the Korean massage parlor networks.

Brokers-> Brothel Operator
In New York City and L.A., Korean brokers who have smuggled women illegally into the United States sell the women to a Korean massage parlor operator. The brothel operator buys the value of their smuggling debt, and will require the women to either pay it off, work it off, or a combination of both. The brothel operator has no formal ties with the brokers, but does business with them when new employees are required. The connection between the broker and the brothel operator may have been facilitated by a Korean taxi service that monitors openings in the brothels.

Recruiters-> Brothel Operator
In Flushings, NY, an area in Queens with a large Korean community, recruiters will go to legitimate Korean massage establishments for women, and may say that the women can make much more money at another job doing the same thing. The recruiter will arrange for the transportation of the women to a Korean massage parlor in another state. When the women arrives, she discovers from the brothel operator that she must pay back the value of the transportation, the lodging and food, and will only receive tips, forcing her to provide sex to customers to make enough money to pay off the debt.

An alternate arrangement may involve a recent Korean immigrant arriving in New York or L.A., with thousands of dollars of debt to pay off. A Korean taxi service driver will advise her that the fastest way to pay off the debt is to work at a massage parlor. For a fee, he brings her to a massage parlor, where the woman is pressured strongly to provide commercial sex to the customers or risk being fired. The Korean taxi services monitor the needs of various brothel operators, and transport women between them. They are well known in the networks for taking advantage of the women through fraud and exorbitant charges.

Brothel Operator-> Brothel Operator
Brothel operators who are not happy with a woman may try to sell her to another operator, hoping to recover his or her debt payment. The woman is then transportated to the new location and comes under control of the new business owner.

Examples of a Labor Trafficking Case with Domestic Servitude

Many trafficked persons in the United States are victims of domestic servitude, where they are forced to become a servant or to work under slave-like conditions in a private home. Some examples below illustrate some typical cases:

Labor trafficking by a diplomat or wealthy foreign national
Wealthy foreign nationals working at the IMF, World Bank, or as a diplomat in the United States may bring over servants from their home country. The servants in some cases receive no pay and are abused physically, emotionally, and sexually. Similar cases have also occured with U.S. citizens in foreign service, who have brought back servants from abroad. In both cases the victims are dependent on the trafficker for their legal status in the country. Diplomatic immunity also has been an obstacle to bringing justice in these cases, as has poor regulation and oversight of the use of certain visas by U.S. citizens in foreign service to keep servants in the U.S.