Human Trafficking

Human trafficking is the act of compelling someone to work, for little or no pay, through force, fraud, or coercion. It can happen to anyone, anywhere: to men, women or children; in suburbia and on city streets; in factories, nail salons, mines and at truck stops, in fields or on fishing boats.

The United Way Center to Combat Human Trafficking was founded in 2015 as a global center to accelerate action. We are working to create effective community-based solutions, galvanize collaboration across sectors, and build public and political will to support, fund and scale strategies across the world that find, stop, and prevent human trafficking. We are innovating where needed, uplifting good work already being done, and utilizing the United Way network to scale the anti-trafficking movement.

What is Human Trafficking?

Human trafficking is when someone is compelled to work for little or no pay because of force, fraud, or coercion. Trafficking is often associated with commercial sex, but most trafficking victims are in forced labor at farms or factories, in mines or on fishing boats, at construction sites, in private homes as servants, or inside prison factories. We are all connected to human trafficking through the food we eat, clothes and jewelry we wear, and electronic devices we use every day.

United Way’s Response

United Way is uniquely positioned to bring together leading organizations to drive a more powerful, unified strategy for combating trafficking globally. Leveraging a network of 1,100 United Ways in 37 countries and territories, United Way can help identify and support what’s most needed, while mobilizing individuals, businesses, governments and nonprofit organizations around effective solutions.

Learn more about the work of the Center to combat human trafficking from our impact report