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  • What is human trafficking?

    Human trafficking is the act of compelling someone through force, fraud, or coercion to work or engage in commercial sex against their will. Human trafficking includes when anyone under 18 is involved with commercial sex for any reason. When a youth is involved in commercial sex, no force, fraud or coercion is required for it to be human trafficking. 

  • Who does human trafficking affect?

    Human trafficking is an extremely complex issue, and it does not occur within a vacuum. It can happen to anyone, systemic injustices like racism, homophobia, sexism, economic inequality, and more lead some communities to face more risk of trafficking than others. Members of groups who suffer systemic discrimination and marginalization because of their sex, gender, ethnicity, tribe, caste, religion, sexual orientation, and more are particularly vulnerable. Lack of access to essentials such as education, health care, and financial stability are root causes that limit opportunity, exacerbate systemic injustices, and create vulnerabilities to trafficking. People without access to affordable health care, legitimate credit or government services are vulnerable because they must borrow money informally during emergencies and are forced to work off the debt in conditions of forced labor.

  • Where does human trafficking happen?

    Though illegal everywhere, human trafficking happens in every U.S. state and every country of the world.

  • What’s being done to combat human trafficking?

    Thousands of nonprofit organizations worldwide, most of them small community-based groups, are combating human trafficking on multiple fronts. Some promote strengthening the rule of law so that traffickers cannot act with impunity and victims have access to justice. Others work at a community-wide level to help liberate victims, help survivors recover, and help prevent anyone else from becoming being trafficked in the future. Many companies are investigating their product supply chains to eliminate trafficking-tainted raw materials. Universities and international institutions are conducting specialized research to document the root causes of trafficking and evaluate which strategies work best to end it. The United Way Center to Combat Human Trafficking aims to coordinate these many initiatives into a unified front. United, we will succeed.

  • How many people are experiencing human trafficking today?

    The latest Global Estimates of Modern Slavery from the International Labor Organization and Walk Free Foundation found that roughly 50 million people worldwide experience human trafficking on any given day.

  • What causes human trafficking?

    Human trafficking can happen to anyone, but systemic injustices like racism, homophobia, sexism, economic inequality, and more lead some communities to face more risk of trafficking than others. Members of groups who suffer systemic discrimination and marginalization because of their sex, gender, ethnicity, tribe, caste, religion, sexual orientation, and more are particularly vulnerable.  

    Lack of access to essentials such as education, health care, and financial stability are root causes that limit opportunity, exacerbate systemic injustices, and create vulnerabilities to trafficking. For example, people without access to affordable health care, legitimate credit or government services are vulnerable because they often must borrow money informally during emergencies and are forced to work off the debt in conditions of forced labor. 

  • Does human trafficking require movement or crossing a border?

    No, human trafficking does not require any movement. People can be trafficked around the world, across their hometowns, and even within their own homes. It is different from human smuggling. 

Ethical Storytelling Guide

Written by three survivor leaders on the United Way team, this document provides readers with a roadmap for executing storytelling consultations involving survivors of human trafficking in an ethical and effective manner. The guidelines aim to eliminate any form of exploitation that can often result from telling survivor stories in the anti-trafficking field.

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Trainings with Local United Ways

Over the years, we have educated thousands of community leaders and United Way partners about human trafficking and how to combat it.  

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