CRS - Trafficking in Persons: International Dimensions and Foreign Policy Issues for Congress
Trafficking in Persons: International Dimensions and Foreign Policy Issues for Congress. Liana Sun Wyler, Analyst in International Crime and Narcotics, October 17, 2012
Trafficking in persons, or human trafficking, refers to the subjection of men, women, and children to exploitative conditions that can be tantamount to slavery. Reports suggest that human trafficking is a global phenomenon, victimizing millions of people each year and contributing to a multi-billion dollar criminal industry. It is a centuries-old problem that, despite international and U.S. efforts to eliminate it, continues to occur in virtually every country in the world. Human trafficking is also an international and cross-cutting policy problem that bears on a range of major national security, human rights, criminal justice, social, economic, migration, gender, public health, and labor issues."
