Human Trafficking
What is human trafficking?
Under U.S. law, trafficking in persons is defined as “sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age,” or “the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.”
“Twenty years ago, there was a problem, 10 years ago, an epidemic. Today the crisis is at a breaking point.”
- The International Labor Organization estimates that forced labor and human trafficking is a $150 billion industry worldwide.
Every Zip Code
Human trafficking has been reported in EVERY SINGLE ZIP CODE IN MICHIGAN. (Polaris, 2020)
Every State
The National Human Trafficking Hotline annually receives multiple reports of human trafficking cases from all 50 states and D.C. (Polaris, 2020)
1 in 7
In 2017, an estimated 1 out of 7 endangered runaways reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children were child sex trafficking victims. (Polaris, 2020)
49,000 cases
More than 49,000 total cases of human trafficking have been reported to the National Human Trafficking Hotline in the last 10 years. (Polaris, 2020)
Increasing
The number of reported human trafficking cases in the U.S. increases every year. (Polaris, 2020)
What is the value of a life?
At Hope Against Trafficking, we believe all lives are valuable and everything possible should be done to assist survivors who have been abused since they were children to heal and grow.