The twenty-first century is witnessing a new kind of modern-day slavery and bondage. This is called human trafficking. It has become a big business for the many individuals involved in this criminal act. Human trafficking, also called trafficking in persons, is one of the greatest human rights challenges of our time. The practice is present across the globe in different dimensions, such that some countries are used as sources, some as transit, and some as destinations. Trafficked victims are procured, transported, and enslaved in forced labor or used for sexual exploitation.
Traffickers manipulate the aspirations of those living in poverty and those seeking better lives. They promise trafficked victims a better life, good jobs, better wages, and a high standard of living, using deceit to sell men, women, and children into situations of forced labor and sexual slavery, giving them neither security nor protection.