Resource Library

"Nothing happens just because we are aware of modern slavery,
but nothing will ever happen until we are."

Gary Haugen, International Justice Mission
Sex Trafficking 101

276,654 reports have been made to the Human Trafficking Hotline since 2007.

If you believe you are a victim of human trafficking or may have information about a potential trafficking situation, please contact the Human Trafficking Hotline:
1-888-373-7888

Traffickers lure their targets through promises of protection, love, adventure, home, and opportunity.

Vulnerable Populations

The trajectories of girls and women in the Life are often marked by many on-ramps into exploitation—poverty, violence, discrimination and system failure—and few exit ramps.

Of the nearly 26,500 runaways reported to NCMEC in 2020, 1 in 6 were likely victims of child sex trafficking.

Homeless LGBTQ youth are 7.4x more likely to experience acts of sexual violence than their heterosexual peers.

Grooming and Online Exploitation

In 2019, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children reviewed 70 million child sexual abuse files, compared to 450,000 in 2004.

Grooming is a predatory process traffickers uses to gain a person's trust with the intent to exploit them:

1) Target
2) Gain Trust
3) Fill a Need
4) Isolate
5) Sexualize
6) Control

Internet platforms we use every day to connect with each other and share information, including social media, online gaming, and e-mail, are now being used to disseminate and collect child sexual abuse material.

Human Trafficking Across the Globe

Human trafficking thrives in situations where the rule of law is weak and people lack opportunities. Humanitarian crises and conflict create an environment in which traffickers easily prey upon the vulnerable.

Children make up 30% of those who are trafficked for labor or sex around the world.

Although found in every country and every region, trafficking in persons remains a hidden crime, with perpetrators operating in the dark corners of the internet and the underbelly of the global economy.