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What do you think of when you hear the words “human trafficking?” Do you envision international locations, underground trades, individuals without citizenship, a person physically confined to a space, or a person being abducted off the street? These are all stereotypes of human trafficking. They do not paint a complete or fully accurate portrayal of human trafficking in the United States. In order to understand human trafficking, we must take a step back to discuss and understand the totality of factors that are a part of the human trafficking experience.
By Maya Simek and Summer Husein
Federal Law: Human Trafficking
Human Trafficking specific laws have a fairly recent history, with the first federal comprehensive trafficking law, The Traf- ficking Victims’ Protection Act (TVPA), being enacted in 2000. TVPA defines the elements of sex and labor trafficking. Broadly speaking, the TVPA finds that human trafficking is the use of force, fraud, or coercion to compel a person into sexual acts or acts of labor against their will.
AMP Model
The TVPA utilizes the Action-Means-Purpose Model or AMP Model. The Model breaks apart the elements of human trafficking into three parts, all three of which must be fulfilled in order to have the presence of human trafficking. The first two steps–action and means– describe specific actions taken and the ways in which those actions are fulfilled. Actions contemplated when evaluating whether human trafficking was present include an analysis of whether they completed one of the following: induce, recruit, harbor, transport, provide, or obtain. The next consideration, the means, seeks to understand whether the
action completed involved force, fraud, or coercion. The means portion of the AMP model explains tactics traffickers use to exert control over their target whether psychologically or phys- ically. Force can include physical restraint, physical harm, or sexual assault to compel their targets into forced labor. Fraud can include false promises regarding employment, wages, working conditions, love, marriage, or a better life. Coercion can include threats of serious physical harm, document confis- cation, and shame/fear induced threats. The final element, the purpose, evaluates whether the actions taken were completed with the intention of having someone engage in an act of commercial sex or labor trafficking. When all three elements are present, human trafficking is found.
LaborTrafficking
Overall there is less time and awareness around labor traf- ficking. Labor trafficking is more difficult to identify than sex trafficking because victims are engaged in acts that appear to be commonplace, as they appear that an individual is engaged in a standard act of employment.
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