We marked the passing of the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation last Saturday, and the Freedom Network will continue to release human trafficking related factsheets describing issues that are relevant to modern-day slavery in the United States.

Today’s factsheet is centered around children who are trafficked for labor right here in the US. Below is an excerpt:

How are children trafficked for their labor?

Child survivors can be found in many forms of trafficking. The profile of trafficked children is diverse. At present, female child survivors of sex trafficking represent the most visible group of trafficking survivors, meaning that trafficked boys as well as LGBT youth continue to remain an overlooked and under-resourced population. In our experience, many undocumented children are subject to debt bondage and peonage and forced to work to pay off smuggling debts levied by smugglers (such as coyotes and snakeheads), but are not identified as child labor trafficking survivors and are merely identified as smuggled children.

 

It is important to remember that child sex trafficking and child labor trafficking cases often intersect. Many child survivors of labor trafficking experience sexual assault, abusive sexual contact, or even rape by their traffickers.Children trafficked into commercial sex industries may also be forced to perform other types of labor and services, such as selling drugs and domestic work.

 

Click here to read the factsheet, “Chid Trafficking for Labor in the United States”