Cyber Sex Trafficking

Human trafficking and slavery may seem like a relic from a bygone era, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Slavery auctions, where humans are sold off to the highest bidder, are still happening today. Although slavery is now illegal in every country around the world, there are more slaves today than there were over the hundreds of years of slave trafficking that took place between the 16th and 19th century.

“To dismiss “slavery” as being merely reminiscent of an era remote from contemporary life in the United Kingdom is wrong. In the modern world exploitation can and does take place.”

Human trafficking and slavery is a global pandemic, affecting millions of vulnerable individuals. We’re only just beginning to grasp the scale of modern slavery- and our efforts to combat it are barely making a dent on the problem.

Trafficking is a recognised by the international community as a serious crime and a flagrant violation of human rights. Trafficking violates victims’ integrity and dignity and results in a reduction in opportunities, quality of life, health, freedom, and autonomy.

Definition of human trafficking. ‘The essence of human trafficking is the acquisition of control over people by improper means such as force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them.’

British counter‐trafficking legislation draws upon the definition in the United Nations’ (UN) (2000) Palermo Protocol. This defines human trafficking as:

‘The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.
Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal, manipulation or implantation of organs.’

This definition involves 3 aspects:

1. Act: The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons
2. Means: threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits (- where children are involved, this is irrelevant because children cannot legally consent).
3. Purpose: for exploitation; ‘trafficked persons are victims of coercion, threat and extortion, false imprisonment, forced prostitution, domestic violence, rape or sexual assaults, and in some cases manslaughter or murder.’7

Sex trafficking is officially defined as: a “modern-day form of slavery in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act is under the age of 18 years.”US Dept. of State 2012
It involves relationships of power, specifically, the abusive relationship of power, in which one person has ‘power over’ another individual, controlling their behaviour and actions.

The United Kingdom’s Policing and Crime Act of 2009 made it illegal to purchase sex from someone who has been forced into prostitution, and allows men to be prosecuted for soliciting a prostituted person the first time that they are apprehended.

Trafficking doesn’t necessarily have to involve transporting victims across borders. Trafficking is both a global and a domestic crime, with victims trafficked within their own country, to neighbouring countries and between continents. Trafficking does not require transportation or the crossing of international borders; women and children are victimized by trafficking in their own countries and abroad. In fact, the majority of victims are trafficked within their own country.

‘… despite increased academic and policy interest in trafficking, the discourse has focused overwhelmingly on international trafficking, neglecting the ‘unique characteristics and challenges’ of internal, or domestic, trafficking.’

‘Pimps pride themselves on tricking their victims into selling their bodies for money and thinking that they have freely chosen to do it. The reality is quite different.’

The concept of ‘consent’ is important: ‘Victims of trafficking often consent to illegal entrance into a country or agree to work. This consent is often obtained through deception or fraud. Even when victims agree to work in prostitution, they do not consent to the inhumane conditions to which they are forced to work and live. The U. N. Trafficking Protocol makes it clear that consent is negated under these conditions. Furthermore, in the case of children under the age of 18, deception and fraud are not necessary preconditions.’

Trafficking is inherently related to slavery.‘Whilst the term trafficking is commonly used, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime ((UNODC) 2009) argues that the term ‘trafficking’ is misleading due to the focus it places on the transaction rather than the human aspects of the crime arguing that ‘enslavement’ is more accurate. As such, human trafficking exploration and reporting falls under the umbrella of ‘Modern Slavery’- a term more commonly used in the UK and relating to specific legal situations relating to forced labour, debt bondage, forced marriage, slavery, slavery-like practices and human trafficking.

Types of Sex Trafficking

The face of human trafficking is constantly changing as traffickers find the most profitable and effective means of exploitation. Often, traffickers will exploit victims in multiple different ways. Reasons for human trafficking include: labour exploitation; domestic servitude; forced criminality: child soldiers: organ harvesting; and sexual exploitation.

‘Forced prostitution represents the greatest percentage of the human trafficking as sexual exploitation population, with a majority of victims being women from Europe, Central Asia, and North and South America.’’

Forms of trafficking for sexual exploitation include:
Commercial sexual exploitation: where women and children are trafficked into prostitution (including through brothels and escort agencies), pornography and every part of the sex industry. They may be trafficked by a pimp, a partner, a family member or by a gang or criminal group.

Forced Marriage: where women and girls are forced into marriage without their consent. They are denied the option to refuse or are promised and married to another by their parents, guardians, relatives or other people and groups.’ Forced marriages often involves domestic abuse and sexual abuse or exploitation.

‘Mail-Order Brides’: this involves poor women and girls being chosen from a ‘catalogue’ and ordered by a man in a more affluent country to become a ‘wife.’ Often, the women are trafficked illegally, stripped of rights and subject to domestic violence, abuse and servitude. In addition to abuse in the home, sometimes the women are forced into prostitution.
Cyber Sex Trafficking (CSE): this is the live-streaming sexual exploitation of children viewed over the internet. Unlike abuse that occurs bars or brothels with a permanent address, cybersex trafficking victims can be moved to and abused in any location with an internet connection and a webcam, or just a mobile phone.
Child (Sexual) Exploitation: British children in particular are trafficked by organised groups who groom them, ply them with gifts, alcohol and drugs and then force them into prostitution.