From Wikipedia:
Sex trafficking is
human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. It has been called a form of
modern slavery because of the way victims are forced into sexual acts non-consensually, in a form of
sexual slavery.
[1] Perpetrators of the crime are called
sex traffickers or
pimps—people who manipulate victims to engage in various forms of commercial sex with paying customers. Sex traffickers use force, fraud, and coercion as they recruit, transport, and provide their victims as prostitutes.
[2] Sometimes victims are brought into a situation of dependency on their trafficker(s), financially or emotionally.
[3] Every aspect of sex trafficking is considered a crime, from acquisition to transportation and exploitation of victims.
[1] This includes any sexual exploitation of adults or minors, including
child sex tourism (CST) and domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST).
[3]
In 2012, the
International Labour Organization (ILO) reported 20.9 million people were subjected to forced labor, and 22% (4.5 million) were victims of forced sexual exploitation, 300,000 of them in Developed Economies and the EU.
[4] The ILO reported in 2016 that of the estimated 25 million persons in forced labor, 5 million were victims of sexual exploitation.
[5][6] However, due to the covertness of sex trafficking, obtaining accurate, reliable statistics poses a challenge for researchers.
[7] The global commercial profits for sexual slavery are estimated to be $99 billion, according to ILO.
[8] In 2005, the figure was given as $9 billion for the total human trafficking.
[9][10]
Sex trafficking typically occurs in situations from which escape is both difficult and dangerous. Networks of traffickers exist in every country. Therefore, victims are often trafficked across state and country lines which causes jurisdictional concerns and make cases difficult to prosecute.
