Human Trafficking
According to the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children, human trafficking is defined as the recruitment, transfer, transportation, harboring, or receipt of persons using violence, threat, deception, kidnapping, force, abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability, or other forms of coercion, in order to subject them to exploitation and to profit from their activity.
General information about human trafficking
Is human trafficking a crime?
Section 159 classifies the forms of labor trafficking as a crime, with a prison term of 20 years. When the person committing this act is a parent, person in charge, or legal guardian of the minor or disabled victim, the penalty will be a term of imprisonment for a fixed term of 25 years.
Section 160 classifies sexual exploitation as a crime, with a prison term of 40 years. When the person committing this act is a parent, person in charge, or legal guardian of the minor or disabled victim, the penalty will be a term of imprisonment for a fixed term of 50 years. In addition, the minor victim will be immediately removed from their custody or care.
What does the exploitation of a person refer to?
It means that a person obtains any kind of benefit from another person, their work or their qualities, in an unfair or undue manner.
What does labor trafficking mean under the crime of human trafficking?
- forced labor
- involuntary servitude (for example, working in inhumane conditions without pay)
- debt bondage (for example, providing personal services to pay off a pending debt)
- mendacity (for example, the obligation to ask for money on the streets)
- servile marriage (forced or in exchange for some financial benefit)
- adoption by duress or coercion
- slavery
- the extraction of organs
What are some of the activities that include sexual exploitation under the crime of human trafficking?
- pornography
- prostitution
- servile marriage
- erotic dances
- forced pregnancies
Does only the trafficker commit the crime of human trafficking?
No. In addition to the trafficker (the person who carries out the illegal business), any person who participates in or enables the commission of this crime and any person who benefits from this illegal business also incurs the crime of human trafficking.
Who can be a victim of human trafficking?
Anyone of any age and sex, whether an adult or a minor, can be a victim of human trafficking.
What questions can you ask to identify a human trafficking situation?
- Is the person free to leave their residence?
- Is the person free to leave their workplace?
- Can the person move around freely? Do they have freedom of movement?
- Has the person been physically, sexually, or psychologically abused?
- Does the person have a valid passport or identity document and is it in their possession?
- Are the employment conditions and wages abusive? Are they different from what was initially agreed?
- Does the person fear that something bad will happen to someone in their family if they leave?
- Is there little communication with neighbors?
- Are there minors accompanied by adults in places that are not suitable for them?
If the answers to several of these questions are yes, you could be faced with a potential victim of human trafficking.
What can I do if I suspect that a person is the victim of human trafficking?
If you suspect that a person is the victim of human trafficking, you should immediately call the 9-1-1 Emergency System to file the corresponding complaint. If you suspect that a minor is the victim of human trafficking, immediately call the Department of the Family Abuse Hotline at (787) 749-1333 and make the appropriate referral.
Reviewed: November 2024