While the scourge of human trafficking has received increased media attention in recent years, it is still widely misunderstood. The portrayals we often see conflate sex work with human trafficking and forget that people are also trafficked for forced labor, forced engagement in armed conflict, and other exploitative purposes. Beyond that, there are many misconceptions about who, how, and where human trafficking can occur, including the myths debunked below:
❌ Human trafficking requires a person to cross a country’s border.
✔️ Trafficking, or exploitation, is different from smuggling, which is transporting someone in violation of U.S. law. An initial agreement of smuggling that evolves into trafficking, does not negate one’s status as a trafficking victim and ability to seek remedies
❌ Human trafficking is typically a physically violent crime.
✔️ Traffickers often trick, defraud, threaten, or use other psychological means.
❌ Human trafficking only happens in illegal or underground industries.
✔️ Trafficking can happen in almost any industry, including hotels, restaurants, nail salons, construction, agriculture, factories, and more.
Anyone can experience human trafficking. Often, the same vulnerable populations Heartland Alliance is committed to supporting and empowering are susceptible to trafficking, including women, men, children, and migrants experiencing displacement, poverty, violence, or persecution. Many traffickers prey on people’s vulnerabilities by creating a false sense of security and love for their victims, which is why it can be so difficult to detect until it’s too late. Understanding the signs of human trafficking and raising awareness of the issue are the only way that we will be able to stop it.
“When we have a clearer picture of human trafficking as a community, we are better able to prevent, identify, and respond to situations of exploitation. It doesn’t take one program, it takes all of us,” said Summar Ghias, program manager with Heartland Alliance’s Freedom from Trafficking (FFT) team.
This Human Trafficking Awareness Month, Summar and the FFT team are combatting misinformation with their recently published toolkit. FFT’s new tool kit helps the general public better understand human trafficking – and therefore, know what to look for, how to support folks who may be exploited, and how to foster a world free of human trafficking.
To view Freedom from Trafficking’s new toolkit, click here.
We all thrive when we live in a world free of exploitation and trafficking, and the best means for protecting ourselves and our communities from that exploitation is through honesty, justice, and equity. We encourage you to review FFT’s new toolkit, and learn for yourself the differences between the common stereotypes of human trafficking and its reality. Together, through transparency and action, we can live in a world without trafficking.
