The Human Trafficking Legal Center (HTLC) has published a fact sheet outlining the many links between domestic violence and human trafficking. They note that labor and sex traffickers are often “the husband, boyfriend, or romantic partner of the victim.” Or, the relationship may be a “fraud” the trafficker used to lure the victim into servitude. These real or fake intimate partners may use violence and other forms of force or coercion, including leveraging a mother’s relationship with her children, to exploit women and girls for sex or labor. HTLC provides several examples of how the two crimes intersect, stating that “[u]nderstanding the connections between human trafficking and domestic violence is key to identifying appropriate criminal, civil, and immigration remedies.”
The full fact sheet is available from the HTLC website.
Compiled from: Human Trafficking and Domestic Violence Fact Sheet, Human Trafficking Legal Center (2018).