Human trafficking is the action or practice of illegally transporting people from one country or area to another, typically for the purposes of forced labor or sexual exploitation.
The legal definition under Colorado law puts trafficking victims in the U.S. into three populations:
- Minors induced into commercial sex
- Adults aged 18 and over involved in commercial sex via force, fraud or coercion
- Children or adults forced to perform labor and/or services in conditions of involuntary servitude, peonage, dept bondage, or slavery, via force, fraud or coercion.
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Some examples of sex trafficking include:
- Residential underground brothel settings
- Escort services
- Intimate partner trafficking
- Mail order “brides” or “grooms”
Human trafficking exists in Colorado
- In 2019, Colorado had 588 contacts with possible trafficking victims of survivors
- In 2019, Colorado reported 176 cases of human trafficking, 127 were sex trafficking and 140 were women, 36 were men
Red flags of trafficking include:
- Weather-inapproriate clothing
- Branding
- Isolation
- No identification
- New clothing/phone/jewelry
- Changed behavior