Glossary of Terms

A – D

Alien Tort Statute (ATS)

A US federal statute (28 U.S.C. § 1350) that grants federal courts jurisdiction over civil actions filed by non-US citizens for torts committed in violation of international law. Has been used in trafficking and forced labor cases against corporations.

Bacha Bazi

A practice in Afghanistan and parts of Central Asia in which boys are sexually exploited by older men, often through dancing and forced sexual acts. Despite being illegal under Afghan law, enforcement has been minimal, and the practice has been documented among military commanders and powerful figures.

Bonded Labor (Debt Bondage)

A form of forced labor in which a person is compelled to work to pay off a debt, where the terms of the debt or the value of the work are manipulated so that the debt can never realistically be repaid. Recognized under the Palermo Protocol and ILO Forced Labour Convention as a form of modern slavery. Widespread in South Asia (brick kilns, agriculture) and in migrant labor recruitment globally.

Child Labor

Work that deprives children of their childhood, potential, and dignity and is harmful to their physical and mental development. Defined by the ILO as work performed by children under the minimum working age (typically 15) or hazardous work performed by anyone under 18. Not all child labor constitutes trafficking, but child labor in hazardous conditions or involving exploitation may meet the trafficking definition.

Commercial Sexual Exploitation

Sexual exploitation for which a third party receives payment or other benefit. Includes prostitution, pornography, stripping, and any commercial sex act obtained through force, fraud, or coercion. When involving a minor, no force, fraud, or coercion needs to be demonstrated under US law; any commercial sex act involving a person under 18 constitutes trafficking.

CSAM (Child Sexual Abuse Material)

The preferred term (replacing “child pornography”) for any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a minor. The term “child pornography” is avoided because it implies the child’s participation was consensual. Includes photographs, videos, digital images, and, increasingly, AI-generated content. Possession, production, and distribution are federal crimes in the United States (18 U.S.C. §§ 2251–2260).

Cyber Scam Compound

A facility, typically in Southeast Asia (Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Philippines), where trafficking victims are held and forced to conduct online fraud operations including romance scams, cryptocurrency fraud, and “pig butchering” schemes. Victims are recruited through fake job advertisements and held through violence, debt bondage, and confiscation of identity documents.

Debt Bondage

See Bonded Labor.

Demand Side

The buyers and consumers who create the market for trafficked labor and sex. Demand-side approaches to anti-trafficking focus on criminalizing buyers (as in the Nordic model for sex trafficking) and holding corporations accountable for supply chain exploitation.

Domestic Servitude

A form of forced labor in which a person is compelled to work in a private household under conditions of exploitation. Domestic workers are particularly vulnerable to trafficking because they work in isolation, often without labor law protections, and may be dependent on their employer for housing, immigration status, and sustenance.

E – H

Exploitation

The act of utilizing another person for profit or advantage through coercion, deception, or abuse of power. Under the Palermo Protocol, exploitation includes at a minimum: the exploitation of prostitution, other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude, or the removal of organs.

FOSTA-SESTA

The Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) and Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA), signed into law in 2018. Amended Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to hold online platforms liable for facilitating sex trafficking. Led to the shutdown of Backpage.com and Craigslist personals. Criticized by some sex worker advocacy groups for pushing sex work underground.

Force, Fraud, or Coercion

The three elements that define trafficking under US law (TVPA). Force includes physical violence, restraint, or threats. Fraud includes false promises about job conditions, wages, or immigration status. Coercion includes threats of harm, legal repercussions, or abuse of the legal process. For minors in sex trafficking, none of these elements need be present; any commercial sex act involving a person under 18 is trafficking.

Forced Labor

All work or service exacted from any person under the threat of penalty and for which the person has not offered himself or herself voluntarily (ILO Forced Labour Convention, 1930). Includes bonded labor, domestic servitude, and state-imposed forced labor. The ILO estimates 27.6 million people are in forced labor globally (2022).

Forced Marriage

A marriage in which one or both parties have not given free and full consent. May involve physical force, threats, emotional manipulation, deception, or the exploitation of family pressures. The ILO estimates 22 million people are in forced marriages globally (2022). Disproportionately affects women and girls.

Human Smuggling

The facilitation of illegal border crossing for payment. Distinguished from human trafficking in that smuggling involves consent (at least initially), ends upon arrival at the destination, and is primarily a crime against the state. However, the line between smuggling and trafficking frequently blurs when smuggled persons become subjected to exploitation, debt bondage, or violence during transit.

Human Trafficking

The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons by means of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation (Palermo Protocol, 2000). Under US law (TVPA), trafficking does not require movement across borders; a person can be trafficked within their own community. The three elements are: (1) act (recruitment, harboring, transport, etc.); (2) means (force, fraud, coercion); (3) purpose (exploitation). For child sex trafficking, only elements (1) and (3) are required.

I – L

Illicit Massage Business (IMB)

A massage parlor operating as a front for commercial sex, often involving trafficked women. The DOJ estimates over 9,000 IMBs operate in the United States. Many involve transnational organized crime networks that recruit, transport, and rotate women between locations under conditions of debt bondage.

Indentured Servitude

A labor system in which a person works for a set period to pay off a contract or debt. Historically used in colonial America and British colonies. While technically voluntary and time-limited (unlike slavery), abuses were widespread. Modern analogs include visa-tied labor arrangements and recruitment fee debt bondage.

Kafala System

A sponsorship system used in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and parts of the Middle East that ties a migrant worker’s legal status to their employer (the kafeel/sponsor). The sponsor controls the worker’s ability to change jobs, leave the country, or renew their visa, creating conditions ripe for exploitation. Reforms have been announced in several countries but implementation remains inconsistent.

Labor Trafficking

The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery (TVPA definition). Sectors with high risk include agriculture, fishing, construction, manufacturing, mining, hospitality, and domestic work.

Loverboy Method

A recruitment tactic in which a trafficker poses as a romantic partner to gain a victim’s trust before manipulating them into commercial sexual exploitation. Particularly prevalent in recruiting young women and girls in Europe (especially from Romania, Bulgaria, and Nigeria) and in domestic minor sex trafficking in the United States.

M – P

Modern Slavery

An umbrella term encompassing forced labor, debt bondage, forced marriage, human trafficking, slavery-like practices, and the sale and exploitation of children. Used by the Walk Free Foundation, ILO, and UK Modern Slavery Act. The ILO estimates 49.6 million people are in modern slavery globally (2022).

Nordic Model

A legislative approach to prostitution that criminalizes the buying of sex while decriminalizing the selling of sex. Originated in Sweden (1999) and adopted by Norway, Iceland, France, Ireland, and others. Based on the principle that demand drives sex trafficking, so reducing demand through buyer criminalization reduces trafficking.

NRM (National Referral Mechanism)

A framework for identifying and referring potential victims of trafficking to appropriate services. The UK’s NRM, established in 2009, is a widely referenced model. It provides a formal process for government agencies and NGOs to identify, assess, and support trafficking victims.

Palermo Protocol

The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (2000). Provides the first internationally agreed-upon definition of human trafficking. Ratified by 178 parties as of 2024. The foundational document of modern anti-trafficking international law.

Peonage

A system of involuntary servitude based on indebtedness, criminalized under US law (18 U.S.C. § 1581). Historically associated with post-Civil War labor exploitation in the American South, where freed slaves and poor whites were trapped in cycles of debt to landowners.

Pig Butchering

A type of online investment fraud in which scammers build trust with victims over weeks or months (the “fattening” phase) before persuading them to invest in fake cryptocurrency or trading platforms (the “slaughter”). Many pig butchering operations are run from cyber scam compounds using trafficked laborers forced to conduct the fraud.

Q – T

Safe Harbor Law

State-level legislation in the United States that protects minor victims of sex trafficking from prosecution for prostitution-related offenses. Based on the principle that minors cannot consent to commercial sex and should be treated as victims rather than offenders. As of 2024, most US states have enacted some form of safe harbor provision.

Sex Trafficking

A form of human trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act is under 18 years of age (TVPA definition). Includes prostitution, pornography, stripping, and any other commercial sex act.

Sextortion

A form of exploitation in which a perpetrator threatens to distribute intimate images or information unless the victim provides additional sexual content, sexual acts, or money. Financially motivated sextortion targeting minors (predominantly teenage boys) has surged since 2022, with networks operating primarily from West Africa.

Supply Chain Slavery

Forced labor and exploitation embedded in the global supply chains of legitimate businesses. Key sectors include cobalt mining (DRC), cocoa production (West Africa), garment manufacturing (South and Southeast Asia), palm oil (Indonesia, Malaysia), seafood (Thailand, Southeast Asia), and electronics assembly.

T Visa

A nonimmigrant visa created by the TVPA that allows victims of human trafficking to remain in the United States for up to four years if they comply with reasonable requests for assistance in the investigation or prosecution of their traffickers. T visa holders may apply for permanent residency after three years.

TIP Report

The Trafficking in Persons Report, published annually by the US State Department pursuant to the TVPA. Evaluates the anti-trafficking efforts of 188 countries and assigns tier rankings (Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 2 Watch List, Tier 3). See TIP Report Rankings.

TVPA (Trafficking Victims Protection Act)

The foundational US federal law on human trafficking, enacted in 2000 and reauthorized multiple times (2003, 2005, 2008, 2013, 2018). Establishes the federal crime of human trafficking, creates victim protections (including the T visa), mandates the annual TIP Report, and authorizes anti-trafficking programs. Codified at 22 U.S.C. §§ 7101–7114.

U – Z

UFLPA (Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act)

US federal law enacted in 2021 that creates a rebuttable presumption that goods produced in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China are made with forced labor and are therefore banned from import. Places the burden on importers to prove their goods are free of forced labor before CBP will release them.

Victim Identification

The process by which law enforcement, service providers, or other parties recognize that a person has been trafficked. A critical challenge in anti-trafficking work, as many victims do not self-identify due to fear, trauma, language barriers, distrust of authorities, or failure to recognize their situation as trafficking.

Withhold Release Order (WRO)

An order issued by US Customs and Border Protection directing port personnel to detain imported goods suspected of being produced with forced labor, pursuant to 19 U.S.C. § 1307. The importer must either prove the goods are not tainted by forced labor or export them. WROs have been issued against goods from Xinjiang, Malaysia, and other regions.