Human trafficking is a crime. It is the third largest criminal activity worldwide, after arms and drugs. It is an increasing global scourge affecting all sectors in society Approximately 2.5 million people are trafficked every year (ILO, 2005). They are recruited or transferred through some form of coercion or deception and exploited, mainly for forced labour or sexual exploitation. Women and children are the primary targets but men are also trafficked. Each country is affected either as a source, transit or destination or combination of thereof.

The UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime defines human trafficking as:

"The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs."

This definition is structured around three major elements: transport, means and exploitation.
While we use this definition as the basis of our work, we look at trafficking in a broader context - acknowledging that trafficking can occur on a small scale without organized criminal involvement and that women, children and men can be trafficked within as well as between countries.