There are 25 types of human trafficking (modern slavery) currently taking place in the U.S., according to the Polaris Project, a nonprofit organization working to end human trafficking.

“The Typology of Modern Slavery: Defining Sex and Labor Trafficking in the United States,” Polaris’ latest report, expands the generalization of trafficking into either labor or sex trafficking by focusing on specific industries in which trafficking occurs.

“To eradicate human trafficking networks and help survivors, we must be able to identify and disrupt the manifestations of trafficking in our communities. Each type has unique strategies for recruiting and controlling victims, and concealing the crime,” the report says.

The report offers a description of the 25 forms of trafficking, along with profiles of traffickers and victims, recruitment tactics and methods of victim control for each.

Escort services, illicit massage, health and beauty, pornography, restaurants and food service, construction, bars, strip clubs and cantinas, and personal sexual servitude are among the 25 industries in which trafficking occurs.

“With this greater understanding, we can begin to develop strategic campaigns to spur systematic action, unite disparate efforts, allocate limited resources and facilitate effective interventions to combat the crime,” the report states. “We can close policy loopholes and adopt safeguards that make it more difficult for bad actors to abuse vulnerable and at-risk populations.”

The full report is available here.

Editor’s note: A series of articles that appeared on EthicsDaily.com for Human Trafficking Awareness and Prevention Month (January) is available here.

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