ABSTRACT:

“Drug smuggling may top the list of the world’s most profitable and headline-grabbing illegal activities, but second to that —in a close tie with the illegal arms trade — is human trafficking, the recruitment or coercion of people who are held captive as laborers in everything from the sex industry to domestic servitude. More than 12 million people worldwide are currently victims, according to the United Nations’ International Labor Organization. The $9 billion industry is the 21st century’s fastest-growing criminal enterprise. And some of it takes place right here in our own backyard, an audience attending a May 29 conference at Covel Commons on human trafficking found out. In fact, according to experts who provide victims with shelter and other services, human trafficking is on the rise because of the economic downturn.”