Legal Definitions of Trafficking in Persons

Trafficking in persons is broadly defined as modern-day slavery, but different countries and laws provide variations on the exact definition. Listed below are two of the most commonly used and influential definitions. Note that the U.N. definition is broader than the U.S. definition, as it includes organ trafficking and an expanded list of 'means', such as abuse of a position of vulnerability. Both definitions do not require sex trafficking of children to include any force or coercion, recognizing that children cannot meaningfully consent to sexual exploitation. They are also both inclusive of transnational and internal trafficking in persons.

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United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, Supplemental Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children

'“Trafficking in persons” shall mean 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;

The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose
of exploitation shall be considered “trafficking in persons” even if this does not involve any of the means set forth in subparagraph (a) [see above] of this article;'

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Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000, [United States federal law; the definition below is of 'severe forms of trafficking in persons', for which there are criminal penalties in the United States]

1) Sex 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, or

2) The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion, for the purpose of subjecting that person to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.