By  Talia A. Dunyak 

Over the past several decades, travel and tourism have become both more accessible and cheaper for people. Until the Covid-19 pandemic, tourism was projected to continue growing rapidly in popularity, with estimates that by 2030 more than 1.8 billion people would travel internationally every year. 2 The increase in international and domestic travel and tourism brings benefits such as expanded cultural understanding, economic growth, and preservation of local monuments and traditions. However, despite the benefits of tourism, there is a dark side to the industry: human trafficking. This report seeks to map out the intersections between human trafficking and tourism and focuses primarily on sex trafficking and labor trafficking’s presence within the tourism sector. The discussion of sex trafficking will include sex tourism, child sex tourism, and the use of hotels in the sex trade. The discussion of labor exploitation will include child labor and beggars, hospitality staff, construction staff, and labor trafficking in the supply chain. The report will also touch on how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected and changed modern slavery in the tourism industry. The report will conclude with mapping the current interventions and recommendations for combatting instances of human trafficking within the tourism industry. 

Human Trafficking Search,  2021 28p.

By  Kelle Barrick, Rebecca Pfeffer, Stephen Tueller, Michael Bradshaw, Natasha Aranguren, Kyle Vincent

To advance knowledge about promising methods for estimating the prevalence of human trafficking in the United States, the Administration for Children and Families’ Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) and the Office on Trafficking in Persons (OTIP) funded a study, conducted by RTI International, to field test two methods of prevalence estimation within one industry in one geographic location in the United States.  

This study, conducted between 2020 and 2024, measured the prevalence of labor trafficking within the construction industry in Houston, Texas, using both time-location sampling (TLS) and link-tracing sampling (LTS). TLS involves developing a sampling frame of venues, days, and times where the population of focus congregates and using a random selection procedure (e.g., every fifth person) to select a representative sample of the population. LTS is a network sampling approach that relies on study participants to recruit their peers to participate in the study. 

  Central to decisions among policymakers, funders, and researchers concerned with addressing human trafficking is the question of the size of the problem. Understandably, these groups seek evidence about the prevalence of human trafficking to guide choices around policies and interventions to prevent and address human trafficking in communities. Several empirical efforts have been established in recent years in response to this quandary, including a series of seven studies included in the Prevalence Reduction Innovation Forum (PRIF) initiative (Center on Human Trafficking Research & Outreach, n.d.), which aims to build evidence about methodologies to estimate the prevalence of human trafficking by testing various estimation methods in various industries in six other countries. In each of these seven studies, two estimation strategies are used to estimate the prevalence of human trafficking among a certain population in a certain area. This dual estimation approach offers insight about both (1) the logistics and feasibility of carrying out each estimation strategy and (2) how the prevalence estimates that they generate compare to one another. The current study was designed as a domestic counterpart to the seven international PRIF studies. Following a comprehensive review of prior human trafficking prevalence studies (see Barrick & Pfeffer, 2021) and a consideration of factors such as industries of identified interest and feasibility of estimation strategies, we chose to focus this study on the prevalence of labor trafficking within the construction industry in Houston, Texas, using both time-location sampling (TLS) and link-tracing sampling (LTS). TLS involves developing a sampling frame of venues, days, and times where the population of focus congregates and using a random selection procedure (e.g., every fifth person) to select a representative sample of the population. LTS is a network sampling approach that relies on study participants to recruit their peers to participate in the study. The objectives of the study were to advance knowledge of promising methods for estimating human trafficking prevalence and to better understand substantive issues around the experiences of construction workers with labor trafficking and other labor exploitation.

Study Findings The LTS sample did not yield a high response rate, and we only include high-level findings from this sample in this report . Even with financial incentive, workers were hesitant to refer their peers to participate in this study, and relatively few referral chains developed. Given the limited number of chains available for analysis and the potential for misleading findings, LTS sample findings are only presented to highlight differences in prevalence estimation strategies. More than one in five construction workers had experienced labor trafficking victimization in their lifetime . Among the TLS sample (n = 903), 22.3% had experienced labor trafficking in construction in their lifetime, 13.2% had experienced labor trafficking within the past 2 years, and 4.2% had experienced or were experiencing labor trafficking in their current job. An additional 42% of construction workers reported experiencing other labor abuses that did not meet the threshold of labor trafficking . Just over one third (35%) of workers had never experienced any labor trafficking or exploitation in the construction industry. Although individual characteristics were assessed as potential risk and protective factors, no significant differences emerged . Given the limited extant research focusing on risk and protective factors for experiencing labor trafficking or other labor abuse in construction, additional work is needed to substantiate the lack of significant findings regarding individual characteristics. Construction work related to natural disaster recovery and reconstruction is associated with a higher prevalence of labor trafficking and other forms of labor abuse . Construction workers who had worked in natural disaster recovery and reconstruction settings were significantly more likely than those who had not to have experienced labor trafficking or other labor abuse. Conclusions and Implications Labor trafficking and other labor abuse in the construction industry are common. About two-thirds of Houston construction workers experienced at least one form of exploitative or abusive labor practice. The types of abuse most frequently experienced by construction workers include working without a contract, deception about working and living conditions, working long and unusual hours without adequate compensation, and paying recruitment fees to get a job. However, nontrivial percentages of construction workers were subjected to more serious forms of abuse, including having their pay withheld, deception about the work they would be doing, and being subjected to emotional or psychological abuse. These findings have implications for policymakers, law enforcement, Departments of Labor and other regulatory agencies, construction unions, workers’ advocacy groups, and anyone concerned about workplace exploitation in the construction industry. Related to prevalence estimation methodologies, we confirmed that data collection and prevalence estimation strategies matter. Although both TLS and LTS are promising approaches for identifying and recruiting construction workers, only TLS proved to be effective in reaching the population. All prevalence estimation research should clearly highlight challenges that occurred during data collection that may impact the validity of the findings and exercise caution in reporting potentially misleading estimates.    

Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 2024. 51p.

By Asha Hemrajani

Young people are being trafficked to work in cyber scam centres in ASEAN countries such as Myanmar, Laos, the Philippines, and Cambodia. These centres bring significant revenues to operators but harm ASEAN’s reputation and risk the growth of ASEAN economies. Collaboration between law enforcement agencies, nongovernmental organisations, and intergovernmental organisations must be stepped up to mitigate the risks.

S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, NTU Singapore, 2025. 4p.

By Wilder Research

In the decade since Safe Harbor became Minnesota law, the state has built an extensive network in response to the sexual exploitation of youth, and more recently human trafficking, both sex and labor. The network spans from state and local government to Tribal Nations and community-based nonprofit programs. Founded on a public health approach within the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) in recognition of the significant health and social impacts created by exploitation and trafficking on populations, Safe Harbor also partners extensively with entities in public safety, human services, and human rights, including the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS), the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) and the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault (MNCASA) to offer a comprehensive multidisciplinary response. State law requires the Safe Harbor Director, based in MDH, to submit a biennial evaluation of the program to the Commissioner of Health under Minnesota Statute Section 145.4718. The purpose of the evaluation is to ensure Safe Harbor is reaching its intended participants, increasing identification of sexually exploited youth, coordinating across disciplines including law enforcement and child welfare, providing access to services, including housing, ensuring the quality of services, and utilizing penalty funds to support services. The Safe Harbor law passed in 2011 and after a three-year planning period called No Wrong Door, the Safe Harbor system was fully enacted in 2014. In the years since, Safe Harbor has submitted three evaluation reports to the legislature, beginning in 2015. Each evaluation was conducted by Wilder Research at the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation (Wilder) under a competitive contract with MDH. The evaluation process is an opportunity to hear and learn from trafficked and exploited youth as well as participants from a variety of disciplines who respond to the needs of these youth on a daily basis. For the current Phase 4 report, MDH contracted with Wilder again while MDH’s Safe Harbor Program produced accompanying evaluation materials. As a result, this Phase 4 Safe Harbor evaluation draws from complementary background reports that are combined to represent a variety of perspectives from both outside and within the Safe Harbor network. These resources not only evaluate Safe Harbor’s activities, but also address these activities in the context of significant current events including the global COVID-19 pandemic and the civil rights movement in Minnesota, as well as around the nation and world, in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. The supplemental evaluation materials, containing expanded findings, data, and appendix are contained in this document. All findings focus on the Safe Harbor network and activities between April 1, 2019, and June 30, 2021. The Wilder data collection and analysis took place between January 1, 2021, and June 30, 2021. The MDH data collection and analysis took place between September 1, 2020, and August 1, 2021. Between January 2021 and June 2021, Wilder interviewed grantees, multidisciplinary partners, and youth clients, and also surveyed youth clients to evaluate Safe Harbor. Wilder submitted its report including several findings and recommendations to MDH. Wilder found evidence for outcomes related to multidisciplinary partnership and access to services, including culturally specific services; the factors contributing to Safe Harbor’s impact; gaps and challenges; opportunities for improvement; and the pandemic’s impact on service provision. MDH analyzed the provision of the statewide Safe Harbor Regional Navigator component and the reach of the Safe Harbor Network to identify and serve youth, as well as availability, accessibility, and equity of Safe Harbor supportive services and shelter and housing, in addition to training for providers. MDH then submitted a Phase 4 evaluation report to the legislature including combined findings, recommendations, and conclusions. Summary recommendations are listed here, but included with further detail in the legislative report and within the supplemental evaluation materials included in this document: Recommended actions: ▪ Increase stakeholder ability to identify youth. ▪ Expand protections and services regardless of age and remain flexible in identifying service needs. ▪ Increase and improve access to services, especially for youth from marginalized cultures and greater Minnesota. ▪ Support more diverse and consistent staffing. ▪ Increase amount and cultural appropriateness of technical assistance, education, and training provided. ▪ Increase prevention efforts (by decreasing demand and identifying risk factors). ▪ Support improvement of more continuous, comprehensive, and robust outcome and process evaluation as well as inferential research. ▪ De-silo the response to sex and labor trafficking. ▪ Increase youth voice and opportunities within Safe Harbor. ▪ Heal organizational trauma to better help organizations, staff, and clients. ▪ Improve equity by conducting a cultural needs assessment with several cultural groups as well as strategically directing allocations of funds and resources to culturally specific groups. ▪ Strengthen relationships within the public health approach. ▪ Further promote government agency collaboration.

St. Paul, MN : Minnesota Department of Health, Safe Harbor, Violence Prevention Unit, Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Division 2021. 130p.

By Rachel Rein

This Note explores human trafficking in the United States through Disability Critical Race Studies (DisCrit). First, the Note offers background on trafficking and applicable federal law. The Note shows that not only does trafficking disable people, but that people with preexisting disabilities are especially at risk for trafficking. Next, the Note indicates that trafficking law follows a Law-and-Order framework that retraumatizes marginalized survivors. Then, the Note introduces DisCrit and justifies its use for anti-trafficking advocacy. Finally, the Note applies DisCrit. By looking at trafficking law through DisCrit, it becomes clear that trafficking law must work with—not against—survivors to end human suffering.

42 Colum. J. Gender & L. 183 (2022).

By Anni Lietonen, Anniina Jokinen, Natalia Ollus 

In recent years, the issue of labour trafficking and exploitation in global supply chains has gained more and more attention. Businesses are under increasing scrutiny from consumers, media, civil society, investors and governments to behave in an ethical manner. However, there has been less focus on local and national structures. It is a common practice for businesses to rely on subcontractors/suppliers, or to use contractual partners who use subcontractors for specialised, project-related or short-term work. In recent years, cases of labour exploitation in supply/subcontracting chains have been uncovered around the world, as well as in Europe. With increased mobility of workers and increasingly complex supply chains, there is a growing need to ensure that all involved parties know their rights and obligations. This can prevent the exploitation of migrant workers and the risk of businesses becoming involved in such scenarios. This risk management toolkit has been developed in the context of the EU-funded FLOW-project. Its purpose is to give companies a brief overview of what labour exploitation and trafficking are, as well as to demonstrate the risks for businesses, and how involvement in such scenarios can be effectively avoided. These tools focus on the practical implementation of due diligence procedures, such as gathering information through worker-led monitoring and grievance mechanisms. The aim is to provide “hands-on” measures for businesses that can be used to navigate and control complex supply chain networks, especially in a local, national and intra-European context with the focus on preventing exploitation and trafficking. The measures include conducting a risk assessment, drafting an anti-trafficking strategy, screening contractual partners, incorporating specific contractual clauses and organising workplace assessments/inspections concerning the activities of subcontractors or other contractual partners. To supplement this toolkit, a Normative Framework Guide (HEUNI Publication Series No. 94) has also been developed as part of the FLOW-project, which provides a summarised overview of existing legal frameworks outlining businesses' responsibilities with regard to human rights, with a focus on labour exploitation and human trafficking. Outsourcing of work through subcontracting and the use of temporary workers in overly flexible employment relationships makes it more difficult for companies to assess the working conditions under which goods and services are produced (FRA 2015; Jokinen & Ollus 2019). The more layers in the supply chain, the more difficult it is to survey how the subcontractors carry out their business. In the worst-case scenario, legitimate business structures and lengthy supply chains may reveal serious forms of exploitation or even human trafficking. Concern over workers’ rights at all levels of the supply chain, in particular at the lower end of a subcontracting chain, should be included in responsible business policies. Committing to respecting Business and Human Rights (BHR) agreements alone cannot guarantee that a company is not unknowingly involved in labour exploitation or trafficking. Proactive businesses can mitigate such risks more efficiently by engaging in risk management, inspections and monitoring of working conditions. Who should use this tool? Managers, experts, and representatives of: ○ Businesses, NGOs and/or organisations that use low-skilled migrant workers through outsourcing, subcontracting, and recruitment companies and labour intermediaries in, e.g., construction, cleaning or catering services ○ Businesses working in risk sectors where labour exploitation or human trafficking have been identified ○ Public procurement units working for states, municipalities and/or state enterprises ○ Corporate Social Responsibility experts and networks Businesses should take steps to strengthen their role in regulating the labour supply and in recognising the signs of labour exploitation. Effective and proactive measures to tackle labour exploitation deters criminal enterprises from entering labour supply chains and promotes fair competition and decent work.     

Helsinki: HEUNI, 2020. 60p.

By Chase Childress, Amy Farrella, Shawn Bhimani, and Kayse Lee Maass

Law enforcement interventions continue to be the primary mechanism used to identify offenders and illicit businesses involved in human trafficking, yet trafficking continues to be a thriving international operation. We explore alternative mechanisms to disrupt illicit operations and reduce victimization through labor trafficking supply chains using supply chain disruption theory. Using a case study approach to examine one federally prosecuted labor trafficking case in the agricultural sector, we (1) extend criminological concepts of disruption by identifying sources and methods of disruption and (2) inform criminal justice system responses by presenting novel methods of assessing effectiveness of anti-human trafficking policies and programs.

Victims & Offenders, 2022. 39p.

Edited by Irina Isaakyan, Anna Triandafyllidou, Simone Baglioni

Through an inter-subjective lens, this open access book investigates the initial labour market integration experiences of these migrants, refugees or asylum seekers, who are characterised by different biographies and migration/asylum trajectories. The book gives voice to the migrants and seeks to highlight their own experiences and understandings of the labour market integration process, in the first years of immigration. It adopts a critical, qualitative perspective but does not remain ethnographic. The book rather refers the migrants’ own voice and experience to their own expert knowledge of the policy and socio-economic context that is navigated. Each chapter brings into dialogue the migrant’s intersubjective experiences with the relevant policies and practices, as well as with the relevant stakeholders, whether local government, national services, civil society or migrant organisations. The book concludes with relevant critical insights as to how labour market integration is lived on the ground and on what migrants ‘do’ with labour market policies rather than on what labour market policies ‘do’ to or for migrants.

Cham: Springer, 2023. 231p.

by Joe Eyerman, Melissa M. Labriola, Bella González

Reducing the prevalence of all forms of human trafficking, including sex trafficking, labor trafficking, and child sexual exploitation, is a national priority that puts the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in a prominent role. Given the scale, evolving nature, and complexity of labor trafficking, combating the problem poses a significant challenge. The DHS Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) anti–human trafficking program is assessing the current state of and future needs for labor trafficking research in the United States. This effort will serve as a starting point for future social science–based S&T anti–human trafficking research and actions focused on labor trafficking.

Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2023. 

By Quinn Kepes, et al.

This report describes research conducted on the relationship between labor brokerage and the risk of forced labor among Nepali migrant workers employed abroad. The research examines forced-labor triggers in Nepal and India and receiving-country mechanisms that encourage forced labor in Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), and Israel. The role of Guatemala and Mexico as transit countries for Nepali workers traveling illegally to the U.S. is also explored.

Amherst, MA: Verité. 2012. 108p.

By Pekka Ylinen, Anniina Jokinen, Anna-Greta Pekkarinen, Natalia Ollus, Katja-Pia Jenu

Identifying and investigating labour exploitation and trafficking is a challenging task. These are often international crimes in which migrant workers from one or more countries are brought to a third country, where their vulnerable position and ignorance are exploited by the offenders in multiple ways. Labour exploitation is found particularly frequently in labour-intensive sectors such as restaurants, cleaning, agriculture and construction (e.g. Jokinen et al. 2011; Ollus et al. 2013; FRA 2015). The offenders seek to conceal their criminal activities in any way possible and intimidate their victims so that they do not dare speak out about being exploited. Ultimately, the motive underlying labour exploitation is maximising financial profits. Unfortunately, labour exploitation can be highly lucrative, particularly since the risk of being caught is usually quite low. (Jokinen & Ollus 2019.) The present investigation tool was developed in the EU-funded FLOW project1 , whose target group comprises of criminal investigation authorities and labour inspection authorities in Finland, Bulgaria, Latvia and Estonia. Its purpose is to increase awareness of labour exploitation and trafficking and to offer concrete steps in identifying and investigating these phenomena. The tool is based to a large degree on the experiences of the Finnish police and labour inspection authorities, because the number of cases identified in Finland of labour trafficking that have led to convictions for trafficking for forced labour is exceptionally high by European standards. The investigation tool briefly describes the progress of police investigations from the initial impulse to practical arrangements at the trial and action taken thereafter. The tool further illustrates features of identification and investigation through practical examples. There is also a separate checklist for labour and other relevant inspectors on how to identify potential cases of labour trafficking and exploitation during inspections and how to proceed with suspicions by contacting the police and or other authorities and national service provider(s) for victims of trafficking.

Helsinki: European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control (HEUNI) 2020. 72p.