Addressing international human trafficking in women and children for commercial sexual exploitation in the 21st century

Abstract

The goal of this essay is three-fold: first, to outline key current conceptual problems with the understanding of human trafficking, particularly definitional uncertainty and a lack of accurate data on the phenomenon; second, to link these issues with a careful review of the legal evolution of trafficking as bound to mechanisms that address slavery, prostitution, labor violations, and organized crime; and third, to use this analysis as the foundation for a series of recommendations for global research and policy development to assist the international community in preventing and punishing trafficking, a crime that reveals troubling elements of our rapidly changing world.