Crime Reduction Toolkits

Trafficking of People

Different forms of exploitation

There are many different forms of exploitation used by traffickers – and these are driven by the potential profit involved.

The main documented focus of exploitation of women is in the sex industry. This is predominantly in off-street prostitution. Women are made to give virtually all their income to the traffickers or exploiters who have bought them. They may be made to perform sexual acts that can call for more money. Children may also be exploited in the sex industry and in the production of pornography. Those trafficked for sexual exploitation may include boys, young men and those with disabilities or learning difficulties.

There is thought to be considerable exploitation of children in situations of domestic service. There is a significant extent of labour exploitation of adult migrant workers (male and female). Many irregular migrant workers, imported into a destination country through networks of clandestine intermediaries, are subjected to forced labour conditions. Sometimes the businesses in which they are exploited are owned by nationals of the country of origin, sometimes by UK nationals.

Other reported forms of exploitation (but with limited documented evidence of their occurrence or extent in the UK) include:

• facilitation of benefit and identity fraud;

• exploitation of children as child criminal agents of adult exploiters;

• organ ‘donation’ or ‘harvesting’.

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