QUICK FACTS: SB 194 - AN ACT establishing a commission to study the trafficking of persons across borders for sexual and labor exploitation.
(HB 35)

• It is estimated that 14,500 to 17,500 people, primarily women and children, are trafficked to the U.S. annually.
       – The Academy for Academic Development online. Humantrafficking.org.
  
  
• Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery. It is a global problem. Next to drugs and arms, human trafficking is considered the largest organized crime. According to the 2005 Trafficking in Persons Report produced by the U.S. Department of State, between 600,000 and 800,000 men, women and children are trafficked across international borders each year. Of that number, it is estimated that 80% of the victims are female and up to 50% are children. A majority of these victims were trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation.
  
  
• 80% of human trafficking victims are women and over 50% are children.
       - Human Trafficking Awareness Partnerships, Inc. 2007.
  
  
• 65% of female victims of sex trafficking sustain serious physical internal injuries, 24% experience head injuries, and 12% report broken bones.
  
  
• Women who have been trafficked experience a ten-fold risk of contracting HIV.
  
  
• 68% of female sex trafficking meet the clinical criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder.
       - National Commission Against Domestic and Sexual Violence Online – Human Trafficking Facts
  
  
• Human Trafficking has occurred in New Hampshire – Four Jamaican citizens were trafficked to work for Bradley Tree Service in the Spring and Summer of 2000 and 2001. -“Jury Convicts New Hampshire Couple of Forced Labor.” Press Release, Dept. of Justice, September 2, 2003.
  
  
• Victims are often lured into trafficking networks through false promises of good working conditions and high pay as domestic workers, factory and farm workers, nannies, waitresses, sales clerks, or models. Once in this country, many suffer extreme physical and mental abuse, including rape, sexual exploitation, torture, beatings, starvation, death threats, and threats to family members. Women’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor, Trafficking in Persons, A Guide for Non-Governmental Organizations, 2002
  
  
• It is believed that most victims who are trafficked are isolated and remain undetected by the public because 1) the strategies used by the perpetrators isolate victims and prevent them from coming forward, and 2) the public and the victim service providers have only recently become aware of this issue and may not be familiar with how to recognize or respond to trafficking victims. Women’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor, Trafficking in Persons, A Guide for Non-Governmental Organizations, 2002

The Protection Project: Johns Hopkins University, Online Source, 2002.

• The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) estimates that between 50,000 and 100,000 women are trafficked into the United States each year.
• Over the past decade, as many as 750,000 women have been trafficked into the Untied States.
• Between 1990 and 2000, at least 38 separate instances of trafficking into the United States were documented that together involved at least 5,500 women.
• Analysts from the U.S. Department of State suggest that a relatively equal number of trafficked women come from four main areas: Asia, Central and South America, Russia and the newly independent states, and Eastern Europe.
• Upon arrival into the US women and children may be trafficked onto numbers of various cities.

Trafficking in Persons Report. Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. June 5, 2006.

• Psychological and physical harm, including disease and stunted growth
• In many cases the exploitation of trafficking victims is progressive: a child trafficked into one form of labor may be further abused in another.
• Victims forced into sex slavery are often subdued with drugs and subjected to extreme violence. Victims trafficked for sexual exploitation face physical and emotional damage from violent sexual activity, forced substance abuse, exposure to sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS, food deprivation, and psychological torture.
• Some victims suffer permanent damage to their reproductive organs. Many victims die as a result of being trafficked. When the victim is trafficked to a location where he or she cannot speak or understand the language, this compounds the psychological damage caused by isolation and domination by traffickers.
• The profits from human trafficking fuel other criminal activities. According to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, human trafficking generates an estimated $9.5 billion in annual revenue. It is closely connected with money laundering, drug trafficking, document forgery, and human smuggling. Where organized crime flourishes, governments and the rule of law are undermined and weakened.

“Human Trafficking, the Scourge of Modern Day Slavery. The Polaris Project Online Accessed March 2, 2007.

• 27 million – the number of people in modern day slavery today
• 800,000 – the number of persons trafficked across international borders each year
• 17,500 – the number of foreign nationals trafficked into the U.S. every year
• 200,000 – the number of American children who are at risk of commercial sexual exploitation
• 1% of foreign national trafficked victims officially identified and assisted in the U.S.
• 91 – the number of cities in the U.S. with reported cases of human trafficking
• 50% of all victims are children
• The average age of first prostitution is 13