Trafficking

Trafficking or smuggling? Smuggling, while often done in dangerous or degrading conditions, involves migrants who have consented…

Trafficking or smuggling? Smuggling, while often done in dangerous or degrading conditions, involves migrants who have consented to be transferred from one country to another and there may be no deception involved in the (illegal) agreement.

By contrast, in typical cases of people trafficking - which can occur within countries as well as across borders - victims are coerced, deceived or otherwise abused.

Another major difference is that smuggling usually ends with the arrival

of the migrants at their destination, whereas trafficking - whether for sexual exploitation or forced labour - involves the ongoing exploitation of the victims in some manner to make illicit profits for the trafficker.