Human trafficking and exploitation : A global health concern (Volume 14, Number 11)
While migration within and across national borders has been an economic and social mobility strategy that has benefited millions of people around the world, there is growing recognition that labor exploitation of migrant workers has become a problem of global proportions. Human trafficking and other forms of extreme exploitation, including forced labor and forced marriage, now collectively under the terminological umbrella "modern slavery," are reported to affect an estimated 40.3 million people globally, with 29.4 million considered to be in situations of forced labor. PLOS is launching a collection of essays and research articles on "Human Trafficking, Exploitation and Health" to increase awareness of the problem and to urge health and nonhealth professionals alike to engage in international and local responses to protect the health of individuals and populations affected by trafficking.Human trafficking is a multidimensional human rights violation that centers on the act of exploitation. The United Nations defines trafficking in persons as "the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation". The elements of coercion, exploitation, and harm link human trafficking with other forms of modern slavery, forced labor and forced marriage.