The trafficking industry is estimated to be the third-largest industry in the world, surpassed only by the arms and narcotics trades.

In the trafficking of women for the sex industry, the crime consists of two components: the slave trade and slavery. The slave trade represents the supply side of the trafficking industry, while slavery represents the demand side.

Within these two components of modern-day slavery, there are three fundamental stages:

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• Acquisition

• Transportation

• Exploitation

 

...and the "goods" for sale are the women and children forced into prostitution!

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The interrelationships involved in handling these "goods" across these three stages constitute the supply chain for women trafficked into the sex industry. The way in which the "enterprises" and their functions within the trafficking industry are interconnected is illustrated in the diagram below.

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The acquisition of sex slaves typically occurs through one of the following means: deception, a family selling a girl to a trafficker, abduction, seduction/romance, or recruitment by former slaves. While each of these methods is used in almost every country, local conditions—such as extreme poverty—may make certain methods more prevalent than others in specific regions.

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A well-organized criminal group—for instance, one of Russian or Albanian origin—might acquire slaves from certain regions of Russia, exploit them in Moscow, and subsequently receive orders from brothel owners across Europe for the delivery of additional Russian slaves. The well-organized criminal group can subsequently select the slaves best suited to serve the "slave owner’s" needs—whether for commercial sex, the manufacturing industry, or forced begging—and transport them accordingly.

The human trafficking industry is complex, involving many different actors.

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Many profit from human trafficking—the victims themselves being the notable exception.

 

The Recruiter
Establishes contact with the victim and transports them—often through deception, though sometimes by force—to a seller or directly to the "employer," such as a brothel or bar owner.

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The Seller (Agent)
Typically purchases the victim from the recruiter and then resells them to the "employer."

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The Entrepreneur
Organizes and oversees the trafficking transaction(s). This role is usually performed by a relatively professional criminal organization or group. The term used for this role—"entrepreneur"—is comparable to that of an entrepreneur in a legitimate business.

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The Labor/Travel Agent
Arranges and secures legitimate travel documents. Document specialists either steal or otherwise illicitly obtain genuine documents, or they create forged ones.

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The Transporter
Travels alongside the victim. Transportation takes place via almost every conceivable method—for instance, the woman might be placed in the trunk of a car, or travel accompanied by someone else on a bus, train, plane, speedboat, or ferry; she might even travel on foot or on horseback, depending on the specific region of the world. The transporter may take the victim through one or more transit cities or countries. Typically, they hand the victim over to a seller at a border or within the destination country, though occasionally they deliver the victim directly to the employer.

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The Employer
The employer buys and resells the "commodity" (the victim) to customers and provides a location where sexual acts can take place. The employer ensures the victim has a place to live and work, and informs them about the conditions of their employment, their living arrangements, their lifestyle, and their debt.

The employer is usually the owner of a bar, club, or brothel. A smaller number of employers are street-based pimps who do not operate out of a physical business establishment.

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The Guard
The guard provides protection for the business—and, to a lesser extent, for the trafficking victim. They shield the operation from rival criminal groups, extortionists, and raids by police or other authorities. Furthermore, they ensure that the trafficking victims adhere to the business's rules—most importantly, that they do not escape.

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The guard also ensures that customers make their payments and generally comply with the rules of the establishment.

In some cases, the guard also acts as an extortionist—particularly if they are a member of an organized crime group. On behalf of their group, they extort other brothels and bars, and if the owner fails to pay, the group takes revenge.

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Extortion can be the guard’s specialty, or simply one of many roles; the line between extorting a business and paying for the guard’s services is a thin one.