How Coronavirus Has Affected Human Trafficking

On January 30, 2020 World Health Officials (WHO) declared a global public health emergency as we now know it to be the Novel Coronavirus, aka, COVID-19, a virus mirroring pneumonia-like symptoms which include fever and difficulty breathing. On March 11, 2020, just twelve days later, WHO declared this virus a global pandemic. There are no boundaries for this virus. In less than 120 days, this deadly virus has left its mark on over 185 countries and regions around the world infecting nearly 2.1 million people killing more than 141,000 of them (and counting). On this same date, March 11, 2020, United States President Trump bans all travel from 26 European countries and two days later a US national emergency is announced due to the corona virus outbreak. All the while countries across the globe are closing their borders, their schools, their businesses and placing their residents on some sort of lockdown or Stay-At-Home/Shelter-In-Place orders.

So what does this have to do with human trafficking you may ask? A lot. Given the rapid contagion of COVID-19, a sex trafficker could infect thousands if not millions of people leaving countless individuals on their deathbeds. Unlike labor trafficking, sex trafficking has always been a public health threat due to the spread of various venereal diseases, such as AIDs, and more conventional colds and flu like symptoms, but never has it been more of a threat than it is now with the COVID-19 global pandemic that continues to spread throughout our communities, our neighborhoods and our homes. Human sex trafficking survivor, Heather Pound said it best when she said, "Just because the world is on hold, does not mean that human trafficking has hit a pause button."

Tragically, COVID-19 related unemployment has and continues to take an economic toll around the world leaving many indebted, impoverished and/or homeless. Those getting paid less or having no pay at all will pose an extremely higher risk for exploitation and for many who fit into this population they do not have the luxury to isolate at home. Instead, they will be forced to choose risking infection themselves possibly spreading the virus to others and perhaps even their family. The result of reduced to non-existent wages for these workers will undoubtedly make their situation worse making them prime targets for human trafficking recruitment. Single mothers desperate to find work could also quickly fall victim to human trafficking recruitment as a result of this pandemic and those currently in trafficking situations are likely facing worse violence and abuse than ever before.

Because women are typically the target audience for such trafficking recruitment practices, today more than ever traffickers are advertising and recruiting “jobs” on social media outlets clearly targeting young females luring them in thinking they have found a good paying job or perhaps a better life, only to have their hopes and dreams shattered by being sold into modern day slavery.

With school closures happening worldwide due to the COVID-19 outbreak, children around the globe are spending more time online potentially heightening their risk of being groomed and leaving them prey to online sexual predators and yes, you can bet that child sex offenders and traffickers alike are most certainly taking advantage of this situation by trying to meet them online, offering companionship while promising stability and of course coaxing them into sending self-generated images as well as engaging in sexual activities.

Keep in mind some of these children, some whom are already victims of human sex trafficking don’t have to be online to be exploited. Many children and victims who live with their abusers are already being abused and/or sexually abused and sold right in their own homes by relatives and family members which is particularly disturbing during a pandemic, where crowded housing conditions and lack of protective gear could lead to additional outbreaks of COVID-19.

Keep in mind some of these children, some whom are already victims of human sex trafficking don’t have to be online to be exploited. Many children and victims who live with their abusers are already being abused and/or sexually abused and sold right in their own homes by relatives and family members which is particularly disturbing during a pandemic, where crowded housing conditions and lack of protective gear could lead to additional outbreaks of COVID-19.

Perhaps school used to be their escape and now they’re stuck at a not so home-sweet-home and have nowhere to go with the majority of life as we know it, shut down leaving fewer avenues for escape than ever before. They have no way to communicate with outside help other than electronically which is especially dangerous if they share a home with their traffickers and given many of today’s ravel restrictions to practically everywhere in the world finding transportation to get away from abusers proves to be a hardship because of the shutdown of countless airline routes, bus and train lines. So getting away or finding a way out to a remote or so called safe place could prove to be extremely difficult.

Additionally, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of shelters are not taking new clients as they try to maintain healthy environments for those already there. Services such as case management and drop-in services as well as initial intake services, have shut down all together or have moved online and even though trafficking hotlines may be operating at significantly reduced capacity they are still trying to connect those in need of support and services.

So has human trafficking slowed down or increased during this pandemic? Unfortunately, COVID-19 has given traffickers a global opportunity to expand their trafficking efforts. While street-based and in-call sex buying may be declining, the market for on-line sexual activity has greatly increased. For example, trafficking victims are now being forced to participate in remote, web-based sexual activity and/or pornography.

To make matters worse, media sources like Pornhub (the world’s largest porn site) offered free premium service to everyone for an initial 30 days and later extended that offer through April 23 while the world is in lockdown to encourage others to practice social distancing and keep citizens home. This free trial which was offered to Europe prior to going worldwide increased their site traffic by 57% in Italy, 38% in France and 61% in Spain. To put this into perspective, in 2019 prior to any global pandemic, Pornhub was visited 42 billion times.

Given the increased traffic in this media site alone, there will be a lot more users on the site as well as others like it which will create more demand which creates more exploitation which in the end results in more videos being uploaded to similar sites like this. Another unfortunate trend of this pandemic is the fact that some landlords are pressuring their tenants who are not able to pay rent at this time due to losing their job to trade sexual services in return of not being homeless. This in itself is called human trafficking – coercing others in the form of a threat to pressure them into sexual activity.

If you are or believe you have identified someone in a trafficking situation, you can take action. Call 911 immediately to notify local law enforcement. You may also call the human trafficking hotlines in Canada and the United States by dialling the numbers below. Both hotlines are open 24/7/365 days of the year and provide services in over 200 languages.