Human Trafficking

The boards commission and committee listed below all work with the Office of Crime Victims Advocacy (OVCA) to share information on human trafficking. This includes methods of recognizing victims, services available to victims and where to report potential trafficking situations.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is human trafficking?

Human trafficking occurs when a person uses violence, deception or threats of force to coerce another person to provide labor or commercial sex, and to prevent that person from leaving the situation. Human trafficking also occurs when a person recruits, harbors, transports, providers or obtain another person knowing that force, fraud or coercion will be used to exploit the other person for labor or commercial sex. Trafficking is ongoing exploitation. Travel is not always involved. Victims in the U.S. are entitled to protection and assistance, regardless of their immigration status.

What is labor trafficking?

Labor trafficking is using force, fraud or coercion to recruit, harbor, transport, provide or obtain a person for labor or services in involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage or slavery.

What is sex trafficking?

Sex trafficking is a commercial sex act induced by force, fraud, or coercion or in which the person induced to perform such act is under the age of 18.

Who are the victims?

About half of all human trafficking victims are children.
Many victims have first suffered other crimes such as sexual assault, sexual abuse or domestic violence.
Some are people offered a better life through employment, marriage, education or life in a more prosperous country.

You may contact the Washington State Office of Crime Victims Advocacy at 1-800-822-1067. See the OCVA website for more information.