Trafficking in persons (TIP) is a major criminal activity and human rights violation that takes place in almost all countries in the Western Hemisphere. TIP involves the exploitation of victims, most often in forced labor or commercial sexual activity, by a criminal organizer or "trafficker." Trafficking may involve the movement of victims by traffickers from one country to another, but such international movement is not a requirement. TIP exploitation can happen within the same country.

A worldwide problem, TIP is not a new phenomenon and aspects of human trafficking are prohibited through a number of existing international conventions. The international community has most thoroughly defined and outlawed these practices in the anti-trafficking protocol to the UN Convention against Transnational Crime (Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children).

Most experts agree that human trafficking is a growing problem in the Western Hemisphere, although given the clandestine nature of this criminal activity exact information about it is difficult to obtain. As a greater portion of the global population views migration as a way to find better economic prospects, more and more people migrate in search of job opportunities and advancement. Many of these economic migrants leave home and are vulnerable to TIP exploitation. Trafficking also occurs in the context of internal migration, as persons move from rural areas to urban centers. In summary, both international and internal migration produce trafficking victims, who are found in situations of domestic servitude, forced labor, and commercial sexual exploitation.

However, migration is not a prerequisite for human trafficking. Often victims of TIP are children (under 18) who end up in organized prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation such as the making of pornography. Legally, a child has no capacity to agree to commercial sex work organized by third parties and this exploitation of children always qualifies as a form of trafficking by international convention. Commercial sexual exploitation of children may also take place in the context of sex tourism, an area of growing concern in the Hemisphere.

The Western Hemisphere has only started to address TIP. The action taken by the General Assembly in Resolutions 1948 and 2019 to name an Anti-TIP Coordinator has set a precedent for the region's determination to act. The OAS has recognized the importance of this issue and the potential devastation TIP can cause. In short, human trafficking affects the Hemisphere's social, legal, public health, and economic well-being and must be addressed.
 

Trafficking in persons has become a growing problem for the region and it cannot be solved unilaterally. A strategy to combat human trafficking needs to aggregate national efforts, bilateral measures and multilateral cooperation. The main goals of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Section are to carry out anti-TIP efforts with a regional perspective that allows the OAS to address human trafficking in a way that is difficult for any single national government. The Section provides the necessary logistic information for training seminars, technical assistance to governments, exchange of information, and proposals. As well, the Section develops new information, monitors new literature in the field, and catalogues existing reports and documents.

The focus of anti-trafficking efforts consist of:

Four key areas of action are to: