The Facts

  • Human trafficking is a serious crime. It violates human rights. It involves force, coercion, or fraud to exploit a person into slave labor or sexual exploitation.
  • Human trafficking can happen to people of all ages, genders, race or religions. Women are often used for sexual exploitation, while men are usually used for forced labor. Children are exploited for begging, child pornography, or child labor.

  • United States is ranked as one of the worst countries globally for human trafficking. It is estimated that 199,000 incidents occur within the United States every year.
  • According to data gathered in 2024 by the United States Department of Transportation, human trafficking exploits 27.6 million people globally for the purpose of sex or forced labor.
  • New York is ranked as the fourth highest human trafficking state in America. In 2024 the National Human Trafficking Hotline reported 1,437 trafficking trafficking cases.
  • 2022 data from New York State’s Safe Harbor program, 98% of the individuals at risk who were referred to the Safe Harbor program were minors when their exploitation began. More than one third of those referrals involved individuals who were younger than 14.
  • 79% of all confirmed victims of trafficking cases in NY were sex trafficking victims.
  • 73% of confirmed trafficking cases in NY involved adults, above the age of 18.
  • 71% of confirmed victims in NY were female survivors; more than half of the victims, 54.7% came from outside of New York City.
  • Only 3% of programming for long term aftercare housing for survivors’ is located in upstate New York.
  • There are no residential programs for adult female survivors of sex trafficking located in Madison County. There are also no such programs in Oneida County, both in upstate New York.
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