Forced Labor –According to the UNODC Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, the second most found type of human trafficking is labor trafficking (18%). However, the report notes, that labor exploitation is severely misrepresented compared to other forms of human trafficking due to a lack of detection and reporting. It is much more “invisible.”

Sexual Exploitation –Sex trafficking is the most common form of human trafficking coming to about 79% of trafficking cases. According to UNODC, a surprising find is the involvement of women in trafficking, wherein women were found to make up the largest proportion of traffickers. Simultaneously, women make up the largest number of victims of sexual trafficking.

Organ Trafficking – Organ traffickers exploit the desperation of the recipient, who has limited options to save their life, and the donor, who is usually caught in a dire economic situation. Traffickers include professional health care professionals including doctors and nurses and the crime is not necessarily done in shady alleyways but rather in plain sight.

Child Soldier – Child soldiery is the nonconsensual and unlawful recruitment (usually through fraud or force) of individuals under 18 by armed forces for combat, labor, or sexual exploitation.

Child Marriage – The US Department of State outlines child marriage as a type of human trafficking as it involves the lack of consent of at least one party in the marriage.

Debt Bondage – Unlike labor trafficking, debt bondage starts as consensual as the victim willingly enters labor to pay off a debt. However, the victim gets caught in a “debt bondage” wherein loans unrealistically increase, and their debt increases with no possibility of being paid off, thus the victim is caught in a forced cycle.