The story of Alice who applied for a job as a civil engineer and ended up as a domestic servant, unable to get out of the contract because she had to pay back the agency that recruited her..from Stop Human Traffic.
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An article in the Boston Review about American sweatshops
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Trafficking is the "...recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons..." by improper means, such as force, abduction, fraud or coercion, for an improper purpose, like forced or coerced labour, servitude, slavery or sexual exploitation. Countries that ratify the Protocol are obliged to enact domestic laws making these activities criminal offences, if such laws are not already in place (Art.3).
UN: The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons
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Economic and sexual slavery is a highly lucrative global industry controlled by powerful criminal organizations, such as the Yakuza, the Triads and the Mafia. These groups amass an estimated $7 billion a year while making use of electronic technology to expand their networks in both developed and developing nations. Young women and teenagers are often lured into prostitution rings by advertisements for domestic positions abroad and find themselves bought and sold via catalogues or by close family members.
Once enslaved, the women are often beaten and raped before being traded from one master or brothel owner to the next, frequently working up to 18 hours a day. They are at the mercy of the brothel owner, finding themselves in many cases illegally without a passport in a foreign country and forced to repay the debt owed to the middleman, expenses for the journey and the sum that the brothel owner paid for them. Asian prostitutes in the United States and Japan may sell for up to $20,000 each. The United Nations
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