debt slavery, a state of indebtedness to landowners or merchant employers that limits the autonomy of producers and provides the owners of capital with cheap labour. Examples of debt slavery, indentured servitude, peonage, and other forms of forced labour exist around the world and throughout history, but the boundaries between them can be difficult to define (seeslavery). It is instructive to consider one prevalent system of debt slavery as a means of identifying the characteristics typical of the condition. This article therefore describes the system that existed among sharecroppers and landowners in the American South from the 1860s until World War II.
After the end of the American Civil War and the abolition of slavery, many African Americans and some whites in the rural South made a living by renting small plots of land from large landowners who were usually white and pledging a percentage of their crops to the landowners at harvest—a system known as sharecropping. Landowners provided sharecroppers with land, seeds, tools, clothing, and food. Charges for the supplies were deducted from the sharecroppers’ portion of the harvest, leaving them with substantial debt to landowners in bad years. Sharecroppers would become caught in continual debt, especially during weak harvests or periods of low prices, such as when cotton prices fell in the 1880s and ’90s. Once in debt, sharecroppers were forbidden by law to leave the landowner’s property until their debt was paid, effectively putting them in a state of slavery to the landowner. Between 1880 and 1930 the proportion of Southern farms operated by the tenants increased from 36 to 55 percent.
Indebted sharecroppers faced limited options. Racism and the legacy of slavery in the South made prospects for African Americans difficult after the Civil War, particularly because they represented the bulk of Southern sharecroppers. To gain freedom from their debt, farmers tried to make extra money in various ways, such as working on neighbouring farms and selling the eggs, milk, and vegetables they produced in addition to their main crop. Banks generally refused to lend money to sharecroppers, leaving them further dependent on landowners. An indebted sharecropper could continue to work for the same landowner and try to pay off the debt with the next year’s harvest or could begin farming for a different landowner with the debt built into the new contract.
Finding themselves deeply enmeshed in that system of debt slavery and faced with limited opportunities to eliminate their debt, many farming families ran away or moved frequently in search of better employment opportunities. In response, landowners employed armed riders to supervise and discipline the farmers working on their land.
Contracts between landowners and sharecroppers were typically harsh and restrictive. Many contracts forbade sharecroppers from saving cotton seeds from their harvest, forcing them to increase their debt by obtaining seeds from the landowner. Landowners also charged extremely high interest rates. Landowners often weighed harvested crops themselves, which presented further opportunities to deceive or extort sharecroppers. Immediately following the Civil War, financially distressed landowners could rent land to African American sharecroppers, secure their debt and labour, and then drive them away just before it was time to harvest the crops. Southern courts were unlikely to rule in favour of Black sharecroppers against white landowners.
Despite the limited options it offered, sharecropping did provide more autonomy than did slavery for African Americans. Sharecropping also enabled families to stay together rather than face the possibility that a parent or child might be sold and forced to work on a different plantation. Those advantages, however, were meagre compared with the poverty and other hardships generated by debt slavery.
evicted sharecroppersEvicted sharecroppers with their belongings along a road in Missouri, 1939.
The Great Depression had devastating effects on sharecroppers, as did the South’s continued overproduction and overemphasis on cotton production. Cotton prices fell dramatically after the stock market crash of 1929, and the ensuing downturn bankrupted farmers. The Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 offered farmers money to produce less cotton in order to raise prices. Many white landowners kept the money and allowed the land previously worked by African American sharecroppers to remain empty. Landowners also often invested the money in mechanization, reducing the need for labour and leaving more farming families, Black and white, underemployed and in poverty.
Are you a student?
Get a special academic rate on Britannica Premium.
That system of debt slavery continued in the South until after World War II, when it gradually died out as the mechanization of farming became widespread. So too, African Americans left the system as they moved to better-paying industrial jobs in the North during the Great Migration.
human trafficking, form of modern-day slavery involving the illegal transport of individuals by force or deception for the purpose of labor, sexual exploitation, or activities in which others benefit financially. Human trafficking is a global problem affecting people of all ages. It is estimated that approximately 1,000,000 people are trafficked each year globally and that between 20,000 and 50,000 are trafficked into the United States, which is one of the largest destinations for victims of the sex-trafficking trade.
Although human trafficking is recognized as a growing international phenomenon, one with a long history (see the story of St. Josephine Bakhita, the patron saint of Sudan and of victims of human trafficking), a uniform definition has yet to be internationally adopted. The United Nations (UN) divides human trafficking into three categories—sex trafficking, labor trafficking, and the removal of organs—and defines human trafficking as the induction by force, fraud, or coercion of a person to engage in the sex trade, or the harboring, transportation, or obtaining of a person for labor service or organ removal. Though the United States does not acknowledge the removal of organs in its definition, it does recognize sex and labor trafficking and describes human trafficking as the purposeful transportation of an individual for exploitation.
The trafficking scheme
Human traffickers often create transnational routes for transporting migrants who are driven by unfavourable living conditions to seek the services of a smuggler. Human trafficking usually starts in origin countries—namely, Southeast Asia, eastern Europe, and sub-Saharan Africa—where recruiters seek migrants through various mediums such as the Internet, employment agencies, the media, and local contacts. Middlemen who recruit from within the origin country commonly share the cultural background of those migrating. Migrants view the services of a smuggler as an opportunity to move from impoverished conditions in their home countries to more stable, developed environments.
Because such circumstances make it difficult for victims to obtain legitimate travel documents, smugglers supply migrants with fraudulent passports or visas and advise them to avoid detection by border-control agents. Transporters, in turn, sustain the migration process through various modes of transportation: land, air, and sea. Although victims often leave their destination country voluntarily, the majority are unaware that they are being recruited for a trafficking scheme. Some may be kidnapped or coerced, but many are bribed by false job opportunities, passports, or visas. Transporters involved in trafficking victims from the origin country are compensated only after they have taken migrants to the responsible party in the destination country. Immigration documents, whether legitimate or fraudulent, are seized by the traffickers. After this, victims are often subjected to physical and sexual abuse, and many are forced into labor or the sex trade in order to pay off their migratory debts.
The cause of human trafficking stems from adverse circumstances in origin countries, including religious persecution, political dissension, lack of employment opportunities, poverty, wars, and natural disasters. Another causal factor is globalization, which has catapulted developing countries into the world’s market, increasing the standard of living and contributing to the overall growth of the global economy. Unfortunately, globalization is a double-edged sword in that it has shaped the world’s market for the transportation of illegal migrants, affording criminal organizations the ability to expand their networks and create transnational routes that facilitate the transporting of migrants. The U.S. Department of State adds that the HIV/AIDSepidemic has generated a large number of orphans and child-headed households, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, a situation that creates fertile soil for trafficking and servitude.
Types of exploitation
The most prevalent form of human trafficking that results in servitude is the recruitment and transport of people into the international sex industry. Sex slavery involves males and females, both adults and children, and constitutes an estimated 58 percent of all trafficking activities. It consists of different types of servitude, including forced prostitution, pornography, child sex rings, and sex-related occupations such as nude dancing and modeling. Forced prostitution is a very old form of enslavement, and recruitment into this lifestyle is often a booming business for purveyors of the sex trade. Victims of sexual slavery are often manipulated into believing that they are being relocated to work in legitimate forms of employment. Those who enter the sex industry as prostitutes are exposed to inhumane and potentially fatal conditions, especially with the prevalence of HIV/AIDS. Additionally, some countries, including India, Nepal, and Ghana, have a form of human trafficking known as ritual (religion-based) slavery, in which young girls are provided as sexual slaves to atone for the sins of family members.
Forced labor has likely been around since shortly after the dawn of humankind, though there are a number of different forms of modern involuntary servitude that can go easily unnoticed by the general public. Debt bondage (also called peonage), is the enslavement of people for unpaid debts and is one of the most common forms of contemporary forced labor. Similarly, contract slavery uses false or deceptive contracts to justify or explain forced slavery. In the United States the majority of nonsex laborers are forced into domestic service, followed by agriculture, sweatshops, and restaurant and hotel work.
Are you a student?
Get a special academic rate on Britannica Premium.
Children are often sold or sent to areas with the promise of a better life but instead encounter various forms of exploitation. Domestic servitude places “extra children” (children from excessively large families) into domestic service, often for extended periods of time. Other trafficked children are often forced to work in small-scale cottage industries, manufacturing operations, and the entertainment and sex industry. They are frequently required to work for excessive periods of time, under extremely hazardous working conditions, and for little or no wages. Sometimes they become “street children” and are used for prostitution, theft, begging, or the drug trade. Children are also sometimes trafficked into military service as soldiers and experience armed combat at very young ages.
Another recent and highly controversial occurrence involving human trafficking is the abduction or deception that results in the involuntary removal of bodily organs for transplant. For years there have been reports from China that human organs were harvested from executed prisoners without the consent of family members and sold to transplant recipients in various countries. There have also been reported incidents of the removal and transport of organs by medical and hospital employees. In addition, there have been claims that impoverished people sell organs such as kidneys for cash or collateral. Although there have been some allegations of trafficking of human fetuses for use in the cosmetics and drug industry, these reports have not been substantiated. In recent years the Internet has been used as a medium for the donors and recipients of organ trafficking, whether legal or not.
Legal response
Although the practice of trafficking humans is not new, concerted efforts specifically to curtail human trafficking did not emerge until the mid-1990s, when public awareness of the issue also emerged. The first step to eradicating this problem was to convince multiple stakeholders that human trafficking was a problem warranting government intervention. As antitrafficking rhetoric gained momentum, efforts to address human trafficking crossed ideological and political lines. Recognizing the inadequacy of then-existing laws, the U.S. Congress passed the first comprehensive federal legislation specifically addressing human trafficking, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA). The primary goal of the TVPA is to provide protection and assistance to trafficking victims, to encourage international response, and to provide assistance to foreign countries in drafting antitrafficking programs and legislation. The TVPA seeks to successfully combat human trafficking by employing a three-pronged strategy: prosecution, protection, and prevention. Many federal agencies are given the oversight of human trafficking, including the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, and Labor and the U.S. Agency for International Development. The primary U.S. agency charged with monitoring human trafficking is the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (also called the trafficking office).
In addition to the U.S., many governmental entities throughout the world are actively engaged in the attempt to stop or at least slow the activity of trafficking in humans. In 2000 the UN established the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, which provided a commonly accepted working definition of human trafficking and called upon countries to promulgate laws to combat the practice, to assist victims, and to promote coordination and cooperation between countries.
The Office of Drugs and Crime is the UN arm that monitors and implements policies concerning human trafficking and is the designer of the Global Program Against Trafficking in Human Beings (GPAT). Another important international agency with responsibility in this area is Interpol, whose aims are to provide assistance to all national criminal justice agencies and to raise awareness of the issue. Other involved global organizations include the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Human trafficking is a highly structured and organized criminal activity. The criminal enterprises need to transport a large number of migrants over a substantial distance, have a well-organized plan to execute the various stages of the crime, and possess a substantial amount of money for such undertakings. Human traffickers have developed a multibillion-dollar industry by exploiting those forced or willing to migrate. For this reason, migrant trafficking is increasingly recognized as a form of organized crime. Trafficking networks may encompass anything from a few loosely associated freelance criminals to large organized criminal groups acting in concert.
Human trafficking is a lucrative criminal activity, touted as the third most profitable business for organized crime, after drugs and the arms trade, at an estimated $32 billion per year. In fact, narcotics trafficking and human trafficking are often intertwined, using the same actors and routes into a country. Migrant trafficking is one of the fastest-growing criminal enterprises. Traffickers resort to other illicit activities to legitimize their proceeds, such as laundering the money obtained not only from trafficking but also from forced labor, sex industries, and the drug trade. To protect their investment, traffickers use terroristic threats as a means of control over their victims and demonstrate power through the threat of deportation, the seizing of travel documentation, or violence against the migrants or their family members remaining in the origin country.
Prevention and control of human trafficking
Human traffickingDiscover how computer coding can combat human trafficking.
Trafficking is a transnational crime that requires international cooperation, and the United States has taken a lead in promoting intercontinental cooperation. The TVPA provides assistance to foreign governments in facilitating the drafting of antitrafficking laws, the strengthening of investigations, and the prosecuting of offenders. Countries of origin, transit, and destination of trafficking victims are encouraged to adopt minimal antitrafficking standards. These minimal standards consist of prohibiting severe forms of trafficking, prescribing sanctions proportionate to the act, and making a concerted effort to combat organized trafficking.
Foreign governments are to make a sustained effort to cooperate with the international community, assist in the prosecution of traffickers, and protect victims of trafficking. If governments fail to meet the minimum standards or fail to make strides to do so, the United States may cease financial assistance beyond humanitarian and trade-related aid. Furthermore, these countries will face opposition from the United States in obtaining support from financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The U.S. Department of State annually reports antitrafficking efforts in the Trafficking in Persons Report on countries considered to have a significant trafficking problem.
Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies.
Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.
print
Print
Please select which sections you would like to print:
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies.
Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Steverson, Leonard A., Wooditch, Alese C.. "human trafficking". Encyclopedia Britannica, 19 Feb. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/topic/human-trafficking. Accessed 14 June 2025.
