Human trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, harboring or receipt of people for the purposes of slavery, forced labor (including bonded labor or debt bondage) and servitude. The total annual revenue for trafficking in persons is estimated to be between $5 billion and $9 billion.

Trafficking victims typically are recruited using coercion, deception, fraud, the abuse of power, or outright abduction. Threats, violence, and economic leverage such as debt bondage can often make a victim consent to exploitation.

Exploitation includes forcing people into prostitution or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. For children, exploitation may also include forced prostitution, illicit international adoption, trafficking for early marriage and recruitment as child soldiers.

Following are just a few stories about everyday women who have become heroes in the fight to end modern day slavery and human trafficking.

Sara Susana del Valle Trimarco de Veron
Mother and Anti-Trafficking Activist, Argentina
To find her daughter, Marita, who was kidnapped five years ago by traffickers, Susana Trimarco de Veron has become an indomitable crusader against human trafficking. She has plunged into dangerous situations, disguising herself as a prostituted person in order to troll bars and alleys in search of anyone who might know where her daughter is. Despite false leads and death threats, she has uncovered evidence of trafficking networks operating in the Argentine provinces of La Rioja, Tucuman, Buenos Aires, Cordoba, and Santa Cruz. As a result of Susana's courageous work, 100 young women have been rescued from slavery. She has accompanied police on raids to arrest 24 suspected traffickers, 13 of whom have been formally charged. Susana was one of 10 "Women of Courage" from around the world honored by the U.S. Department of State in March 2007.

Esohe Aghatise
Founding Director, IROKO Association, Italy/Nigeria
Activist Esohe Aghatise founded the NGO IROKO to provide assistance for women and girls trafficked to Italy from Nigeria. Trafficking survivors actively participate in the creation and implementation of programs and strategies for the community. Through Esohe's steady leadership, the IROKO Association provides assistance to women who have been trafficked and prostituted in Italy by providing transitional housing and child care, counseling, legal advocacy, immigration and economic assistance, vocational training, and employment placement. IROKO has initiated a new program in two senior high schools in Turin to combat the demand for prostitution. One point made in the curriculum is that male demand is a key factor in the promotion of sexual exploitation of women and girls. The program targets youth between the ages of 15 and 19. The IROKO Association will soon start a new program in Nigeria to assist trafficking victims returning home from European countries.

Want to learn about more heroes? Visit the US State Departments' Trafficking in Persons Report website.

Think this is an issue that only happens beyond the shores of the United States? Here are some reports from cities across the US:

Children Lured into Sex Trafficking in Tampa Bay, Florida
New York Man Convicted in Human Trafficking Ring

What can you do? Visit www.humantrafficking.org to learn how you can impact putting an end to human trafficking.