Human trafficking is defined by the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act as:
o “The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act where such an act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age.”
o “The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.”
Source: Shared Hope International
The Washington Legislature is a leader in the fight to end sex trafficking, earning an A grade, Vancouver-based Shared Hope International announced Tuesday. Washington shares the top grade with just two other states, Louisiana and Tennessee.
Shared Hope president Linda Smith, formerly a U.S. representative for Southwest Washington, announced her organization’s 2013 state-by-state report on sex trafficking before a state Senate Law and Justice Committee meeting in Spokane.