The Impact of COVID-19 on Research with Sex Trafficked Women and Women Engaged in Commercial Sex Activities: Implications for Funding, Outreach and Engagement

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In response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, many forms of communications have moved to Zoom, Skype, social media outlets, and a number of other online platforms. Research through these mediums, however, poses a unique set of challenges when the population involves sex trafficked populations and those who engage in commercial sex. Sex trafficking involves the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act (Public Law No. 106-386), while commercial sex activities refer to the selling or exchanging of sex for some material good (e.g., money, drugs, housing, etc.). These two populations may be fluid and not necessarily always independent of one another.

U.S. Department of State Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report 2020

reports, TIP

For 20 years, the Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP Report) has demonstrated the United States’ conviction that human trafficking is a global threat necessitating a global response. Traffickers are denying nearly 25 million people their fundamental right to freedom, forcing them to live enslaved and toil for their exploiter’s profit. This report arms governments with the data they need to increase the prosecution of traffickers, provide victim-centered and trauma-informed protection for victims of trafficking, and prevent this crime altogether.

READ THE REPORT