Who are human traffickers?

There are as many traffickers as there are ways to exploit people. According to the analysis of identified cases of human trafficking, traffickers are persons of trust, parents, relatives, acquaintances, partners, friends, but also strangers whom the victim comes into contact with. Beside coercion, intimidation and violence, other means that people use are misguidance and holding in error, confiscation of identity documents, abuse of trust and dependency, as well as abuse of a difficult position of other person. Traffickers often do have criminal past, but it is not a rule. In Serbia, we record cases in which parents gave their own child in order to repay debt, or sold it for money. There are two factors which encourage human traffickers: low risk and high profit. This combination encourages an explosive spread of human trafficking, making it one of the fastest growing criminal industries in the world.