by Marelie Manders, Heidelberg IWC, Mary Adams, AWC The Hague, and Jody McBrien, AWG Paris
Behind the visible realities of human trafficking lies a complex and often hidden network of perpetrators who exploit human vulnerability for power, profit and control. These perpetrators operate in diverse ways and across multiple contexts. In conflict settings, groups responsible for mass abductions may exploit victims to sustain war economies, sometimes enabled by individuals legitimized through political or commercial arrangements, or even by government authorities themselves. Those who subject women and girls to domestic servitude range from private individuals and families to homeowners and diplomatic households. In the context of sexual exploitation, criminal networks often use online platforms to lure victims with false promises of employment, opportunity or a better future.
Despite the diversity of perpetrators and their methods, common patterns emerge: isolation, manipulation, coercion and the exploitation of institutional and systemic gaps that allow abuse to continue with impunity. Understanding who these perpetrators are, how they operate and the conditions that enable them to thrive is essential to exposing their networks, disrupting exploitation and strengthening protection for those at risk.
Conflict zones: Taken in plain sight
In armed conflicts and state collapse, human trafficking serves both direct strategic military goals and indirect financial schemes. Factions controlling land, borders and supply lines forcibly recruit adults and children to serve as soldiers, porters, cooks and guards. In fragmented states such as Libya, formal agencies, border guards and detention facility managers act as quasi-state entities, using detention centers as commercial pools of unpaid labor. Meanwhile, violent extremist groups intercept refugees to forcibly recruit them into war. They also sell women and girls into sexual exploitation and use forced marriage as a tactic to terrorize communities.
Independent abductors and corrupt brokers profit from total institutional collapse through kidnapping and extortion. These networks operate through collaborative, decentralized or opportunistic business models, charging protection fees such as $500 per migrant. They demand high ransoms and often recycle victims through repeated cycles of detention and extortion to sustain war economies.
Domestic servitude: Behind closed doors
Unlike commercial trafficking, domestic servitude occurs behind closed doors in private households, making detection exceptionally difficult. The perpetrators of this crime range from private homeowners and extended relatives to high-ranking diplomatic households. Frequently, children are sent by their parents from impoverished rural areas to live with wealthier relatives and are then subjected to domestic servitude. Unfortunately, household staff employed by foreign diplomatic personnel often live and work under harsh conditions. Diplomatic immunity creates a legal gap that protects abusive employers from civil or criminal prosecution by domestic courts.
While securing cheap or unpaid domestic labor is a core financial driver, these employers are equally motivated by social status, power dynamics and lifestyle convenience. To maintain dominance, perpetrators systematically leverage economic dependence, language barriers and physical isolation to keep victims trapped, often forcing them to work from dawn to past midnight without rest.
Sexual exploitation: Beneath the surface at the Vietnam-China border
Recent research shows a significant connection between child marriage and human trafficking in Vietnam, particularly among girls from poorer, rural and ethnic minority communities. The US Department of State’s 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report describes how Vietnamese girls and women, particularly those from Hmong communities in northern border regions, are lured or abducted and taken to China for forced marriages. These marriages can involve additional forms of trafficking, including sexual exploitation and forced domestic labor.
Sophisticated cross-border networks, such as those along the Vietnam-China border, divide labor efficiently: local Vietnamese recruiters leverage cultural connections to groom victims, while Chinese distributors manage logistics, transport and buyers. Sociopolitical factors, such as China’s historic one-child policy, created severe gender imbalances that drive forced bride trafficking. Additionally, modern perpetrators increasingly rely on social media, translation tools and messaging apps to groom victims via fake job offers or romance scams. Combatting these perpetrator networks ultimately requires coordinated international law enforcement, digital safety education, closing legal loopholes, and providing survivor-centered medical and psychological recovery services.
Power Her Path: Empowering Trafficking Survivors and Vulnerable Migrants to Thrive is FAWCO’s 2026–2028 Human Rights Target Project, carried out in partnership with Pacific Links Foundation in Vietnam. The project supports women and girls who have survived human trafficking, forced labor or forced marriage, as well as those at risk of exploitation. Through emergency assistance, psychological and legal support, education, vocational training and employment opportunities, it aims to help survivors rebuild their lives and achieve long-term financial independence. FAWCO funding also supports initiatives such as a 24-hour survivor support line, business start-up training and community-based reintegration services.
