Human trafficking

As part of the Office of the New York State Attorney General's (OAG) initiative to combat sex and labor trafficking, the OAG has implemented the Upstate Task Force to:

• investigate potential cases
• prosecute perpetrators
• connect survivors with service providers who specialize in their unique needs

This task force combines the resources of the OAG's Labor and Civil Rights Bureaus and the Organized Crime Task Force. The Upstate Task Force works to quickly investigate and prosecute trafficking matters and to identify the various civil, labor, and criminal claims to pursue in each instance.

What is human trafficking?

Human trafficking happens around the world, affecting millions of individuals each year. According to the Palermo Protocol, human trafficking, or “trafficking in persons:"

• means the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons
• involves the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability, or the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to get the consent of a person to have control over another person
• is performed to exploit others. Exploitation includes profiting from the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude, or the removal of organs