ABSTRACT
A diversity of actors participate in labor trafficking, ranging from diplomats and employees of multinational organizations to large-scale criminal organizations in Asia. In between these two extremes are small-scale entrepreneurs, who seize on the demand and desire of many to gain meaningful employment.1 This paper will focus on the organized smuggling and trafficking networks that move individuals for labor exploitation, rather than on the elite individuals who move individuals to be used in their home or on their property. Trafficking networks include both economically and politically motivated
criminals. Both categories of traffickers often intersect with the larger world of transnational crime. They obtain false documents for their victims from criminal specialists, hire thugs from outside their network to intimidate laborers and move their proceeds through established money-laundering channels. The trafficking networks also interact with the legitimate world as they advertise their products, move their victims through public transport and secure visas from public officials.
