
Interactive Map of TIP Cases and Incidents
Interactive Map of TIP Cases and Incidents
Select the highlighted text for cases from each region.







Labor Trafficking and Sex Trafficking
Human Trafficking in the Balkans
In 2000, in response to multiple reports and incidents of human trafficking by U.S. contractors accompanying DoD military in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the DoD Inspector General (IG) launched an investigation. The investigation was driven by reports of contractors involved not just in the purchase of sex in bars and brothels in the area, but by incidents of actual purchase of persons for both labor and sex in contractor employee apartments and living quarters. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation found that while some prime contractors tried to monitor their employees’ activities and address employee misconduct, anecdotal evidence suggested some level of DoD contractor employee involvement in activities related to human trafficking in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo.
Sex Trafficking and Labor Trafficking
Sex Trafficking in South Korea
In March 2002, near Camp Casey in South Korea, Fox News footage revealed U.S. Army Military Police on “courtesy patrol”—armed and in uniform—in bars and brothels where trafficked women from Russia, the Philippines, and South Korea were forced into prostitution. These brothels were primarily patronized by U.S. Soldiers, and the MPs were reportedly instructed to patrol these locations in case any soldiers got into trouble. An MP was caught on camera admitting that the women's passports were confiscated by traffickers and that the women were then sold at “auctions” to bar owners—a classic case of human trafficking. Congress called for an investigation saying: “If U.S. soldiers are patrolling or frequenting these establishments, the military is in effect helping to line the pockets of human traffickers rather than furthering our country's commitment... ‘to put an end to this abomination against humanity.’”
Forced-Labor Produced Goods in Commissaries and Exchanges
In 2013, a fire in the Rana Plaza garment sector in Bangladesh killed over 1,000 people trapped in unsafe conditions. Investigators found that DoD-branded T-shirts and backpacks were produced in those factories. In 2021, the NDAA highlighted vulnerabilities in DoD resale agencies' supply chains related to forced labor. DoD operated around 240 commissaries and 2,500 exchanges worldwide, providing groceries and retail goods at reduced prices for service members, families, and retirees, generating over $1 billion annually in apparel sales. A recent GAO audit revealed that DoD’s resale organizations have inconsistent policies and processes to prevent the resale of goods made with forced labor, leading to a fragmented approach across these organizations.
Sex Trafficking
Trafficking-related case in Colombia
In 2012, a security team comprised of U.S. Secret Service and U.S. military members was investigated for misconduct occurring during an economic summit attended by President Obama in Cartagena, Columbia. The misconduct included heavy drinking and a trip to a strip club, where the men allegedly paid women for sex in their hotel rooms. After the Columbian police reported the matter to the U.S. Embassy, eight of the Secret Service members resigned or left their positions, one had his security clearance revoked, and three others were charged with misconduct. In DoD, an investigation led to criminal charges and courts-martial, dishonorable discharges, and revocation of security clearances. A Congressional inquiry found that it was a clear security breach that threatened the U.S. President and U.S. officials attending the summit.
Sex Trafficking, Labor Trafficking, and Child Soldiering
Yazidi Sex Slaves in ISIS Territory
In Northern Iraq and Syria, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) kidnapped and enslaved thousands of women from Yazidi communities. ISIS used sex trafficking as a recruiting tactic, a tool for profit, and a strategic approach to subjugate civilians and destabilize communities. These women were subjected to rape, sexual assault, forced marriages, forced conversions, sexual slavery, and other abuses. ISIS generated significant revenue from bartering and selling women as commodities through ISIS-run courts. ISIS used the victims as recruiting incentives, promising to reward male fighters with sex slaves. The group also used the abduction and subjugation of women as a tactic to destroy Yazidi communities. Many Yazidi women victims returning home faced discrimination or alienation if they returned with children whose fathers were ISIS fighters. This case illustrates the concern that women and girls bear unique and sometimes disproportionate, impacts of armed conflict, including trafficking and slavery.
Labor Trafficking on Military Bases
Over the past two decades, the U.S. military has regularly outsourced its overseas base-support responsibilities in the CENTCOM region to “Other Country Nationals” (OCNs) hired by private contractors to perform tasks like cooking, cleaning, laundry, construction, and security. DoD IG investigations and GAO Reports uncovered harsh working and living conditions, pay as little as $150 per month for 12-hour days, no time off, and restricted communication with the outside world. OCN interviews revealed that workers for forced to pay large and illegal recruitment fees. The OCNs reported that their passports were confiscated, compelling them to remain in jobs where they faced abuse. They described experiencing “bait and switch" tactics, whereby they signed inferior contracts for lower-paying positions in conflict zones after being promised lucrative employment in European or Gulf countries. In several sites, the situations became “insider threats” because mistreated employees threatened the site managers on base in a war zone.
Child Soldiers in Afghanistan
In 2012, armed terrorist groups in Afghanistan recruited 47 children as child soldiers. The terrorist group primarily used the children to manufacture and plant improvised explosive devices and to transport provisions. In addition, at least ten children were used to conduct suicide attacks. A 16-year-old boy killed himself conducting a suicide attack at the entrance to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) headquarters in Kabul. During the attack, seven children were killed, and two others were injured.
Sex Trafficking and Labor Trafficking
Child Pornography Production as Trafficking in Virginia
In 2015, Navy Lieutenant and Top Gun pilot Daniel Chase Harris, stationed at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach, Virginia, was sentenced to 600 months in prison for child pornography crimes, including production, possession, receipt, and transportation of child pornography, and obstruction of justice. According to court records, Harris posed online as a teenage boy to convince young teen girls between the ages of 12 and 17 to send him risqué pictures of themselves. He then extorted the girls to send him additional sexually graphic and explicit images by threatening them with posting the images online or sending the images to family or friends. There were nine victims in the case. At sentencing, District Judge Mark S. Davis stated Harris’ actions were “sadistic” and equated to “torture.” After conviction, prosecutors alleged that Harris offered military secrets to Chinese officials to get him out of jail.
Labor Trafficking after Hurricane Katrina
In 2015, a New Orleans jury awarded five Indian men $14 million after they were lured to the United States to work for a ship repair firm, only to be met with inhumane working conditions. The ship repair firm, a DoD subcontractor, recruited nearly 500 Indian men to be guest workers repairing ships damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Each worker paid their employers $10,000 in recruitment fees in exchange for work and a promise of permanent U.S. residency for their families. The suit is one of more than a dozen suits representing 200 plaintiffs. When the men arrived at the U.S. shipyards, they learned that they would not be receiving any of the promised documentation for their families. The men were also charged $1,050 per month to live in secure labor camps where up to 24 men lived in a single room.


Child Soldiering
Child Soldiers in Africa
During the Sierra Leone Civil War from 1991 - 2002, soldiers in the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) swept through towns and cities and forcibly recruited children as child soldiers. Experts estimate that between 100,000 -140,000 child soldiers were forced to fight, steal, loot, kill, burn houses, and commit atrocities as part of the war. Children were also used as cooks, spies, sex slaves. One estimate says 30% of the children were girls. Said one former child soldier who lived through it, "You’d see them in groups, take a girl and go into the room and they come back out, three men, all sweating, and you heard the girl crying and shouting. Sometimes you just hear a gunshot, like bam. The desire was to recruit us all into the fighting forces. Part of their method for getting children to do what they wanted to do was to force us to take drugs. You can never unsee these atrocities." Other African countries that have had child soldiers include the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan.