Physical violence in human trafficking
Physical violence is not only severe assault. It includes any use of force or physical restriction used to control you, punish you, intimidate you, exploit you, or make you obey.
It can be slapping, punching, kicking, pushing, burning, choking, shaking, physically overpowering, restraining, or pinning to a wall or other surface. It can be having your hair pulled or your body grabbed aggressively. It can be being forced into a car against your will. It can be being physically punished for not earning enough money.
Physical violence also includes the use of objects or weapons to hurt you or threaten you. Even if an object is not used, displaying it to frighten you can be a form of physical intimidation.
It may include throwing objects at you, breaking things near you, punching walls, or damaging property to make you afraid. It can involve hurting or threatening to hurt someone else, including a child or an animal, in order to control you.
Physical violence can also involve deprivation. You may have been denied sleep, food, water, hygiene, medication, or medical care as a way of weakening you or keeping you dependent. It can be forced to consume drugs or alcohol.
Physical violence can also take the form of confinement and movement control. You may have been locked inside an apartment, a workplace, a hotel room, or a house. You may have been blocked from leaving by taking your keys, or physically positioning themselves, e.g., someone standing in the doorway so you could not pass. You may have been told you could not leave without permission.
You may have been accompanied everywhere so that you were never alone. You may have been watched through cameras or tracked through your phone. Your passport or identity documents may have been taken “for safekeeping”. You may have been prevented from accessing transportation. You may have been moved repeatedly between cities or countries so that you could not build connections or ask for help. You may have been dropped off and picked up in ways that made escape impossible.
You may have appeared to move freely in public, but someone may have been monitoring you, waiting nearby, or controlling your schedule so tightly that leaving felt impossible. Physical control does not require chains to be real.
You may have been forced to continue working despite illness, pregnancy, injury, or extreme exhaustion. It may include being exposed to dangerous or unsafe conditions without protection, or being placed in situations where you could be harmed. You may have been denied access to medical treatment as a way of punishing you or keeping you dependent.
Even brief incidents can have long-term psychological impact, creating anxiety, hypervigilance, or a sense of being trapped.
If someone uses their body to scare, control, or force you, that is physical violence. You don’t need to have visible injuries for it to be real. It is not discipline, it is not normal, and you don’t deserve it.
