The UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children (Palermo Protocol) defines trafficking as the "Recruitment, transportation or receipt of persons, by means of threat, use of force, coercion, fraud, deception, abuse of power or of situations of vulnerability, or by means of payment or financial gain in obtaining the consent of a person to relinquish control over another person for the purpose of exploitation...". The same protocol considers trafficking in persons, especially women and children, for forced labour and exploitation, including sexual exploitation, to be one of the most appalling human rights violations.

Trafficking affects all countries, whether as a place of origin, trafficking or destination of victims and, according to the Women’s Foundation, Spain is one of the main countries where trafficked networks are controlled and trafficked.