The cases of human trafficking that receive the most media attention and the most extensive action by governments, police, and nongovernmental agencies involve trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation. The growing awareness of human rights violations in these cases resulted in the development of new international law and a host of national and international initiatives. In order to develop a list of some of the human rights violations that can occur in any trafficking case, this chapter presents four case studies from recent research. The cases involve forced work in a family shop during the day and prostitution at night; migrant work in multiple industries that include agriculture, construction, the food industry, and restaurants; and coercion in various types of work, including late payment of wages, confiscation of papers, and threats of reporting them to the authorities or not renewing work permits. Current approaches to countering trafficking in humans fail to address prevention effectively, as they focus on sex and crime. Even organizations that address prevention too often emphasize short-term measures. Those that address longer term prevention stop at national measures. Current policy responses to trafficking are too restricted if they focus only on migration law enforcement and violations of human rights law. This chapter proposes a cosmopolitan approach to the long-term prevention of trafficking. This includes an analysis of global root causes of human trafficking and strategies that include local, national, and international components. 9 notes and 25 references