Sexual slavery is when unwilling people are coerced into slavery for sexual exploitation. The incidence of sexual slavery by country has been studied and tabulated by UNESCO, with the cooperation of various international agencies. Sexual slavery may include single-owner sexual slavery, ritual slavery sometimes associated with certain religious practices, slavery for primarily non-sexual purposes but where non-consensual sex is common, or forced prostitution. The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action calls for an international response in order to attempt to eradicate sexual slavery on the basis that it is a human rights issue.

According to the Rome Statute (Article 7(2)(c)), sexual enslavement is the exercise of any or all of the powers attached to the "right of ownership" over a person. It may comprise repeated sexual abuse or rape by the captor or forcing the victim to provide sexual services to others, or both. The crime is a continuing offence. The Rome Statute's definition of sexual slavery includes situations where persons are forced into domestic servitude, marriage or any other forced labour that involves sexual activity, as well as the trafficking of persons for sexual purposes, frequently women and children.

Sunitha Krishnan, born in 1972, is an Indian social activist and chief functionary and co-founder of Prajwala, an institution that assists trafficked women and girls in finding shelter. The organization also helps pay for the education of five thousand children infected with HIV/AIDS in Hyderabad. Prajwala’s “second-generation” prevention program operates in 17 transition centers and has served thousands of children of prostituted mothers. The NGO’s strategy is to remove women from brothels by giving their children education and career opportunities. Krishnan and her staff train survivors in carpentry, welding, printing, masonry and housekeeping.

Born in Bangalore, she did her Ph.D. (Social Work), MSW (Psychiatric Social Work) and B.Sc. (Environmental Science).

Sunitha Krishnan works in the areas of as anti-human trafficking, psychiatric rehabilitation and social policy. She was invited to speak at TEDIndia 2009 at Infosys Campus, Mysore.

"She brought the house down in Mysore today.(TED Video) And by that, I mean that she broke hearts and moved people to action. The audience listened painfully to some of the stories of the more than 3,200 girls she has rescued, girls who had endured unimaginable torture and yet, somehow, nevertheless found the will to heal and thrive. She spoke of the need for everyone to overcome silence about the phenomenon of human trafficking, the modern form of slavery, and for us not only to offer our love and compassion to its victims, but to be willing to accept them in our communities. She admitted that rescuing girls is never a very safe business, sharing that she can no longer hear out of her right ear, and that she has been beaten up during interventions more than a dozen times. Her strong voice and powerful body language ensured that no one could claim to have misunderstood her points." — The Shambhala Sun Report, TED 2009