This paper has been prepared to provide some broad background material for the workshop regarding organized crime and human trafficking that took place during Vienna Forum .A number of transnational organized crime groups are heavily involved in human trafficking. On the other hand, human trafficking is also carried out by actors who are not part of transnational organized crime groups or even non-transnational organized crime groups. The start point for discussing the relationship between transnational organized crime and trafficking in persons must be the definitions of both trafficking in persons and transnational organized crime and an exploration of how these concepts interact with each other.