Sex Trafficking Demand Reduction Act
Amends the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 to declare that, in determining whether a government has made serious and sustained efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts and participation in international sex tourism by its nationals, pursuant to the minimum standards for the elimination of sex trafficking, if such government has the authority to prohibit the purchase of commercial sex acts but fails to do so, it shall be deemed a failure to make serious and sustained efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts, notwithstanding other efforts the government has made to do so.
[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 611 Introduced in House (IH)]
114th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 611
To amend the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 relating to
determinations with respect to efforts of foreign countries to reduce
demand for commercial sex acts under the minimum standards for the
elimination of trafficking.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 28, 2015
Mr. Hultgren (for himself, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Mr. Johnson of
Ohio, Mr. Walberg, Mr. Pitts, Mr. Ribble, and Mrs. Hartzler) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign
Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 relating to
determinations with respect to efforts of foreign countries to reduce
demand for commercial sex acts under the minimum standards for the
elimination of trafficking.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Sex Trafficking Demand Reduction
Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) It has been the longstanding position of the United
States to reduce the demand for sex trafficking victims. There
is also a wide international consensus on the necessity of
demand reduction in order to prevent human trafficking.
(2) The United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and
Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children,
Supplementing the United Nations Convention Against
Transnational Organized Crime of 2000 (also referred to as the
``Palermo Protocol(s)'') expressly addresses the requirement
that nations make serious efforts to reduce demand for
trafficked persons.
(3) Article nine, addressing prevention of human
trafficking specifically directs that, ``States Parties shall
adopt or strengthen legislative or other measures, such as
educational, social or cultural measures, including through
bilateral and multilateral cooperation, to discourage the
demand that fosters all forms of exploitation of persons,
especially women and children, that leads to trafficking.''.
(4) The United Nations Protocol, the Europe Convention on
Action against Human Trafficking, and the 2011 European Union
Directive of the European Parliament and the Council on
preventing and combating trafficking in human beings, also
specifically address the need to prevent human trafficking by
reducing demand for trafficking victims.
(5) Research has shown that legal prostitution increases
the demand for prostituted persons and thus increases the
market for sex. As a result, there is a significant increase in
instances of human trafficking.
(6) In 2012 researchers Seo-Young Cho, Axel Dreher, and
Eric Neumayer published their findings that demonstrated ``the
scale effect of legalizing prostitution leads to an expansion
of the prostitution market and thus an increase in human
trafficking, while the substitution effect reduces demand for
trafficked prostitutes by favoring prostitutes who have legal
residence in a country''.
(7) In 2005 Di Nicola and others provided descriptive
statistics focusing on 11 European Union countries. According
to their results, stricter prostitution laws are correlated
with reduced flows of human trafficking.
(8) Researchers Niklas Jakobsson and Andreas Kotsadam found
a casual link between legal prostitution and increases in human
trafficking. Jakobsson and Kotsadam found that trafficking of
persons for commercial sexual exploitation is least prevalent
in countries where prostitution is illegal and most prevalent
in countries where prostitution is legalized.
(9) Further data has demonstrated the correlation between
the adoption of legislation that criminalizes demand and
reductions in sex trafficking victims.
SEC. 3. AMENDMENT RELATING TO DETERMINATIONS WITH RESPECT TO EFFORTS OF
FOREIGN COUNTRIES TO REDUCE DEMAND FOR COMMERCIAL SEX
ACTS UNDER THE MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR THE ELIMINATION OF
TRAFFICKING.
(a) In General.--Section 108 of the Trafficking Victims Protection
Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7106) is amended by adding at the end the
following new subsection:
``(c) Criteria With Respect to Commercial Sex Acts.--In
determinations under subsection (b)(12)(A), if the government of the
country has the authority to prohibit the purchase of commercial sex
acts and fails to do so, such failure to prohibit the purchase of
commercial sex acts shall be deemed to be a failure on the part of the
government to make serious and sustained efforts to reduce the demand
for commercial sex acts, notwithstanding other efforts made by the
government to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts.''.
(b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) takes
effect on the date of the enactment of this Act and applies with
respect to determinations under subsection (b)(12)(A) of section 108 of
the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 that are made on or
after such date of enactment.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations.
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