[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4326 Introduced in House (IH)]
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116th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 4326
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
September 12, 2019
Mrs. Wagner (for herself, Mr. Jeffries, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, and
Mr. Walberg) 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 9, 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 in World Development
establishing that, ``The scale effect of legalized prostitution
leads to an expansion of the prostitution market, increasing
human trafficking . . . . On average, countries where
prostitution is legal experience larger reported human
trafficking inflows.''.
(7) In 2005, a study focused on 11 European Union countries
requested by the European Parliament's committee on Women's
Rights and Gender Equality and performed by Transcrime found
that stricter prostitution laws are correlated with fewer human
trafficking victims.
(8) Case studies published by researchers Niklas Jakobsson
and Andreas Kotsadam support the possibility of a causal link
between harsher prostitution laws and reduced 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.
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.--Paragraph (12) of section 108(b) of the
Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7106(b)) is
amended to read as follows:
``(12) Whether the government of the country has made
serious and sustained efforts to--
``(A) prohibit the purchase of commercial sex acts
to the extent such prohibition is within the authority
of the central government or implement a policy against
the purchase of commercial sex acts to the extent that
prohibition is not within the authority of the central
government;
``(B) educate buyers of commercial sex on how
traffickers exploit prostituted persons for human
trafficking; and
``(C) reduce demand for participation in
international sex tourism by nationals of the
country.''.
(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 (a)(4) of section 108 of the
Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 that are made on or after
such date of enactment.
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