Sex Trafficking Demand Reduction Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4326 To amend the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 relating to deter- minations 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 Com- mittee on Foreign Affairs A BILL To amend the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 relating to determinations with respect to efforts of for- eign 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 Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Sex Trafficking De- 4 mand Reduction Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:23 Sep 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4326.IH H4326 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 4326 IH (1) It has been the longstanding position of the 1 United States to reduce the demand for sex traf- 2 ficking victims. There is also a wide international 3 consensus on the necessity of demand reduction in 4 order to prevent human trafficking. 5 (2) The United Nations Protocol to Prevent, 6 Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Espe- 7 cially Women and Children, Supplementing the 8 United Nations Convention Against Transnational 9 Organized Crime of 2000 (also referred to as the 10 ‘‘Palermo Protocol(s)’’) expressly addresses the re- 11 quirement that nations make serious efforts to re- 12 duce demand for trafficked persons. 13 (3) Article 9, addressing prevention of human 14 trafficking, specifically directs that, ‘‘States Parties 15 shall adopt or strengthen legislative or other meas- 16 ures, such as educational, social or cultural meas- 17 ures, including through bilateral and multilateral co- 18 operation, to discourage the demand that fosters all 19 forms of exploitation of persons, especially women 20 and children, that leads to trafficking.’’. 21 (4) The United Nations Protocol, the Europe 22 Convention on Action against Human Trafficking, 23 and the 2011 European Union Directive of the Eu- 24 ropean Parliament and the Council on preventing 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:23 Sep 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4326.IH H4326 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 4326 IH and combating trafficking in human beings also spe- 1 cifically address the need to prevent human traf- 2 ficking by reducing demand for trafficking victims. 3 (5) Research has shown that legal prostitution 4 increases the demand for prostituted persons and 5 thus increases the market for sex. As a result, there 6 is a significant increase in instances of human traf- 7 ficking. 8 (6) In 2012, researchers Seo-Young Cho, Axel 9 Dreher, and Eric Neumayer published their findings 10 in World Development establishing that, ‘‘The scale 11 effect of legalized prostitution leads to an expansion 12 of the prostitution market, increasing human traf- 13 ficking . . . . On average, countries where prostitu- 14 tion is legal experience larger reported human traf- 15 ficking inflows.’’. 16 (7) In 2005, a study focused on 11 European 17 Union countries requested by the European Par- 18 liament’s committee on Women’s Rights and Gender 19 Equality and performed by Transcrime found that 20 stricter prostitution laws are correlated with fewer 21 human trafficking victims. 22 (8) Case studies published by researchers 23 Niklas Jakobsson and Andreas Kotsadam support 24 the possibility of a causal link between harsher pros- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:23 Sep 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4326.IH H4326 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 4326 IH titution laws and reduced human trafficking. Ja- 1 kobsson and Kotsadam found that trafficking of per- 2 sons for commercial sexual exploitation is least prev- 3 alent in countries where prostitution is illegal and 4 most prevalent in countries where prostitution is le- 5 galized. 6 (9) Further data has demonstrated the correla- 7 tion between the adoption of legislation that crim- 8 inalizes demand and reductions in sex trafficking. 9 SEC. 3. AMENDMENT RELATING TO DETERMINATIONS 10 WITH RESPECT TO EFFORTS OF FOREIGN 11 COUNTRIES TO REDUCE DEMAND FOR COM- 12 MERCIAL SEX ACTS UNDER THE MINIMUM 13 STANDARDS FOR THE ELIMINATION OF TRAF- 14 FICKING. 15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (12) of section 108(b) 16 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 17 U.S.C. 7106(b)) is amended to read as follows: 18 ‘‘(12) Whether the government of the country 19 has made serious and sustained efforts to— 20 ‘‘(A) prohibit the purchase of commercial 21 sex acts to the extent such prohibition is within 22 the authority of the central government or im- 23 plement a policy against the purchase of com- 24 mercial sex acts to the extent that prohibition 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:23 Sep 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4326.IH H4326 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 4326 IH is not within the authority of the central gov- 1 ernment; 2 ‘‘(B) educate buyers of commercial sex on 3 how traffickers exploit prostituted persons for 4 human trafficking; and 5 ‘‘(C) reduce demand for participation in 6 international sex tourism by nationals of the 7 country.’’. 8 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 9 subsection (a) takes effect on the date of the enactment 10 of this Act and applies with respect to determinations 11 under subsection (a)(4) of section 108 of the Trafficking 12 Victims Protection Act of 2000 that are made on or after 13 such date of enactment. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:23 Sep 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4326.IH H4326 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS