I 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6420 

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, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 18, 2022 

Mrs. WAGNER (for herself, Mr. CRENSHAW, and Mrs. RODGERS of Washington) 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, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Sex Trafficking De5 mand Reduction Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) It has been the longstanding position of the 

2 United States to reduce the demand for sex traf3 ficking victims. There is also a wide international 

4 consensus on the necessity of demand reduction in 

5 order to prevent human trafficking. 

6 (2) The United Nations Protocol to Prevent, 

7 Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Espe8 cially Women and Children, Supplementing the 

9 United Nations Convention Against Transnational 

10 Organized Crime of 2000 (also referred to as the 

11 ‘‘Palermo Protocol(s)’’) expressly addresses the re12 quirement that nations make serious efforts to re13 duce demand for trafficked persons. 

14 (3) Article 9, addressing prevention of human 

15 trafficking, specifically directs that, ‘‘States Parties 

16 shall adopt or strengthen legislative or other meas17 ures, such as educational, social or cultural meas18 ures, including through bilateral and multilateral co19 operation, to discourage the demand that fosters all 

20 forms of exploitation of persons, especially women 

21 and children, that leads to trafficking.’’. 

22 (4) The United Nations Protocol, the Europe 

23 Convention on Action against Human Trafficking, 

24 and the 2011 European Union Directive of the Eu25 ropean Parliament and the Council on preventing 


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1 and combating trafficking in human beings also spe2 cifically address the need to prevent human traf3 ficking by reducing demand for trafficking victims. 

4 (5) Research has shown that legal prostitution 

5 increases the demand for prostituted persons and 

6 thus increases the market for sex. As a result, there 

7 is a significant increase in instances of human traf8 ficking. 

9 (6) In 2012, researchers Seo-Young Cho, Axel 

10 Dreher, and Eric Neumayer published their findings 

11 in World Development establishing that, ‘‘The scale 

12 effect of legalized prostitution leads to an expansion 

13 of the prostitution market, increasing human traf14 ficking . . . . On average, countries where prostitu15 tion is legal experience larger reported human traf16 ficking inflows.’’. 

17 (7) In 2005, a study focused on 11 European 

18 Union countries requested by the European Par19 liament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender 

20 Equality and performed by Transcrime found that 

21 stricter prostitution laws are correlated with fewer 

22 human trafficking victims. 

23 (8) Case studies published by researchers 

24 Niklas Jakobsson and Andreas Kotsadam support 

25 the possibility of a causal link between harsher prosVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:56 Jan 21, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6420.IH H6420

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1 titution laws and reduced human trafficking. 

2 Jakobsson and Kotsadam found that trafficking of 

3 persons for commercial sexual exploitation is least 

4 prevalent in countries where prostitution is illegal 

5 and most prevalent in countries where prostitution is 

6 legalized. 

7 (9) Further data have demonstrated the cor8 relation between the adoption of legislation that 

9 criminalizes demand and reductions in sex traf10 ficking. 

11 SEC. 3. MODIFICATIONS TO FACTORS FOR CONSIDERATION 

12 FOR MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR ELIMI13 NATION OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (12) of section 108(b) 

15 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 

16 U.S.C. 7106(b)) is amended to read as follows: 

17 ‘‘(12) Whether the government of the country 

18 has made serious and sustained efforts to— 

19 ‘‘(A) prohibit the purchase of commercial 

20 sex acts, to the extent such prohibition is within 

21 the authority of such government, or implement 

22 a policy against the purchase of commercial sex 

23 acts, if such prohibition cannot be instituted; 


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1 ‘‘(B) educate buyers of commercial sex on 

2 how traffickers exploit prostituted persons for 

3 human trafficking; 

4 ‘‘(C) reduce demand for participation in 

5 international sex tourism by nationals of the 

6 country, including through arrests, prosecu7 tions, and convictions; and 

8 ‘‘(D) ensure that anti-trafficking-in-per9 sons training and provisions are incorporated 

10 into codes of conduct for the staff of the gov11 ernment, to the extent that such ability is with12 in the authority of the government.’’. 

13 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

14 subsection (a) takes effect on the date of the enactment 

15 of this Act and applies with respect to determinations 

16 under subsection (a)(4) of section 108 of the Trafficking 

17 Victims Protection Act of 2000 that are made on or after 

18 such date of enactment. 

Æ 


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