(1) It has been the longstanding position of the 
United States to reduce the demand for sex traf-
ficking 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, Espe-
cially 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 re-
quirement that nations make serious efforts to re-
duce demand for trafficked persons. 
(3) Article 9, addressing prevention of human 
trafficking, specifically directs that, ‘‘States Parties 
shall adopt or strengthen legislative or other meas-
ures, such as educational, social or cultural meas-
ures, including through bilateral and multilateral co-
operation, 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 Eu-
ropean Parliament and the Council on preventing 
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and combating trafficking in human beings also spe-
cifically address the need to prevent human traf-
ficking 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 traf-
ficking. 
(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 traf-
ficking . . . . On average, countries where prostitu-
tion is legal experience larger reported human traf-
ficking inflows.’’. 
(7) In 2005, a study focused on 11 European 
Union countries requested by the European Par-
liament’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 pros-
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titution 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 have demonstrated the cor-
relation between the adoption of legislation that 
criminalizes demand and reductions in sex traf-
ficking. 
SEC. 3. MODIFICATIONS TO FACTORS FOR CONSIDERATION 
FOR 
MINIMUM 
STANDARDS 
FOR 
ELIMI-
NATION OF HUMAN 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 such government, or implement 
a policy against the purchase of commercial sex 
acts, if such prohibition cannot be instituted; 
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‘‘(B) educate buyers of commercial sex on 
how traffickers exploit prostituted persons for 
human trafficking; 
‘‘(C) reduce demand for participation in 
international sex tourism by nationals of the 
country, including through arrests, prosecu-
tions, and convictions; and 
‘‘(D) ensure that anti-trafficking-in-per-
sons training and provisions are incorporated 
into codes of conduct for the staff of the gov-
ernment, to the extent that such ability is with-
in the authority of the government.’’. 
(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. 
Æ 
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