,i  #aaeth ,,congress  #ast ,session    
,h4 ,r4 #dff  ,,in ,,the ,,house ,,of   
,,representatives  ,january #ab1        
#bjag,mr4 ,hultgren 7for himself1 ,mr4  
,smith of ,new ,jersey1 ,mr4 ,mooney of 
,west ,virginia1 ,mr4 ,pittenger1 ,mr4  
,guthrie1 ,mr4 ,walberg1 and ,mrs4      
,carolyn ,b4 ,maloney of ,new ,york7    
introduced the following bill2 which was
 referred to the ,committee on ,foreign 
,affairs  ,a ,,bill  ,to amend the      
,trafficking ,victims ,protection ,act  
of #bjjj 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 trafficking4  #a4 ,short
 title ,this ,act may be cited as the   
,sex ,trafficking ,demand ,reduction    
,act4  #b4 ,findings ,congress finds the
 following3  7#a7 ,it has been the      
longstanding position of the ,united    
,states to reduce the demand for sex    
trafficking victims4 ,there is also a   
wide international consensus on the     

necessity of demand reduction in order  
to prevent human trafficking4  7#b7 ,the
 ,united ,nations ,protocol to ,prevent1
 ,suppress and ,punish ,trafficking in  
,persons1 ,especially ,women and        
,children1 ,supplementing the ,united   
,nations ,convention ,against           
,transnational ,organized ,crime of     
#bjjj 7also referred to as the ,palermo 
,protocol7s77 expressly addresses the   
requirement that nations make serious   
efforts to reduce demand for trafficked 
persons4  7#c7 ,article nine1 addressing
 prevention of human trafficking        
specifically directs that1 ,states      
,parties shall adopt or strengthen      
legislative or other measures1 such as  
educational1 social or cultural         
measures1 including through bilateral   
and multilateral cooperation1 to        
discourage the demand that fosters all  
forms of exploitation of persons1       
especially women and children1 that     
leads to trafficking44  7#d7 ,the       
,united ,nations ,protocol1 the ,europe 

,convention on ,action against ,human   
,trafficking1 and the #bjaa ,european   
,union ,directive of the ,european      
,parliament and the ,council on         
preventing and combating trafficking in 
human beings1 also specifically address 
the need to prevent human trafficking by
 reducing demand for trafficking        
victims4  7#e7 ,research has shown that 
legal prostitution increases the demand 
for prostituted persons and thus        
increases the market for sex4 ,as a     
result1 there is a significant increase 
in instances of human trafficking4  7#f7
 ,in #bjab researchers ,seo-,young ,cho1
 ,axel ,dreher1 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 trafficking1 
while the substitution effect reduces   
demand for trafficked prostitutes by    
favoring prostitutes who have legal     
residence in a country4  7#g7 ,in #bjje 

,di ,nicola and others provided         
descriptive statistics focusing on #aa  
,european ,union countries4 ,according  
to their results1 stricter prostitution 
laws are correlated with reduced flows  
of human trafficking4  7#h7 ,researchers
 ,niklas ,jakobsson and ,andreas        
,kotsadam found a casual link between   
legal prostitution and increases in     
human trafficking4 ,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 legalized4  7#i7        
,further data has demonstrated the      
correlation between the adoption of     
legislation that criminalizes demand and
 reductions in sex trafficking victims4 
#c4 ,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  7a7 ,in general ,section  
#ajh of the ,trafficking ,victims       
,protection ,act of #bjjj 7#bb ,u4,s4,c4
 #gajf7 is amended by adding at the end 
the following new subsection3  7c7      
,criteria with respect to commercial sex
 acts ,in determinations under          
subsection 7b77#ab77;,a71 if the        
government of the country has the       
authority to prohibit the purchase of   
commercial sex acts and fails to do so1 
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 acts1 notwithstanding    
other efforts made by the government to 
reduce the demand for commercial sex    
acts4  4  7b7 ,effective date ,the      
amendment made by subsection 7a7 takes  
effect on the date of the enactment of  
this ,act and applies with respect to   
determinations under subsection         
7b77#ab77;,a7 of section #ajh of the    

,trafficking ,victims ,protection ,act  
of #bjjj that are made on or after such 
date of enactment4