According to Vardaman, who is the senior director for anti-trafficking organization Shared Hope International, H.R. 4703 “is a clear and specific mandate to the State Department” to target the demand for human trafficking. She told LifeSiteNews that Hultgren’s legislation would add teeth to the TIP report, which she said has been used effectively “with regard to demand.”
“We know that demand is why sex trafficking exists,” Vardaman explained. “If people weren’t buying commercial sex acts or demanding forced labor, there would be no trafficking.”
Vardaman says that Hultgren’s bill highlights that “if a country can prohibit purchase of commercial sex acts and fails to, then they should be considered to be failing to deter demand.” According to Vardaman, this means the nation is “failing to make serious efforts to eliminate trafficking.”
“The two are inextricably linked,” she says. “HR 4703 is a thoughtful, surgical approach to reinforcing the U.S. leadership on eliminating human trafficking globally.”
FULL STORY – LifeSiteNews – Bill would Punish Countries that Legalize Prostitution for Driving Human Trafficking and Sex Slavery
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