Criminal provisions addressing the following should be included in legislation to combat sex trafficking:

• Criminal sex trafficking offences by traffickers and buyers
• Attempt sex trafficking offences (those who attempt sex trafficking should be held accountable in line with the offence of “attempt” of other serious crimes)
• Aiding and abetting (those who assist and participate in the sex trafficking of others should be held accountable in line with the offence of “aiding and abetting” other serious offences)
• Accomplice liability for sex trafficking
• Organizing and directing others to commit sex trafficking offences
• Unlawful use of documents in furtherance of sex trafficking
• Unlawful disclosure of the identity of victims or witnesses
• Aggravating circumstances for sex trafficking offences
• Punishment for public officials involvement and complicity in trafficking and related exploitation

(See: UN Trafficking Protocol, Art.5; UNODC Model Law Against Trafficking in Persons, Chapters V and VII, 2009; UN Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking, Guideline 4(10); UNHCR Guidelines on International Protection: The application of Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention and/or 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees to victims of trafficking and persons at risk of being trafficked, Section II(d)(21-24), 9-10, 2006)

Drafters should review the common elements found in model legislation and existing laws against sex trafficking. (See Resources for Drafting Laws on Sex Trafficking) In addition, drafters should be aware of the effectiveness of current sex trafficking legislation by reviewing reports on the implementation of such laws. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the United States Department of State publish annual reports on trafficking in persons. Drafters should review these assessments of national governments’ responses to sex trafficking around the world in order to incorporate lessons learned into new draft laws on the sex trafficking of women and girls. Drafters may also wish to review the submissions of their respective national governments to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women as well as the concluding observations of this committee on the state party’s reports.  Shadow reports by non-governmental organizations should also be consulted whenever drafters review government submissions to ensure drafters are aware of the on-the-ground response to government efforts to draft and implement sex trafficking laws. 

The UNODC 2009 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons indicated that ninety-eight (63%) of the 155 countries and territories in its report had criminalized human trafficking. Twenty-seven of those countries had a specific offence of trafficking in persons restricted to some forms of exploitation and to some categories of victims (e.g., trafficking for sexual exploitation, child trafficking) or without a clear definition of the offence. In 2009, twenty-eight countries were ranked at Tier 1 as countries that fully comply with the United States Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s minimum standards according to the Trafficking in Persons Report. The Monitoring State Progress to Protect Children and Young People from Trafficking for Sexual Purposes report by ECPAT International reported that as of January 2010, only 29% of the forty-one countries surveyed have adequately criminalized child trafficking in line with the UN Trafficking Protocol. 

The criminal offence of sex trafficking typically includes three distinct components:  the acts by which sex trafficking is committed, the means by which sex trafficking is committed, and the purpose for which sex trafficking is committed.