Drafters should create provisions to address the need for public awareness that sex trafficking and prostitution are forms of violence against women and girls. When women and girls are trafficked or prostituted, their human rights are violated. Drafters should also create provisions to address the need for general public awareness about the risks of victimization, the dynamics of sex trafficking, including the demand for the sale of women and girls for sex, methods for reporting suspected recruitment activities, and information on hotlines and services. 

Promising Practice: According to the International Center for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy, the Division for Gender Equality in the Ministry of Integration and Gender Equality in the Swedish Government educates parliamentarians, government representatives, journalists, non-governmental organizations, and students about trafficking in human beings. This division also educates teachers and students in high schools by screening anti-trafficking films. The educational materials address issues of human trafficking, violence against women and girls, pornography, and prostitution. The Minister of Integration and Gender Equality of Sweden published a report in 2009 highlighting the government efforts taken “Against Prostitution and Human Trafficking for Sexual Purposes.” The report details progress toward the 2008 national action plan priority areas, including preventive work. The Swedish government outlines ten measures being taken to strengthen preventive work, which include:

• Evaluation and enhancement of measures directed at purchasers of sexual services
• Evaluation and enhancement of efforts on behalf of people in prostitution
• Greater focus on preventive work among young people
• Training for staff working with young people
• Methodological material for activities targeting young people
• Measures on behalf of women in penal care
• Further training for staff in compulsory and upper secondary schools
• Ethical guidelines in public administration
• Support for the activities of NGOs

(See: Against Prostitution and Human Trafficking for Sexual Purposes, 2009; Action Plan Against Prostitution and Human Trafficking for Sexual Purposes, 2008)

The Polaris Project Model Comprehensive State Legislation to Combat Trafficking in Persons recommends that the following components be included in public awareness programs:

(1)  Information about the risks of becoming a victim, including information about common recruitment techniques, use of debt bondage, and other coercive tactics, risk of maltreatment, rape, exposure to HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, and psychological harm related to victimization in trafficking cases;

(2)  Information about the risks of engaging in commercial sex and possible punishment; and

(3)  Information about victims’ rights;

(4)  Methods for reporting suspected recruitment activities; and

(5)  Information on hotlines and available victims’ services.

Article 34 of the UNODC Model Law Against Trafficking in Persons suggests that awareness should be raised about the following aspects of the demand:

• Products and services that are produced by exploitative and forced labour; to regulate, register and license private recruitment agencies;
• Sensitizing employers
  • Not to engage victims of trafficking or forced labour in their supply chain, whether through subcontracting or directly in their production;
  • To enforce labour standards through labour inspections and other relevant means;
  • To support the organization of workers;
  • To increase the protection of the rights of migrant workers; and/or
  • To criminalize the use of services of victims of trafficking or forced labour.

(See: UNODC Model Law Against Trafficking in Persons, Art. 34, 2009; See also Polaris Project Model Comprehensive State Legislation to Combat Trafficking in Persons, 2.4, 2006 and 2010 European Parliament Resolution on Preventing Trafficking in Human Beings)

The 2005 Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings specifically enumerates measures to discourage demand:

To discourage the demand that fosters all forms of exploitation of persons, especially women and children, that leads to trafficking, each Party shall adopt or strengthen legislative, administrative, educational, social, cultural or other measures including:

1. research on best practices, methods and strategies;
2. raising awareness of the responsibility and important role of media and civil society in identifying the demand as one of the root causes of trafficking in human beings;
3. target information campaigns involving, as appropriate, inter alia, public authorities and policy makers;
4. preventive measures, including educational programmes for boys and girls during their schooling, which stress the unacceptable nature of discrimination based on sex, and its disastrous consequences, the importance of gender equality and the dignity and integrity of every human being.

(See: 2005 Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings,Section 6)

The Colombian Human Trafficking Law contains a provision addressing the issue of demand related to the prevention of human trafficking. Article 5 provides that “The Colombian State, through the National Government of its judicial and police, and national and territorial authorities, bring forward measures and campaigns and programs to prevent trafficking in persons, grounded in the protection of Human Rights, which take into account that demand is one of its root causes; consider the factors that increase the vulnerability to trafficking, including inequality, poverty and discrimination in all its forms, and reflect the cultural and ethnic diversity of potential victims.” (See: Colombia Human Trafficking Law, Article 5, 2005 (Spanish))

Promising Practices: In Madrid, Spain, the public is educated about the demand through posters with the slogan “Because you pay, prostitution exists…Do not contribute to the perpetuation of 21^st century slavery.” (See: U.S. State Department 2009 Trafficking in Persons Report, 263, 2009) In Bulgaria, the organization “Demetra” has taken on several educational projects beginning in 2005, which includes:  Educating Burgas schools about the prevention of human trafficking, increasing the sensitivity of the general public about human trafficking of both adults and children, and educational programs for at risk children. (For more information, contact Demetra at demetra@unacs.bg) 

CASE STUDY: A film called Affected for Life has been produced by the UNODC's Anti-Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling Unit together with Danish Doc Production.  The film debuted at the European Union Ministerial Conference "Towards Global EU Action Against Human Trafficking" in October 2009 and will be used in the United Kingdom by the UK Human Trafficking Centre (UKHTC) as a part of its Blue Blindfold campaign.

The video is available in both full-length and abbreviated versions in English, with forthcoming versions in Arabic, French, Russian and Spanish. A 23 minute version of the film targets prosecutors, judges and criminal justice system professionals. The shorter 13 minute version of the film is aimed at raising awareness of what human trafficking is and how it is defined. To watch the short 13 minute version of the film, click here. To watch the long 23 minute version of the film, click here. (See: UNODC Anti-Human Trafficking Training Film, 2010)

Human rights practitioners suggest additional research on strategies to reduce the demand is needed because prevention efforts that focus on education, communication, and information alone have not led to a significant decline in the numbers of sex trafficking victims. An approach which shifts the focus to countries where men consume the sexual services of trafficked women is needed. (See: Trafficking in Human Beings and Sexual Exploitation: Preliminary Research on the Reduction of Demand, Human Rights without Frontiers, 2010)