What is UNODCs stance on prostitution?
It is important to note that when the Trafficking In Persons Protocol was negotiated, Member States decided to keep the issue of prostitution within the domain of national competence – that is, as a question of national policy for the discretion of States. A definition of exploitation is not given in the Protocol. Only a minimum list of offences that should be recognized by Member States is provided. The Protocol only mentions the “exploitation of the prostitution of others” as being a form of exploitation of the crime of human trafficking. Otherwise, there is no basis for stating an opinion on prostitution other than in the context of human trafficking. While countries take very different approaches to prostitution (the range of national policies include complete prohibition and criminalization of both prostitutes and clients, through decriminalization combined with regulation and decriminalization combined with mere toleration, to legalization), there is no settled opinion yet regard
