National Campaign to End Demand

With a strong and committed group of partners, Demand Abolition is launching a multi-year, multi-stakeholder campaign to eradicate demand for commercial sexual exploitation in the United States and to cultivate a culture that does not tolerate the buying and selling of bodies. This collaborative effort will bring together practitioners, law enforcement personnel, survivors, academics, corporate leaders, and policymakers to begin a national dialogue on demand and to identify and implement pragmatic, evidence-based, sustainable demand-reduction interventions.

As a first step, Demand Abolition has contracted Abt Associates, Inc. to develop several possible frameworks that will create the foundation for a national action plan to guide this ambitious initiative and to mobilize action. Through the leadership of Dr. Michael Shively, Abt has conducted a landscape analysis to assess current demand-reduction programs, practices, and policies; highlight gaps; and identify untapped resources. The challenges and opportunities of Abt’s strategy recommendations were examined during a May 2010 national planning meeting, hosted by the Embrey Family Foundation and Hunt Alternatives Fund, of some 60 experts from around the world. (Review the executive summary from the national planning meeting here.)

As a next step, a steering committee, made up of members across sectors and disciplines, will study the Abt report and emerge with recommendations for a national action plan. We’ll move into the last phase of strategic planning in the fall of 2010 and formally launch the national campaign in early 2011.


Download Abt Associates' National Action Plan Report

 Download the executive summary.
 Download the full report.