A/HRC/56/48 acts of violence; collectively, they create a demand for an inherently violent system built on the sexual subordination of women and girls. Perpetrators come from all walks of life,115 from various socioeconomic and racial backgrounds. To satisfy buyers’ demand, third parties that organize and profit from prostitution also commit significant violence against victims. Predominantly taking the form of organized criminal networks, pimps or gangs, the act of pimping is committed sometimes by family members, partners, friends or other persons the victims trust. Figures in positions of power within law enforcement, the judiciary, religious leaders, media outlets, the hotel business or online and digital platforms may also act as thirdparty perpetrators of violence.116 State institutions may also create and foster conditions for increasing the risks of women and girls being vulnerable to entering prostitution, remaining trapped in it and being unable to exit it. States may also deliberately fail to protect prostituted women and girls because they benefit financially from the exploitation and abuse of prostituted women and girls. It is therefore relevant to speak of the “pimping State” – a State that leads efforts to sanitize and legitimize prostitution, thereby promoting the industry and render invisible its inherent exploitation.117 Such goals may be achieved through a variety of actions, such as criminalizing and punishing women and girls while turning a blind eye to the activities and financial gains made by pimps, or failing to take steps to stem demand or hold sexual act buyers and pimps accountable. VI. Legal and policy models on prostitution 27. Most States have specific legislation that governs the prostitution system. Prostitutionrelated provisions are not stand-alone, but usually integrated into administrative and criminal law. Many have ratified related international law, including anti-trafficking conventions, but have domestic laws that contradict the State’s international commitments. Generally, the detection and identification of victims of trafficking in women and girls remain low. Broadly speaking, there are four main legal frameworks that govern prostitution at the national level, with variations therein. Some legal approaches criminalize all or certain actors related to prostitution, and all criminalize sexual exploitation, especially in the context of conflict and war. 28. The prohibition approach, also known as criminalization, sanctions all actors involved, often on moralistic, cultural and/or religious grounds, and is practiced in such States as China, the Islamic Republic of Iran and most of the United States of America.118 Some States, such as the Russian Federation119 and Lebanon,120 sanction persons exploited in prostitution as well as actors organizing and benefiting from it, without criminalizing sexual act buyers. Some countries prohibit profiting from prostitution and third-party exploitation, even though those rules are rarely enforced. The impact of this approach is often discriminatory in that prostituted women and girls suffer most of the consequences; they are most often arrested and prosecuted, socially marginalized, persecuted, incriminated and incarcerated.121 They face barriers in housing, health and financial services, schooling for their children, and access to justice. Police and law enforcement officers in these countries are frequently reported as perpetrators of violence, as victims are more likely to be exposed to police raids, extortion, deportation and sexual abuse and violence. In other countries, prostitution can be administered or condoned under visa or labour mobility schemes, and immigration authorities may be involved in the prostitution system.122 Exit or support services under such frameworks usually do not exist,123 except for rehabilitation programmes, which are conceived often as form of punishment. Buyers of prostitution are rarely 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 10 Submission by IROKO. Submission by Afghan Women EU. K. Banyard, Pimp State, 2017. See https://prostitution.procon.org/countries-and-their-prostitution-policies/. Submission by Safe House Foundation. Submission by Kafa. Submission by CREA. Submissions by Kafa and Migrant Workers Action. Submission by Eve’s Ribs.