Final answer:
The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 requires the presence of force, fraud, or coercion for any activity to be considered human trafficking in adults, but these are not needed to prove the trafficking of minors for commercial sex.
Step-by-step explanation:
According to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), several factors must be present for an activity to be defined as human trafficking. These factors include the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjecting a person to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery. Specifically, if the victim is an adult, at least one of these means must be present. However, in the case of minors being trafficked for commercial sex, neither force, fraud, nor coercion needs to be proven to establish the crime of trafficking.
TVPA established various methods to combat human trafficking, including prevention through public awareness programs, protection for victims through shelter and assistance, and prosecution of offenders through stronger legal mechanisms. The act also created minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking that other countries should strive to meet.