Today Senators Katherine Zappone, Fiach MacConghail, Jillian van Turnhout, Martin McAleese, Marie Louise O’Donnell and Eamonn Coghlan are expected to bring forward the following motion in the Seanad to criminalise the purchase of sex.
Private Members Business
“That Seanad Éireann:
Recognises that the trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation is a modern form of slavery and a form of human rights abuse.
Notes that the Irish sex industry – which is worth €250 million a year (CAB, January 2011) – is very damaging for the girls and women involved in prostitution.
Notes that internet audits consistently show that more than 1000 women are made available for paid sex on a daily basis all over Ireland and up to 97% of them are migrant women. (Kelleher 2009)
There is clear evidence of children who have been trafficked in Ireland specifically for the purpose of prostitution. (Kelleher 2009; AHTU annual report 2010)
Notes evidence from Sweden and Norway which shows that criminal sanctions for the purchase of sex are a proven a deterrent to prostitution and consequently to trafficking and also to organised crime. (Mc Leod et al. 2008) (Claude 2010).
Further notes that International Conventions repeatedly call for efficient measures to deter demand for prostitution, which is recognised as an efficient approach to reduce sex trafficking (Article 6, Council of Europe’s Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings 2005; Article 9(5), UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish the Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children 2000)
Proposes that the Government develops effective and appropriate responses to deal with prostitution and trafficking for sexual exploitation. Therefore we call on the Government to introduce legislation criminalising the purchase of sex in Ireland in order to curb prostitution and trafficking for sexual exploitation.
The motion is due to be debated at 5pm. See www.oireachtas.ie/parliament/watchlisten to watch or listen to proceedings.
We have written to all Senators to let them know that, thus far, sex workers have been excluded from debates on sex work in Ireland, and ask them to recognise that sex workers need to be included in discussions.
Dear Senator,
We are writing to you with regard to the motion to criminalise the purchase of sex being debated in the Seanad at 5pm on 12th October 2011.
We are ‘Turn Off the Blue Light’ (TOBL), a small sex worker led association campaigning for the health, safety, human, civil and labour rights of sex workers.
Everybody wants to stop trafficking, abuse and exploitation within the sex industry, but we strongly believe that criminalising the purchase of sex is not the answer, and in fact would only serve to drive the sex industry further underground and make it more dangerous for everyone.
Support for persons who want to exit the sex industry is welcomed, but those who choose sex work want to be able to work safely, to be treated with respect, and to be able to engage with police and other services, not to be labelled as victims against their will and forced further into the shadows.
It has been illegal to buy sex from someone who has been trafficked since the Criminal Justice (Human Trafficking) Act 2008. As well as anti-trafficking laws, we also have laws prohibiting soliciting in a public place, operating brothels and organising prostitution. A new law criminalising the purchase of sex would only impact on adults privately paying other consenting adults for sex.
It is no surprise that the ‘Swedish Model’ of criminalising the purchasers of sex, whilst increasing funding to organisations helping sex workers to exit sex work, is being proposed by ‘Turn Off the Red Light’ (TORL), a coalition led by Ruhama, a government funded religious anti-sex work organisation.
It is however highly wrong that the government should even be considering bringing in new prostitution laws without sex workers having been given any opportunity to give their views.
We note that when the Department of Justice visited Sweden last year to look at the Swedish law, they didn’t meet with a single organisation representing or advocating for sex workers, only supporters of the law. Only the views of supporters of the Swedish Model are ever heard in Ireland.
Despite claims that the evidence from Sweden is that criminal sanctions for the purchase of sex are a proven deterrent to prostitution and trafficking, recent Swedish police statistics show that both prostitution and trafficking have actually been increasing in Sweden, (Slutredovisning, prostitution och människohandel (Final Report, Prostitution and Trafficking), February 2011).
Policies of suppression, whether focused on sex workers or their clients, have negative consequences for those who trade sex. Sex workers are less likely to engage with the Gardaí, further marginalised and excluded, and health initiatives find it harder to reach out to sex workers.
Criminalising clients would also make it considerably harder for the Gardaí to act against pimps, traffickers and those that abuse sex workers, as it deters clients from engaging with the Gardaí.
It would be a travesty at this time for Garda resources to be taken away from pimping and trafficking to instead focus on persecuting sex workers and their clients where there is no exploitation going on.
We appeal to Senators to please look beyond the moralistic agenda here, and consider the welfare of persons in the sex industry, and that sex workers must be included, not excluded, in this debate.
Turn Off the Blue Light
www.turnoffthebluelight.ie
Senator Maurice Cummins has tabled an amendment as follows:
1. To delete all words after ‘‘human rights abuse;’’ and substitute the following:
‘‘— deplores the sexual exploitation of any person, whether by financial means or otherwise, as an infringement of that person’s human dignity;
— abhors especially the trafficking of children for the purposes of prostitution;
— while recognising the difficulties inherent in reliably estimating the extent of sexual exploitation and trafficking, notes the various estimates that have been made in that regard;
— notes the extensive package of legislative, administrative and other measures undertaken over the past three years to prevent trafficking in human beings, protect the victims and prosecute the offenders;
— notes that the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1993 makes it an offence for a person to solicit or importune in a street or public place another person or persons for the purposes of prostitution and that under that provision those who seek sexual services for payment from another person commit a criminal offence;
— recognises the provision in the Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) Act 2008 that makes it an offence to solicit or importune a trafficked person, in any place, for the purposes of prostitution;
— notes that Ireland’s legislation on human trafficking for sexual exploitation complies with EU, Council of Europe and other international instruments and that the penalties in this jurisdiction for human trafficking, including trafficking of men, women and children for the purposes of sexual exploitation, are severe;
— notes the legislative provisions regarding prostitution introduced in Sweden and Norway and considers that the operation of these provisions, and other measures taken in other jurisdictions, should inform policy in this area;
— in supporting all reasonable and effective measures to curb prostitution, recognises that criminalising the purchase of sex of itself within our legal framework raises complex issues which would have to be addressed, including the possible prosecution of individuals in circumstances in which a gift is given to a person with whom they had a sexual encounter;
— recognises that legislation alone is not effective in preventing prostitution;
— agrees that prior to Government making a definitive decision on whether legislation should be enacted reflecting legislation in Sweden and Norway there should be a considered public debate; and
— proposes that the Government, in co-operation with the non-governmental organisations which carry out such valuable work in this area, continues to develop effective responses to deal with prostitution and trafficking for sexual exploitation.’’.
