Tag Archives: prostitution

March 27, 2013 · 8:48 am

Irish Labour women organise an excellent conference on the objectification of women

Mary with Emer Costello MEP, Nessa Childers MEP, Joan Burton TD (Irish Minister) on her right, Zita Gurmai MEP and Phil Prendergast MEPon her left

Mary with Emer Costello MEP, Nessa Childers MEP, Joan Burton TD (Irish Minister) on her right, Zita Gurmai MEP and Phil Prendergast MEP on her left

A conference organised jointly by the Party of European Socialists Women and Labour Women Ireland  to mark the Irish presidency of the EU agreed that legislation to target the buyers of sex was the best way to deal with prostitution. The conference entitled “Objectification of Women” held in Dublin on Saturday also celebrated the Irish Labour Party’s centenary.

I want to thank Labour Women Ireland for hosting a great event. The panel discussions were lively and inspiring.  I was particularly pleased to see my three Irish Labour Party MEP colleagues, Nessa Childers,  Phil Prendergast and Emer Costello, taking part in each of the three panel  sessions.

The first of these on women and the media was introduced by financial journalist Margaret E Ward from the Irish organisation “Women on Air”, which aims to get more women on television and radio.  The next session tackled the thorny issue of  women in decision-making, politics and the labour market starting with a very full presentation from Nat O’Connor from the Irish think tank TASC.  Patricia King, General Officer of the SIPTU trade union, gave an inspiring and moving talk on her road to the top.  The last session, “Women as objects: European response to human trafficking and the sex trade”, looked at ways to end the exploitation, abuse and trafficking of women and girls by introducing the kind of laws  Sweden has had for over a decade whereby the buyers not the sellers of sex are the wrong-doers. Sweden has, in fact, seen a reduction in prostitution and organised crime since this legislation was put on the statute book.

My particular thanks to Sinead Ahern who organised the conference and to all the other women involved.  I came away feeling energised as well as having enjoyed spending time with such a lively and committed group of women.

 

 

 

　

　

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December 7, 2012 · 5:24 am

‘A Europe free from prostitution’?

The European Women’s Lobby visited the European Parliament earlier this week to put forward their proposals for a ‘Europe free from prostitution.’

They have identified six key recommendations they would like Brussels to adopt. These are:

EWL’s six key recommendations to EU Member States:
1.    the suppression of repressive measures against prostituted persons
2.    the criminalisation of all forms of procuring
3.    the development of real alternatives and exit programmes for those in prostitution
4.    the prohibition of the purchase of a sexual act
5.    the implementation of policies of prevention, education, to promote equality and positive sexuality
6.    the development of prevention policies in the countries of origin of prostituted persons.

Following the EWL’s calls I said “I fully supported the adoption of a model similar to the one in place in Sweden.”

While I agree, and support the EWL’s recommendations I also believe we must focus attention, effort and resources on the issue of human trafficking which helps fuel the demand for prostitution.

If we are to tackle the problem of prostitution we must also acknowledge and fight equally hard to abolish the very violent crime of human trafficking.

Statistics show that between 76-79% of reported trafficking in humans is for sexual exploitation. This is a worryingly high statistic, and, in reality, is likely to be even higher because not every crime of this nature is reported.

I therefore support the criminalisation of all forms of procuring, and the creation of effective exit programmes for sex workers, in line with the views of the EWL.

In Sweden, legislation which criminalises those who pay for prostitutes had had a very significant impact in reducing the number of persons exploited in street prostitution, reducing it by half. In 1996, 13.6% of Swedish men said they had bought someone for prostitution purposes. In 2008, the figure had dropped to 7.8%.

Tackling this issue while simultaneously deploying more resources to help victims of human trafficking makes sense but also provides the best chance to help every victim of sexual exploitation.

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April 14, 2011 · 12:14 pm

It’s time for the UK to amend its out-of-date prostitution laws

Yesterday, The Guardian reported that France was considering amending its prostitution laws, making it illegal to pay for sex. Only a handful of European countries have opted to criminalise the clients of sex workers. Sweden is the only EU Member State to have done so.

In 2010, an attempt by Labour MPs to introduce similar legislation was rejected. A further attempt to do so by Scottish MP Marlyn Glen also fell through. I am shocked that there has not been more support for these proposals. Whilst I am against legalising prostitution like countries such as Holland and Belgium have done, I totally support introducing legislation to criminalise clients who pay sex workers.

Were clients to be criminalised, there would be a dramatic decrease in the numbers of women being trafficked for the purpose of prostitution. According to the UN, some 80% of persons trafficked are trafficked for sexual exploitation. The European Commission estimates that 120,000 women and children are trafficked into Western Europe each year. The root cause of prostitution and trafficking is the male demand for women who can be bought and sexually exploited. Evidently without the demand, the supply would not be necessary and the market would be substantially reduced.

Another huge failure of the current system is the impact on the sex workers themselves. Where prostitutes are regarded as criminals, rather than victims, measures to combat prostitution can often do more harm than good. In the UK, the criminal justice system has long permitted the use of ASBOs for street-based prostitution. This is highly ineffective. Women who fail to comply with the terms of their ASBO (and this is most women) frequently end up with a short-term prison sentence. This is very demoralising for them and can destroy their self-esteem.

For the actor Philippe Caubère to claim that sex workers ‘take care of men who mostly live in sexual misery’ shows a gross misunderstanding of the issue. Prostitution is a form of male violence against women. Caubère’s words sum up the widely held belief that men are innocent victims of sexual desires and women exist to serve them. No man has ever died from lack of sex, and no man will if France reforms its prostitution laws. I just hope that it encourages the UK to do the same.

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October 7, 2009 · 8:52 am

Met plans to scrap Trafficking Unit are a Disgrace

Trafficking PicThe plans announced by the Metropolitan Police to abolish its specialist unit dealing with human traficking – trafficking of women and children – are nothing short of a disgrace.

I woke up to hear this bombshell on the “Today” programme, which we can get in Brussels, this morning hardly able to contain myself.  Trafficking of women is to a large extent trafficking to sell women into prostitution.  These often unsuspecting women are lured away from their homes, frequently on the pretext of a better life elsewhere, only to find themselves totally in thrall to ruthless criminals whose only aim is to exploit them for gain.  It really is a modern form of slavery and should be treated as such.  I hope there will be a major outcry against the Met’s plans so that they are forced to think again.

What is more, the Met trafficking unit has been viewed as an international example of good practice.  It also takes several years to develop expertise into trafficking, expertise which would more than likely be lost if the Met were to disband its unit which has built up a range of knowledge since its inception in 2007.  The nature of the crime also means that those cases which are brought to book are only the tip of the iceberg and if more of the iceberg is to be exposed, specialist expertise is required.

There is, in addition, the matter of the Olympics in London in 2012.  The last football World Cup in Germany attracted thousnads of prostitutes who openly plied their wares as prostitution is legal in Germany.  I was, in fact, one of a number of women who signed a petition to the German Government to outlaw prostitution at the World Cup.  The general view was that a large number, more than likely the majority of those women had been trafficked from outside the host country.  For the sake of the trafficked women, we need to be extremely vigilant to ensure that the same thing does not happen in London in 2012.  It would be a massive tragedy if the Games were marred by any form of criminal element. 

The Labour Government has been very vigilant on the fight to stamp out trafficking.  When I organised my “Tackling Trafficking” conference two years ago, we were joined by the then Home Office Minister, Vernon Coker.  I therefore call on the Met to see sense and keep the trafficking unit.

I have started a petition asking the Met to rethink its plans for shutting this vital unit down. 

Please click here and sign it.

You can also follow my campaign by clicking on my campaigns page.

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July 23, 2009 · 8:24 am

FACT CHECKER

Okay, amidst some heated discussion and re-checking of facts, I now wish to revise the figure of one million construction workers that I put out last week. As it is wrong.

fact-checking-hillary

A cartoon borrowed from a far more famous female politician

I misread the the information given to me by a charity, which I published on Sunday, partly as the press release was written in India where the commas are placed differently to the UK. The figure ’1,00,000′ or 100,000 in UK terms was quoted by the Press Trust of India last year and widely used by AIDS and sexual health pressure groups as the number of construction workers due to work on the London 2012 Olympic sites over the next four years.

However, since Ian Dale’s blog I have called around these original sources (taking rather a long time to track down where the Indian Press Agency got their numbers from) and got a number of different figures.

Following these discussions, I now take the view that the Olympic Delivery Authority is the most informed body on this figure. Well, they are the company that is dishing out the contracts! Their figure is a far more conservative 30,000 construction workers over the next four years.

So yes, Ian, I didn’t get my facts right. Something I will be more careful about in future. As is the quicky nature of a blog,  I don’t perhaps check my figures as strenously as I would a comment piece for a paper. And I actually appreciate being pulled up on it by a wide community of interested readers when I don’t. So thank you and that’s 30,000 not one million. Still, rather a big number….

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July 18, 2009 · 10:12 am

OLYMPICS SPARKS PROSTITUTION FEARS YET AGAIN

Whilst a strong supporter of the Olympics and the opportunities it will offer the vibrant capital  that is my home, I am deeply concerned that unless decisive action is taken quickly the games may spark a rise in prostitution.
London's Olympic Stadium

London's Olympic Stadium

Fortunately, it now seems that the Metropolitan Police are beginning to share these concerns. A report they published this week  warned that an increase in prostitution and trafficking linked to the Games would put women at risk.
Over a million construction workers are set to work on the site over the next three years, when added together with spectators and athletes cxould a fuel a sex trade time bomb.
Kerb Crawling

Kerb Crawling

During the Athens Games, sex trafficking almost doubled and there were reports of sex attacks in the athletes’ village at Sydney in 2000.

The BBC reported yesterday that a  small increase in the number of trafficked women working in the five Olympic host boroughs has already been noted.

Previously when I have approached the police and the councils concerned on these issues they have backed away from making any link between sex crimes and sporting events, even when I used figures showing dramatic increases in trafficking in w0men around the Germany World Cup, which I also used to call for greater protections for women in last years Euro 2008 on Women’s Hour last year.
Given that the Met are now responsive on this topic I will look to work with them on reducing the risk to London women, caused by a potential surge in teh sex trade around the Olympics, over the next three years.

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April 8, 2009 · 8:23 am

THE POLICE AND PROSTITUTION

While I agree with Iain Dale that today’s story is undoubtedly police behaviour at the G20 demonstration, the apparent kick in the back given by one of the police to a demonstrator and the demonstrator’s subsequent death, there is another story today which rings alarm bells regarding police attitudes.

The Chief Constable of Gloucestershire, Tim Brain, lead officer for the Association of Chief Police Officers, thinks new laws to  make it a criminal offence to have sex with prostitutes controlled by pimps, which is due to come into force later this year, may be too complex to work in practice.  The legislation is designed to protect women forced into prostitution by traffickers and pimps – surely something we all support.  I have campaigned for a number of years against the trafficking of women and children and have heard the most appalling stories of what these poor women have to go through.

I therefore passionately believe that we must do all we can to stamp out the vile trade in human trafficking, which is nothing less than a modern form of slavery.  The police who say they will not be able to collect enough evidence from women who are forced to work as prostitutes against their traffickers are some of the worst apologists I have heard for a long time.  It is their duty to collect this evidence.  It is also their duty to protect vulnerable people from crime and the effects of crime.  

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