Why new vice law won't stop trade in sex slaves

Published on Wednesday 19 November 2008 20:38

LURED to the UK with the promise of a new life and sold into sex slavery – this is the reality for an estimated 6,000 foreign nationals who ply their trade as prostitutes in Scotland.

The full extent of their misery was laid bare last year when it emerged that, in Glasgow alone, women of almost 40 different nationalities are living under the constant threat of violence and rape by pimps who force them to prostitute themselves dozens of times a day.

Yesterday the "oldest profession" hit the headlines again when the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith said men who pay for sex with women who have been forced into prostitution will be targeted as part of a major shake-up of vice laws.

The move – which only applies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland – means that anyone using a prostitute "controlled for another person's gain" will be guilty of an offence and face fines and a criminal record.

"What I disapprove of is women being exploited in this country, coerced, traffick- ed into the country, effectively treated as slaves," said the Home Secretary.

But her comments have infuriated campaigners and politicians north of the Border who have dismissed the proposals as "unworkable".

They accuse the Home Secretary of trotting out the usual soundbites about trafficking and exploitation, while plainly failing to understand the reality of women selling their bodies for sex in the 21st century. Margo MacDonald, an MSP who campaigned tirelessly for prostitution tolerance zones, said the law would make not a jot of difference to the lives of most sex workers.

"The illegality occurs when someone is trafficked into this country. I don't know how you prove in court that a woman has been forced to prostitute herself. It's practically impossible to police this.

"Of course there is a problem with this for the client. He could say that he didn't know the woman had been forced into prostitution."

And as for the idea of this proposal ever coming to Scotland? Ms MacDonald is convinced that it is doomed to failure and she is determined to fight tooth and nail to stop it being rolled out across the Border.

"I sincerely hope that some of these nut- cases don't think they can introduce the same thing in Scotland. This kind of legislation is a no-no."

Under the changes, paying for sex with prostitutes who are controlled by pimps is set to become a criminal offence – a "strict liability offence", meaning prosecutors will not have to prove that the man knew a prostitute was being exploited in order to charge him.

Ignorance of the woman's circumstances will be no defence and those convicted will get a criminal record and a fine of up to 1,000.

In cases where the man knows that the woman is working as a prostitute against her will, he could be charged with rape, which carries a potential life sentence.

The proposals, drawn up following a six-month review which looked at vice laws in countries including Sweden and the Neth- erlands, will also allow kerb-crawlers to be prosecuted for a first offence, rather than persistent activity.

But will this law really make a difference and save women from a life of degradation and virtual slavery? Ruth Morgan Thomas, project manager for Scotpep, which offers support to sex workers in Edinburgh, is sceptical. She points out that, if a woman is living as a modern-day slave and forced into prostitution against her will, it is unlikely she will be able to escape her captors and report the crime to the police.

"These women are not going to be able to report this," she says. "They're saying they will criminalise the clients of people who are controlled for profit. This will simply drive the sex industry underground, giving greater opportunity for exploitation. They are not looking at the reality of the situation."

She accuses politicians of having a "hidden agenda" and tinkering with the law when they would prefer to make prostitution illegal because of an ideological opposition to the sex industry.

Ms Morgan Thomas says it is important to recognise that many women choose prostitution as a profession and the idea that all sex workers are coerced is a myth.

"The vast majority of owners and managers of brothels are not interested in having sex slaves. And I don't think that the vast majority of clients are seeking to be violent.

"The concern for me is that it treats women in the industry as legal minors. They have no capacity to make these decisions for themselves. They're saying they will criminalise the clients of people who are controlled for profit."

As the law stands, it is an offence to solicit on the streets of Scotland. However, the exchange of money for sexual services between consenting adults is not illegal. The Scottish Government said yesterday there were "no current plans" to introduce the Home Secretary's new measures in Scotland.

Prostitution has been widely practised throughout history but it is an issue that continues to polarise society. These days, many doubt if exchanging sex for money poses any significant threat and campaigners insist you will never eradicate it. Better, they claim, to legalise and license the profession, moving it away from the back streets and out of the hands of organised crime.

In recent years Britain has witnessed an "epidemic" in human trafficking, with victims sold into the sex industry or the equivalent of modern-day slavery. Scotland Yard said the UK trade had increased "exponentially" in the last decade, and now involved every major city across the country.

Girls as young as 14 from Eastern Europe and the Far East are trafficked to the UK and sold to the highest bidder, with "innocent and virginal" females fetching fees of up to 8,000.

The London-based International Union of Sex Workers, which recently affiliated to the GMB, one of Britain's largest trade unions, is campaigning for changes in the law, arguing that the prohibition of soliciting actually increases the risk of violence, forcing prostitutes to rely on pimps for protection.

While the Home Secretary insists the tough new approach will mean there are "no more excuses" for men who use the UK's 80,000 prostitutes, critics believe the new law simply demonises those people who choose to buy and sell sex.

A spokesman for the sex workers' branch of the GMB union said the new law failed to distinguish between a benign environment with consenting adults and a dangerous one exploiting women under duress. "People in the sex industry know these proposals will at best be ineffective and at worst increase the danger and criminalisation that sex workers face," he said. "The proposal makes no distinction between fair, safe and honest work environments."

Trade in human beings more profitable than drugs

THOUSANDS of women and children are sold into modern-day slavery in the sex industry by criminal gangs exploiting the surge of immigration from eastern Europe.

An estimated 10,000 women from eastern Europe, Africa and the Far East have been sold to gangs at auction for an average of 2,500 and forced into sex slavery in British brothels, while men and women are enslaved as "bonded labour" to pay off debts to organised crime syndicates that smuggle them into Britain.

Police intelligence suggests that traffickers are switching from the trade in drugs to the trade in human beings because it is more profitable.

Reports have shown that the trafficking in women imported as "sex slaves" centres on cities with a thriving off-street sex industry, such as Glasgow and Edinburgh. Criminal gangs running the multi-billion-pound trade, which is booming in places hit by economic hardship, such as central and eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, often recruit victims through false advertisements promising work and a better life abroad.

But upon arrival in the West, the victims' documents are taken from them and they are forced to pay off huge debts to the gang by working in the sex industry or in sweatshops as bonded labour.

In Britain, between 400 and 1,400 women a year are trafficked, according to the Home Office, but it is feared the true figure could be much higher.