Bid to outlaw paying for sex ‘will put prostitutes in greater danger’

PROPOSALS to criminalise paying for sex in Scotland would increase women’s vulnerability to physical attacks, prostitute support groups have warned.

Labour MSP Rhoda Grant will today attempt to get a new private members bill to criminalise people paying for sex services fast-tracked through the Scottish Parliament. She believes the legislation will reduce the demand for prostitution and disrupt sex trafficking.

But many of those working with women involved in the sex trade said the move was counter-productive and would drive women into more dangerous situations.

A similar move by former MSP Trish Godman in the Criminal Justice Licensing Bill was rejected in the previous parliament after ministers said it would drive the problem underground.

George Lewis, co-chair of Edinburgh-based support group ScotPEP, said: “If the bill is passed the industry generally would be pushed to the margins and pushed underground.

“Sex workers, both male and female, feel marginalised anyway, and to criminalise not what they’re doing but what their clients are doing would mean they want to make things even more secret than they already are.

“We used to have a tolerance zone down in Leith which was a safe working area. It was abolished, and in the first year after its abolition, reported attacks went up tenfold. It’s that kind of situation that we fear.”

Claire Gibson, chief executive of Streetwork, an Edinburgh-based project for people living and working on the streets, said the bill did not get to the root of the problem. “Interventions of this nature displace the problem and don’t solve the significant underlying reasons why women get caught up in this, which are a complicated mixture of addiction, mental health problems, their level of education, social exclusion and poverty.”

Last night Ms Grant said the law in Scotland was currently unbalanced and in most cases women were criminalised. “I totally agree with the support groups who are saying we need to give support to these women and that the root causes of prostitution are complex,” she said.

“But I don’t see how the bill will drive prostitution further underground. The person being used is the victim and I don’t see how reducing the demand side will make women more vulnerable.”

In November 2005, Independent MSP Margo MacDonald, who had campaigned for councils to be given the power to set up tolerance zones, scrapped her bill after the Scottish Executive introduced new legislation focusing on the nuisance or harm caused by the purchaser or seller of street prostitution.

A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: “Prostitution is a complex issue which requires careful consideration to ensure that any additional measures are necessary, practicable and sustainable.

“More than 200 people across Scotland have been convicted under anti-kerb crawling legislation since it came into force in 2007 and we back our police and courts to continue bringing those who create the demand for street prostitution to justice.

“However, the Scottish Government recognises that criminal law alone will not be sufficient and have made clear that legislation and enforcement are just part of the solution. We will give careful consideration to any Bill which Rhoda Grant brings forward on this matter.”