Ash Regan: Why Gisèle Pelicot's case and grooming gangs scandal will help my prostitution law pass

For MSP Ash Regan, the need to overhaul prostitution law in Scotland is clear - and urgent.

“The rape torture gangs shows there is a need to pass this legislation,” she said, referencing the recent grooming gangs scandal.

“It feels like we are in an epidemic of violence against women, and this would send a very clear message that we will not put up with this any more.

Ms Regan, who recently revealed her plans to stand as leader of Alba, says the grooming gangs scandal and the case of French woman Gisèle Pelicot demonstrates why there needs to be a change in the law.

Ms Regan is hoping to introduce what is known as the Nordic model to Scotland.

This would shift the burden of criminality off the women selling sex and onto the men buying sex, while also supporting women to leave prostitution.

Ash Regan MSP. | Jane Barlow/Press Association.

Her proposed Prostitution (Offences and Support) (Scotland) Bill also seeks to pardon all those previously convicted under current prostitution legislation.

Throughout this week there have been multiple calls for a national UK inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal, both in the House of Commons and on social media.

Ms Regan believes prostitution should be viewed as violence against women, and therefore the current law can lead to women being criminalised for their own sexual abuse.

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Speaking to Scotland on Sunday, she said: “A very high percentage of girls who go into prostitution are underage and have been sexually assaulted, and are then criminalised for their own abuse - no one can be a child prostitute.”

A public consultation on her proposals has now closed, and she and her team are currently wading through the responses.

The Nordic model is currently in place in a number of neighbouring countries, including Northern Ireland, Iceland, Norway, France and Sweden.

She is planning to formally introduce her bill to parliament in March, but she is “confident” the bill will pass this year because public attitudes are changing thanks to the likes of women like Gisèle Pelicot.

Ms Pelicot’s husband received a 20-year jail sentence after drugging and raping his wife and recruiting dozens of men to rape her over a decade.

Gisèle Pelicot. | Associated Press.

Ms Regan said: “Putting the shame onto the perpetrators is what Gisèle Pelicot did.

“Everyone knows what happened to her, but she wanted the men to be shamed for what they did and to move the shame away from her, understanding that it shouldn’t be on the victims, it should be on the perpetrators.

“The public are joining the dots, but the hard work is still being done by survivors - we need to show that politicians are standing up too, and that every action has a consequence.”

Last year Christian Concern said it was “fully opposed” to a blanket pardon for those convicted under prostitution legislation, but Ms Regan says this is a very important part of her proposals.

She said: “Very few women choose to go into prostitution - they are sexually abused or trafficked and are then left with criminal records which make it hard to exit and get a normal job.

“Getting the criminal records expunged is an important part of this because that makes it possible for these women to move on and build their lives back up again.”

She is also confident of her bill passing because it has cross-party support in the chamber.

SNP backbencher Ruth Maguire has long called for the Nordic model to be introduced in Scotland, supporting the work of the campaign group A Model for Scotland.

Ms Maguire previously told The Scotsman the Scottish Government needs to criminalise the men who buy sex if there is ever to be true gender equality in Scotland.

Despite getting cross-party support, there is likely to be some opposition to her proposals both inside and outside the Scottish Parliament.

The Scottish Greens believe full decriminalisation should be pursued instead of the Nordic model, and campaign groups such as National Ugly Mugs and Decrim Now believe it could put women in more danger.

Maggie Chapman MSP from the Scottish Greens said: “The approach that Ash Regan is calling for is in opposition to what sex worker rights groups, human rights campaigners and even the World Health Organisation are asking for.

Maggie Chapman MSP. | John Devlin/National World.

“Evidence from implementation of similar policies in other countries has shown police abuse of sex workers, exclusion from social services, murder and sexual violence towards sex workers and increased danger of exploitation.

“We cannot allow this to happen here in Scotland.

“Our approach must always seek to minimise harm and further marginalisation with guidance taken from the lived experience of sex workers and human rights organisations on how best to mitigate the risks they face.”

The World Health Organisation has previously issued guidance supporting the full decriminalisation of prostitution.

Currently soliciting in public, kerb crawling and brothel-keeping are illegal, however running a pimping website and paying for sex are both legal.

This means the person buying sex is not doing anything wrong legally - but the prostituted women selling sex are criminalised.

The campaign group A Model for Scotland estimates around four per cent of men in Scotland have paid for sex in the past five years, and a cross-party group in Holyrood says its research has found pimping websites have catalogues of women being advertised across the country for sex.