Scots prostitution Bill ‘must do more’ to protect vulnerable women

Proposals to restrict prostitution must go further to protect women and girls, Scottish Government research has found.

Ash Regan MSP’s Prostitution (Offences and Support) (Scotland) Bill, which is currently open for a call for views, aims to reduce the demand for prostitution by fining those who purchase sex up to £10,000 or imprisoning them for up to six months. However, the proposals have been criticised for encouraging sex trafficking by decriminalising the ‘supply’ side.

The Government’s ‘Preventing sexual exploitation’ report, which explored strategies to tackle human trafficking, agreed that demand for prostitution “fosters trafficking for sexual exploitation”. But while Community Safety Minister Siobhan Brown said the Scottish Government supports the “underlying intent of the bill to challenge men’s demand and to tackle commercial sexual exploitation”, she raised “significant and deep concerns” about how the Bill “would work in practice”.

‘Shocking’

The Christian Institute’s Policy Researcher, Jenny Olson, noted that the report “failed to highlight research that shows that criminalising all sex buying is an easier and more workable tool for police to use in investigations and prosecution, compared with other models aimed at tackling sex trafficking”.

“Politicians across the Scottish Parliament should drive forward a law that is as strong, ambitious and effective as possible in abolishing prostitution. We welcome Ash Regan’s goal of criminalising the purchase of sex in Scotland — though we urge an even stronger stance amongst MSPs in helping women leave prostitution behind for good. This doesn’t include legalising the sale of sex.

“It is also shocking that online pimping platforms that facilitate sex trafficking in the UK are not against the law. Anti-trafficking forces and media have uncovered that these platforms have actually incentivised traffickers to spend more in placing adverts of women, rather than reporting them to the police.

“We urge the Scottish Government to proactively pursue discussion with the UK Government to right this wrong, and shut these websites down across the UK.”

Crackdown

Under Police Scotland’s national approach to prostitution, officers are cracking down on offences such as kerb crawling, while directing women to support.

The approach, known as Operation Begonia, was first piloted in Aberdeen and later expanded to Glasgow and Dundee.

Speaking in April, Police Scotland’s lead prostitution officer, Detective Superintendent Steven Bertram, said: “Prostitution brings a significant threat of risk and harm to people and communities.”

“Our approach, as demonstrated in Aberdeen, Glasgow and Dundee, focuses on safety and welfare, engaging with people and signposting them to support available from our partners, and hopefully reducing the risk of violence.”