Men will be prosecuted for paying women for sex under plans backed by ministers, which are to go before the Commons soon.
A former Labour minister today calls on “laddish male” ministers to help prevent Britain becoming the “sex slave” capital of Europe and stop women being exploited. Under proposed legislation tabled by Denis MacShane, the former minister for Europe, and two other former ministers, councils and police chiefs will be given powers to put men before the courts if they pay women for sex.
The idea is to extend successful action against kerb crawlers to brothels and massage parlours where the majority of trafficked sex slaves in Britain are forced to operate. The MPs’ campaign was boosted yesterday when Harriet Harman, the women’s minister, said that such a move was necessary to stem the flood of sex workers being trafficked into Britain. It was time to consider such moves as governments tried to tackle international human trafficking.
Ms Harman, Labour’s deputy leader and the Leader of the Commons, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think we do need to have a debate and unless you tackle the demand side of human trafficking, which is fuelling this trade, we will not be able to protect women from it. My own personal view is that’s what we need to do as a next step.”
She added: “Do we think it’s right in the 21st century that women should be in a sex trade or do we think it’s exploitation and should be banned? “Just because something has always gone on, it doesn’t mean you just wring your hands and say there’s nothing we can do about it.”
The Government is also studying the law in Sweden, where paying for sex has already been made illegal. “The time has come to tackle the demand side of the ever-increasing exploitation of women and that means making men accept that they have responsibility for the sex-slave industry,” Mr MacShane said.
He and Fiona MacTaggart and Barry Gardiner have tabled amendments calling for local authorities and the police to be given powers to identify zones in town areas where men caught paying for sex may be charged and put before the courts.
Mr MacShane led the campaign to get the British government to sign the Council of Europe Anti-Trafficking Convention. Tony Blair rejected Home Office objections that helping women trafficked as sex slaves would encourage more migration to the UK and signed the convention last year.
Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, has now pledged to ratify the convention, which gives support to girls trafficked as sex slaves if they escape their pimps and helps the police to identify traffickers. Britain has an estimated 25,000 women – some under the age of 16 and many under 21 – who have been trafficked into the UK to work in brothels and massage parlours.
Mr MacShane said: “These are ruthlessly exploited girls and women who are not willing sex workers but who are beaten, raped and held as prisoners to satisfy the demand of British men for paid-for sex. Most of the women working in brothels are there in connection with drugs or debt.
“This is seedy, international crime and the men who pay for it should be made to accept their responsibility just as laws to stop kerb-crawling have seen an average 900 convictions a year since 2001 and helped reduce that part of the sex trade.”
“There are still some laddish male ministers who do not see this in terms of supporting women against men using money-power to exploit defenceless trafficked girls,” Mr MacShane said. “In 2007, we celebrated the 200th anniversary of abolishing the slave trade so I hope William Hague, David Cameron and Nick Clegg will make 2008 the year when we got serious about the sex-slave trade,” he added.
“This is an empowering amendment which leaves the decision [to prosecute] in the hands of local councillors, local communities and local police. “It is not Government deciding to abolish prostitution from on high. This is about local communities deciding if they want to slow down and reduce the sex slave business.”
The recently created All-Party Group on Trafficking is expected to generate cross-party support on the issue. The tabling of the amendments follows talks with newspapers to stop the publication of small advertisements offering services at brothels believed to be linked to human trafficking.
The Home Office is not seeking to deport foreign criminals given a jail term of less than 12 months unless the court recommends removal or proceedings are already under way. Prison governors have been told that the Border and Immigration Agency as a rule has “no interest” in pursuing such offenders.
The disclosure comes after the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, said in July: “I want a message to go out. If you come here, you work and you learn our language. If you commit a crime, you will be deported from our country.”
Since the 2006 scandal when it was found that foreign national prisoners were being released from jail without being considered for deportation, ministers have given the impression that foreign criminals will be removed.
Adapted from: Philip Webster, "Prosecuting men who pay for sex ‘will reduce the trafficking of girls’."http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article3080509.ece 21 December 2007.
