Female MSPS call for new law to ban online pimping
Radical new laws which would make online pimping as well as offering food or housing in exchange for sex illegal are being proposed by a group of cross-party MSPS, who claim sex websites have “turbo-charged” the human trafficking trade.
An inquiry by the Scottish Parliament’s Cross-party Group on Commercial Sexual Exploitation found that commercial websites are facilitating sex trafficking and sexual exploitation "with impunity” because Scottish laws have not kept pace with technological change.
The MSPS are now calling for a new offence of "enabling or profiting from the prostitution of another person” to apply to websites, and are urging ministers to strengthen support services for victims of sexual exploitation.
A second new offence of providing or offering money or other benefit – including food and accommodation – in return for sex should also be introduced, they have said. The new law is needed, according to the CPG’S report, to tackle the scourge of predators taking advantage of women by advertising for 'free' lodging, in exchange for sexual acts. Research from the charity Shelter has also shown that around 30,000 women in the UK have been propositioned with explicit sex-for-accommodation 'arrangements' since March. The group’s inquiry into sexual exploitation advertising was launched in response to increasing reports that websites hosting prostitution adverts were fuelling sexual exploitation and organised crime in Scotland. Police Scotland figures identified 84 women victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation in 2020 alone, with the force warning the real number would be much higher. Nine of the victims were aged under 18 years old – the youngest was 13. On a single day, the CPG report says, the inquiry found 570 prostitution adverts for Scotland on just one website. Ruth Maguire, co-convener of the CPG, said: “Sexual exploitation advertising websites have turbo-charged the sex trafficking trade. "The websites incentivise sexual exploitation by making it quick and easy for pimps and traffickers to advertise their victims to men who pay for sex. "Online pimping is taking place on an industrial scale in Scotland. Yet the operations of these pimping websites fall through the cracks of our outdated prostitution laws – and the website owners exploit with impunity.” She added: “The Scottish Government must lead the way in adopting laws against sexual exploitation that are fit for the 21st century. "That requires making it a criminal offence to enable or profit from the prostitution of another person, tackling demand by criminalising paying for sex, and decriminalising and supporting victims of sexual exploitation. It’s time to put the traffickers and pimps out of business.”
The MSPS are also urging the repeal of a 1982 law which would stop victims of sexual exploitation being sanctioned by police for soliciting in a public place. Further, they want previous convictions under the same law expunged from individuals’ records.