IT IS TIME WE MADE BUYING SEX A CRIME
Ex-prostitutes lead push for legislation on buying services
FORMER prostitutes have urged the Scottish Government to change laws to make buying sex a criminal offence.
Two women who describe themselves as “survivors of prostitution” will speak to Holyrood’s cross-party group on sexual exploitation next week.
Diane Martin and Mia de Faoite want Scotland to follow countries such as Sweden, France, Norway and Ireland, which have criminalised paying for sex in a bid to reduce demand for prostitution. The Scottish
Government is consulting over whether its current approach to tackling prostitution is sufficient to prevent violence against women and girls.
Diane said she was “exploited through supposed high-class prostitution in London then trafficked overseas”. She added: “Whatever environment prostitution takes place in – an alley, a brothel or a five-star hotel – and whether the buyer pays £10 or £500, it is the same experience of violence and exploitation.”
Diane added: “I want to see a sex-buyer law introduced in Scotland as demand fuels the exploitation of the sex industry.
Mia campaigned for the law to be changed in Ireland after spending six years as a prostitute in Dublin.
She said: “During those six years, I endured a gang rape, three other rapes, physical and sexual assaults of varying degrees and countless humiliations.
“I fought for a law which tackles the demand for prostitution and in 2017, Ireland criminalised paying for sex.”
She added: “While prostitution is acknowledged as a form of violence against women in Scotland, the act of paying for sex, which fuels sex trafficking, still remains legal.”
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “It is a criminal offence to publicly solicit for the purposes of purchasing sex within the current criminal law in Scotland.
“We are asking support organisations, peer- to- peer networks and those with direct, lived experience to engage with the consultation to help to shape future policy development.”