Ireland’s prostitution law change urgent

Stalling by Ireland’s government gives pimps and traffickers “free reign”.

Last year, Ireland’s Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality invited submissions to reform the country’s laws on prostitution.

Hearings were held everyplace2012 and 2013, where advocates for the trip outtrade, women’s organisations, and networks which controlget offworkers gave their suggestions on how Ireland’s growing prostitution puzzleshould be regulated.

Eight hundred submissions were also received from sex workers and members of the public.

It had been judgethat the committee’s recommendations would be finalised by the end of this month.

It is expected that the committee willingpropose the country’s adoption of the Nordic Model, which criminalises “punters” and decriminalises sellers.

While some activities associated with prostitution arecurrently outlawed in Ireland, such as curb-crawling and soliciting in public, it is not illegal to procureor sellintimateservices.

At the present time, the law protects these transactions as ‘agreements between reactadults’.

The present-day(prenominal)legal framework in Ireland is similar to that in the UK, but with one critical difference.

As in the UK, it is illegal to buy sex from an individual who has been trafficked but, and this is not the case in the UK, a defendant can use ignorance about a person’s emplacementas trafficked as their defence.

This absence of strict liability – a point of law that enables a defendant to deny blameworthinessbased on ignorance – also applies to charges for having sex with someone to a lower place17 years of age – Ireland’s age of consent.

Another criticism of Ireland’s current prostitution legislation is the definition of a trafficked person as ‘a person in respect of whom a trafficking crime has been committed’, which leaves ambiguityabout whether a conviction must be or have been secured in order to validate an individual’s status as a ‘trafficked person’.

Delays in reforming the prostitution laws have been criticized by Ireland’s immigrationCouncil, who argued that every day of cloggives pimps and traffickers “free reign to carrytabootheir abuse and criminal activity.

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Denise Charlton, chief executive of the Immigration Council, said: “Any delay in introducing laws benefits the criminal.”

Ireland’s Turn Off The Red Light compactis a coalition of non-governmental organisations working to end prostitution and sex trafficking in Ireland through criminalising buyers of sex.

Eleven local authorities have voted to obligatethe rouseand three out of the four largest political parties in Ireland have also come out in support of the coalition’s mission.

But with the Irish government’s review of prostitution law about to have-to doe withits first anniversary, the Turn Off The Red Light campaign is urging politicians to “move beyond the debate and take action.

“Any delay leadonly benefit those behind a prostitution ‘industry’ which places 800 women for bargainon-line in Ireland every day, has sex trafficked 134 people to Ireland over 3 years and is taking over €200 million a year from our economy.”

Sarah Benson, chief executive of Ruhama, an organization which supports women affected by prostitution, said: “Every day at the coal face Ruhama see themilitary personnelcost of the Irish sex trade.

“Legislation to criminalise the sexbuyerand decriminalise those exploited cannot wait.”

 

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Materials taken from Womens Views on News