What's the problem?
Commercial sexual exploitation is rife in Britain. To end the sex trafficking and prostitution trade, the Government must tackle the demand that drives it - just as countries including France, Ireland, Sweden and Norway have done.
This requires criminalising paying for sex and enabling the prostitution of others, while decriminalising victims of sexual exploitation and providing support and exiting services. There is extensive evidence that this ‘end demand’ approach deters men from paying for sex, changes public attitudes, and makes countries more hostile destinations for sex traffickers.
England and Wales are low-risk, high-value destinations for sex traffickers
England and Wales are highly attractive destinations for sex traffickers due to the ongoing lack of Government action to tackle demand from sex buyers and hold pimping websites that facilitate trafficking accountable.
Prostitution laws are outdated and unjust: victims are punished, while perpetrators enjoy impunity
Prostitution is a form of violence against women. Yet men who exploit vulnerable women by paying for sex enjoy impunity under current laws, and individuals who are sexually exploited can face criminal sanctions for soliciting.
Pimping websites operate freely
Highly lucrative pimping websites – which profit from hosting adverts for prostitution – operate openly and legally. These ‘online brothels’ incentivise and facilitate sex trafficking. They centralise and concentrate demand from sex buyers online, making it as easy to order a woman to sexually exploit as it is to order a take-away.
What's the solution?
End impunity for pimps and punters - and provide support, not sanctions, for victims
England and Wales need a progressive legal framework that shifts the burden of criminality off victims and on to those who perpetrate and profit from sexual exploitation; a framework that is designed to end commercial sexual exploitation. To achieve this, the Government must:
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Hold exploiters accountable by making it a criminal offence to enable or profit from the prostitution of another person, offline and online.
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Deter demand by making it a criminal offence to pay for sex.
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Stop punishing victims by repealing the offence of soliciting in a public place.
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Support victims to exit and recover by providing specialist services.