What happened?
On Wednesday 9th December, Labour's Dame Diana Johnson introduced a Ten-Minute Rule on the ‘Sexual Exploitation Bill’. If introduced it would make paying for sex a criminal offence and decriminalises selling sex. This would create offences of enabling or profiting from someone else's sexual exploitation, among other things.[1]
What does this mean?
The purpose of this bill is to decriminalise the victims of sexual exploitation and make it easier to persecute the perpetrators of such exploitation by criminalising the demand for buying sex. This is to tackle the trade in “human misery and the abuse of women, who are being raped and sexually assaulted in brothels and hotel rooms all around the country."[2]
Diana Johnson is the chairwoman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Commercial Sexual Exploitation and has previously stated “although most men are not paying for sex, those that do are fuelling a brutal sex trafficking trade that’s destroying lives.”[3] Research shows that three-quarters of women trafficked to the United Kingdom (UK) come from Romania and three-quarters of them are then sold into the sex trade. This is a serious issue facing the UK, in 2018 alone there were at least 212 active police investigations across the UK into modern slavery cases involving sexual exploitation.[4]
How does this impact the legal sector?
Home Secretary Priti Patel has been urged to crack down on “pimping websites”, which a senior Labour MP has described as, ‘a national scandal.’[5] Johnson has urged Priti Patel to bring forward legislation to criminalise the use of such sites and to close them down.[6] This would reflect the actions taken by other countries including France, Ireland and Sweden to crack down on the demand that drives sex trafficking by criminalising paying for sex, decriminalising victims and shutting down pimping websites.[7]
Currently, in England and Wales, the acts of buying and selling sex are not illegal. However, many activities associated with prostitution are offences with links to exploitation which has spurred on the campaign to address such exploitation. A Home Office spokeswoman said, "it is our priority to protect victims from harm and exploitation, and target those who exploit vulnerable people involved in prostitution."[8] If Johnson’s Sexual Exploitation Bill is introduced it is hoped that it could aid in bringing the end to suffering and harm many are forced to endure.
Written by Venus Amon
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References:
[1] Sebastian Salek, ‘Clear the Lobby’, (Clear the Lobby, 5th December 2020)
[2] Angus Young, ‘Hull MP Diana Johnson says paying for sex should be made a crime’, (HullLive, 26th October 2020)
[3] David Mirzoeff, ‘Home Secretary urged to crack down on ‘pimping websites’, (Shropshire Star, October 26th2020)
[4] Angus Young, ‘Hull MP Diana Johnson says paying for sex should be made a crime’, (HullLive, 26th October 2020)
[5] David Mirzoeff, ‘Home Secretary urged to crack down on ‘pimping websites’, (Shropshire Star, October 26th2020)
[6] David Mirzoeff, ‘Home Secretary urged to crack down on ‘pimping websites’, (Shropshire Star, October 26th2020)
[7] Matthew Weaver, ‘Priti Patel urged to stop UK being ‘pimp’s paradise’ ‘, (26th October, 2020)
[8] BBC, ‘Do more to criminalise buying sex, says Labour MP’, (BBC News, 26th October 2020)
Disclaimer: This article (and any information accessed through links in this article) is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.