Politicians Fail Again

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/police-team-that-investigated-tide-of-human-traffic-is-closed-1006612.html

Have a read at this. The UK Government is closing down the specialist Met Police unit dedicated to investigating human trafficking due to....yes, cost cutting.

It seems that politicians in power, especially this Labour government, is only interested in the issue of trafficking sex slaves when taking a moral stance against prostitution and planning legislation to criminalise the "punter".

Get your head screwed on Home Secretary Smith. Stop criminalising the demand-sie and start to get to grips with the supply-side. Proper campaigning is needed, aimed at educating the demand-side to let them see how appalling the truth behind the facade of sex workers really is and the full force of the law should fall onto the head of the traffickers.

www.thetruthisntsexy.com

Ireland Considering Action on Sex Trafficking

Prof Liz Kelly of London Metropolitan Uni was speaking recently in Ireland on the subject of sex trafficking into the country. She said that a small minority of men pay for sex, and that maybe it's time the men who don't pay for it stand up and say something to the men who do. I think she is getting at the idea of making paying for sex socially unacceptable among male groups. At the moment there is still this nudge nudge wink wink idea that some male social groups have. The idea that it is all harmless and the prostitute is always a willing participant still dominates which is what we need to fight against and some campaigns like TTIS has been doing that.

When asked what Governments might do, Prof Kelly said like Sweden they could make it illegal to buy sex or it could encourage a debate about buying sex and what it means, and talking to young men about it.

Ok, the former will have some effect no doubt, however, it wont have a big enough effect to change the statistic meaningfully. After all, taking drugs is illegal - that doesnt seem to stop millions doing it, does it? The solution lies in educating the demand-side. Making it unacceptable (different from making it illegal) to use prostitutes. Now, I am no bleeding heart who thinks the answer to everything lies in discussion without punishment of wrong-doers but I do think Governments criminalising punters is only one angle.

As I have said before, the reason fewer people drink and drive these days is because it has become socially unacceptable to do so. The shocking images of the TV campaigns at Christmas have helped that. Making buying sex socially unacceptable, like drink driving, and therefore reducing demand will go a long way to helping reduce this awful problem. The criminals behind it will have to find more lucrative businesses.

www.thetruthisntsexy.com

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/reports/article4863830.ece

Here is an interesting legal case that is going through the UK courts at present where victims of trafficking can still be charged with immigration offences if proof cant be produced that they were brought tot he UK under duress? If this is the case, this is a piece of legislation that must be changed. How can the courts expect genuinely trafficked victims to produce evidence if that evidence involves turning in their traffickers?

The traffickers may no longer be around if it was a "one off" transaction. If they are around, for example, in the case of pimps, how can the young girls be expected to hand over details of their bosses without a proper system of assistance and protection?

To prosecute genuine victims of trafficking for immigration offences is like the case recently in the UK where a woman tried to stop a bicycle thief and was charged with assault. The easy target syndrome.

Are there any lawyers out there who can throw some clearer light on this area? (the immigration issue, not the bike thief!!)

www.thetruthisntsexy.com

Here in the UK, whenever the Labour government has something to deal with, it tries to ban and control. Last week, Harriett Harman proposed making having sex with prostitutes a criminal offence in an attempt to reduce trafficking. What on earth makes you think this will have any effect?

I am not saying criminalising "punters" wont have some effect on prostitution, however, doesnt the Government see that these activities are controlled by organisied crime and criminalising the end user does nothing for trafficking? Taking drugs is illegal but that doesnt stop the dealers. Driving while on the phone is illegal and I saw three people do it this morning.

By talking about criminalising the users, Mrs Harman again hijacks the issue and turns it into a "woman's issue". This isnt a woman's issue Mrs Harman - this is bigger than that. This is a human rights issue. This is slavery. As soon as you turn it into a woman's issue, the young men we are targeting to educate and change their behaviour think "oh, a woman's issue - that doesnt apply to me" and they stop reading. You actually close the eyes of the people you should be targeting.

This has to be tackled by educating the otherwise ordinary men who think all prostitutes are in it for the money and are willingly selling themselves. These ordinary 20-something and 30-something men who think nothing of "hiring hookers" on lad's nights out need to know what the truth is. They need to have it drawn to their attention and their decent side appealed to so they think "My god, I didnt think of that". Many of them probably have daughters of their own and the thought starts to repulse them and shame them. Keep these people engaged in the debate, dont alienate them by saying "you're nicked if you are caught". They will simply ensure they are not caught. This is not being soft on the user - this is attempting to get the user to think through the extent of the damage they are doing. (criminalising users is another debate, I suppose).

When you run anti drink-driving campaigns, you dont have a policeman or a politician on screen saying you will be jailed - you have shocking images that make people think twice about drinking and driving and they leave the car at home.

We will never stamp out trafficking completely, as much as it saddens me to saythis - sorry, but any activity controlled by organised crime will never be truly beaten (ask the Sicilian lawmakers and police) but we can drastically reduce the demand for these young girls and women and maybe the controllers and pimps will turn their attention to "More profitable" pursuits. At that point, we have made a difference and a different campaign group e.g. anti-drug, anti-whatever can take up the fight.

www.thetruthisntsexy.com

First entry in new location

This is the first entry in a blog inspired by a campaign group I became involved with and with which I maintain a keen interest. After a successful Pariamentary and press launch, the campaign simply had to go into neutral gear due to lack of funding and the Labour Government still thinks the quick answer to reducing the number of young girls and women being illegaly trafficked into the UK for the sex industry is solely to criminalise the punters who use sex workers.

Never mind the fact that this to-be-criminalised "demand" side is usually an otherwise ordinary guy in his 20s or 30s with a decent job who doesnt realise the girls they visit are 21st century slaves and with a little bit of awareness would probably change his behaviour and not think "hiring a hooker" on a stag night is such innocent fun after all. Ok, by all means criminalise the "demand-side", however, dont forget the education/awareness efforts.

As I said, the campaign had a successful press and Parliamentary launch and was run with a ton of energy by Aimee Littler and Shannon Hopkins, both of whom put a lot of time and energy into the launch and in organising a grass roots campaign, handing out posters and beermats around bars of London. It raised awareness of the "demand side" of the sex industry in the UK that the sex workers they engaged with were often not in the job willingly and were often victims of forced labour and trafficking. Often these girls are under-age too. Things are not what they appear on the surface. The truth isn't sexy.

The name refers to the fact that telephone box cards found in London may tell a "sexy" story but the truth behind it is not the same as is printed on the card. The 25 year old babe is often a 16 year old girl who had been trafficked to the UK under the false promise of a decent job with decent money and conditions. Once here, she is kept in miserable conditions, forced into the sex trade and cant get out of it. She cant escape her pimp and is made to have sex with anything up to 40 men per day. She fears for her life is she tries to escape. This is going on here in the developed world in the 21st Century. This is someone's daughter. Amazing, isnt it?

So, it would be interesting to see who out there knows of the campaign, is interested in the issue, knows other people who might be interested in what the campaign stands for, works for a company with a "social philanthropy" policy that might contribute to a resurrected campaign, is involved with organisations/NGOs etc involved in Anti-Trafficking issues etc. to see if new life can be breathed into this valuable campaign.

So, who out there has some passion for this? Please speak.

http://www.thetruthisntsexy.com/