24 January 2008
SEX TRAFFICKING CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS NEED FOR CULTURAL SHIFT
Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker today reinforced the government’s commitment to stamping out sex trafficking at a conference organised by CHASTE – Churches Alert to Sex Trafficking Across Europe.
He told a packed conference hall at the International Salvation Army headquarters in London that the time had come for a major cultural shift in Britain regarding prostitution and sex trafficking.
He said:
“One of the vilest crimes that threatens our society is the trafficking of human beings. This modern day slavery is an evil practice, perpetrated for profit with no regard for the consequences for the victims or society as a whole. It is often the product of organised criminality that knows no borders and that feeds on the exploitation of the vulnerable.
“Some men might question perspective a man can bring to leading the government’s agenda of dealing with these awful crimes. For me, the fact that the victims are women, and sometimes children, and that the crimes are very often perpetrated by men, makes it even more important that men should be taking some responsibility for the solution. As a result, I’ve taken a strong personal interest in this issue.”
Mr Coaker outlined how he had led a ministerial visit to Sweden where it is a criminal offence to buy sex and said the government had begun to implement a 62 point Trafficking Action Plan. He also promised more financial support to those working in the provision of support for victims of trafficking.
The work of CHASTE was praised by Fiona Mactaggart MP, a former Home Office minister who said:
“At a time when too few individuals and organisations have the courage to stick their necks out and demand action on issues of prostitution, CHASTE has been determined, open and independent in the way it works to tackle this issue which degrades and even kills women.”
CHASTE’S Chief Executive Dr Carrie Pemberton told delegates from India, Ireland, Canada, South Africa, Australia and the UK how it was crucial to tackle issues surrounding demand:
“It is time to wake up to human rights in the 21st century. How come in the 21st century that trafficking for sexual exploitation is one of the fastest growing areas of global trade, amassing hundreds of thousands of pounds for those involved, and being fuelled by a growing demand for casual sex for payment with no societal accountability?”
“The costs which are incurred in this trade are wide ranging and profound. >From the appalling health legacy on women who are trafficked, with a minimum of a dozen serious mental and physical health impacts incurred during their trafficked experience, to the ubiquitous experience of rape for 90% of women caught in prostitution across the world, to the wider public health impacts in the dissemination of STVs and HIV with unprotected sex being a key and cynically abusive hall mark of the use of trafficked women within the sex market economy.
“From physical and emotional damage incurred by the women themselves, to the costs of funding international criminal networks and the associated fields of criminal enterprise into which each £40 appointment flows. The costs to our economy of the enforcement fight against this appallingly abusive and vicious trade, to the social costs of a degraded view of the beauty and special gift which is our bodies given in relationship to one another. At every level this trade is quite appalling. The time has now come that we simply have to pay attention to the demand which is driving the engine of this abuse.
“I am delighted that we have the support of four key platform speakers from across the NGO spectrum in Sweden to encourage this shift in attention. Sweden’s pioneering legislation in 1999 has enabled the world to take a fresh look at the way governments and society can address the multiple abuses involved in purchasing sex.
“With a standard fine or a maximum imprisonment of six months for the offence, hundreds of men in Sweden have been prosecuted to date, and more importantly attitudes have been significantly altered – particularly amongst the purchasing target group – 20-55 year old males.
“This is in stark contrast to Germany where legalisation of prostitution has triggered an extraordinary increase in demand, with one survey returning a statistic of 1.2 million German men daily purchasing sex. Small wonder that the World Cup in 2006 saw women in their thousands being purchased in dedicated booths more suitable for parking bikes than taking care of people – and the authorities in Germany now have no real idea about how many women are now caught in prostitution there, with thousands having been placed at risk across Europe to being inwardly trafficked for that international sporting event.
“This is not an experience to be replicated in Britain, and we need to take steps now in our general culture, legislation, education and media to properly inform one another of the real human costs of purchasing people for sex in our contemporary world.
“Sweden passed legislation on criminalising the purchasing of women by clients in 1999. This was part of legislation addressing crimes deemed to be a gross violation of women’s integrity. I warmly welcome the fact that the UK government is closely scrutinising this too as a model to follow. It is a brave step to take – but the right one.”