Ms Sarah Benson:

There are differing perspectives on the approach that should be taken to the sex trade. Our approach is to contextualise the whole sex trade as one that is fundamentally predicated on inequality. We are part of an international network of front-line services working directly with people involved in prostitution, which includes organisations in India, Canada, Denmark, France and Germany. We are taking part in an event in New York which will highlight the fact that throughout the sex trade, in every country, women with the fewest opportunities are disproportionately represented. This include first nations women in Canada, women of the lowest caste in India and poor migrant women from ethic minority backgrounds, including Roman women, in Ireland.

Ruhama worked with more than 300 women last year, 80 of whom were suspected victims of trafficking. In the case of women who were not trafficked, in many instances they were operating out of the same locations as women who were trafficked. Prostitution is the cause of trafficking for sexual exploitation; it is where it happens. The International Labour Organisation's report shows that the larger the sex trade, the greater the number of victims of trafficking. Trafficked women are advertised in the same places and on the same websites as non-trafficked sex workers and are often located in the same places. In other words, in terms of how sex buyers access sex workers, whether trafficked or non-trafficked, it is very much the same.

The Commissioner with responsibility for trafficking has repeatedly stated that sex trafficking must be tackled in the context of prostitution. As I mentioned, the European Parliament has passed a resolution which confirms that all forms of prostitution are regarded as violence against women and human rights abuses within which trafficking occurs. Responses to combat trafficking must take that into account.