Ms Jacqueline Healy:

The National Women's Council of Ireland is a feminist non-governmental organisation representing women's groups in Ireland. It currently has 170 member organisations affiliated to it, representing an estimated 500,000 women. Our vision is of an Ireland where all women and men have equal power to shape society and their own lives.

The National Women's Council of Ireland welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the review of the legislation governing prostitution in Ireland. The prostitution of women and girls constitutes a fundamental violation of their human rights and a serious form of male violence against women. It is an issue that affects all women in society and the council has a strong mandate from its member organisations to work on tackling it. At our annual general meeting this year our members voted overwhelmingly in support of a motion to lobby the Government for a legislative response to tackle prostitution and that the council continue its work as part of the Turn off the Red Light campaign. The council has been a member of the co-ordinating group of the campaign which has been lobbying the Government to criminalise the purchase of sex as the best and most effective way to address prostitution as a form of violence against women and deter the trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation.

The National Women's Council is also involved in co-ordinating the work of the European Women's Lobby in Ireland. The European Women's Lobby has been working on the issue of prostitution and trafficking for many years and is running a campaign, Together for a Europe Free from Prostitution, which we fully endorse.

Prostitution cannot be seen as an occupation that women freely choose, but it is both a cause and consequence of the range of inequalities that women face in Irish society, in particular socioeconomic inequalities, barriers to active participation and inequality of opportunities and outcomes. The existence and toleration of prostitution in Irish society intersect with other structural and systemic forms of discrimination against women and prostitution needs to be discussed within that framework.

Research shows that nine out of ten women involved in prostitution would like to exit the system but feel unable to do so. No matter how a woman enters prostitution, it is harmful. Prostitution has a devastating impact on both the physical and mental well-being of women and girls, as has been well documented by some of our member organisations, including Ruhama and the Immigrant Council of Ireland. Both organisations highlight the strong link between prostitution and trafficking for sexual exploitation. As our laws on prostitution have a direct impact on the problem of human trafficking, any Government strategy to prevent sex trafficking will be ineffective if it is not complemented by strong measures to tackle prostitution. We must seek to eliminate the sex industry, not regulate it. Regulation does not protect women and it does not work. It only legitimises and encourages an industry that is inherently harmful to women.

The introduction of legislation to criminalise the purchase of sex, while at the same time decriminalising those who sell sexual acts and offering enhanced and sustained support services to women who wish to exit, is the only viable way to work towards an end to this exploitative industry. The introduction of legislation has great potential to establish a new norm in our society which deems prostitution to be an unnecessary and unacceptable social phenomenon and send a strong message to future generations that it is not acceptable for women to be treated as commodities, to be bought and sold for sexual use. Prostitution is a violation of women's human rights, including human dignity. The system of prostitution perpetuates patriarchal views on women's sexuality and legitimises male domination in society. As long as it is tolerated, it is an obstacle to equality between women and men. A society that tolerates prostitution cannot achieve gender equality. The abolition of the system of prostitution is a progressive and realistic objective, based on the fundamental principles of equality between women and men.