Sr. Mary Ryan:

I thank the joint committee for the opportunity to speak on this topic. Act to Prevent Trafficking, APT, is a faith-based non-governmental organisation working to end human trafficking, with a particular focus on those trafficked for sexual exploitation. In addition to awareness raising, we seek the implementation of effective legislation to prevent trafficking and provide better conditions of recovery for victims.

Demand is the primary driving force behind sex trafficking. The way in which the State addresses the legal status of prostitution will have a major impact on efforts to control trafficking. For this reason, APT recommends that the purchase of sex be criminalised. We are convinced that prostitution and sex trafficking are inseparably linked. Even women who allegedly enter the sex trade willingly have little or no freedom to consent. Poverty, coercion and deception are factors that prevail in this area, as is evidenced by research carried out by Kelleher et al.

The sex industry does not differentiate between free and forced participation and nor do those who buy children, women or men in prostitution. Approximately 75% of women in prostitution became involved when they were children.

The so-called sex trade and the crime of sex trafficking are forms of contemporary slavery and are growing in the 21st century. Act to Prevent Trafficking, APT, holds that it is important for legislators to address prostitution as a root cause of sex trafficking. We also believe that the demand of the buyers for sexual satisfaction without responsibility is the primary driving force behind sex trafficking and prostitution. Without this demand, it would not be profitable for pimps, recruiters or traffickers to seek out a continuous supply of vulnerable people to exploit. APT takes the view that prostitution is sexual exploitation, violence against the person and a grave violation of basic human rights.

Reports from the UN, UNESCO and the European Commission show that, where prostitution is legal, as in the Netherlands, Austria and Germany, the demand for prostituted women and girls is such that the local market cannot cope. Where prostitution is considered as work, sex migration becomes easy when girls and women can be coerced into demonstrating that they are coming for employment or that they will be self-employed.

Targeting the demand for the purchase of sex would lead to a decrease in prostitution, as evidenced in Sweden. Contrarily, where prostitution has been legalised, the illegal trade in sex has increased, especially through human trafficking. Therefore, our key recommendation is to criminalise the purchase of sex while decriminalising the seller, as in the Swedish model.

Current legislation on prostitution in Ireland is based on considerations of public order and the sensibilities of so-called ordinary citizens with no concern for the well-being of those prostituted. Whereas the Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) Act 2008 has made it an offence to purchase sex from identified trafficked victims, the burden of proof imposed on the State has been such that there have been no prosecutions to date. This measure is an ineffective deterrent for buyers of sex.

The terms "sex industry", "sex trade", "sex work" and "sex workers" have become current and imply an honourable status to what has been shown to be the worst form of physical, emotional and psychological abuse to which a human being can be subjected. To call it work is to degrade the notion of decent work as set out by the International Labour Organization, ILO. Decent work has been defined as being productive work for women and men in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. To legalise and regulate prostitution as sex work would allow criminals and members of organised crime rings to become legitimate business people with the State sanctioning the marketing of people's bodies, something that would be repugnant to many, if not all, people. The myth that male sexuality must be provided with or is entitled to a category of women called prostitutes who are legitimate targets for rape and sexual exploitation is still prevalent. We consider that to legalise prostitution would add State support to and justify this gender-based fallacy.

Prostitution is a demand market created by those who buy another's sexuality for their profit and pleasure. It treats people as merchandise and legitimate commodities. Therefore, we strongly recommend the criminalisation of the buying of sex as a necessary first step in addressing sexual exploitation in prostitution and human trafficking; that the State continue to criminalise those who promote and benefit in any way from this trade; and decriminalising those who sell sex and the provision of support services to assist victims of trafficking and those who wish to exit prostitution in order that they can provide for their needs with dignity and without the threat of exploitation, abuse or violence.

We also recommend regulation of the role of the Internet and social media in promoting pornography, prostitution and sex trafficking; the introduction of public awareness education and programmes to send out a clear message that prostitution is not acceptable; an interdepartmental approach with the Departments of Justice and Equality, Health, Social Protection and Education and Skills working in collaboration to deter demand; and that the many international instruments produced in the past 50 years on human trafficking, violence against women, discriminatory practices, gender equality and transnational crime to which Ireland has signed up and, in many cases, ratified - in particular, I would mention the Palermo Protocols and the Council of Europe convention - apply when drafting legislation.