Seanad debates

Friday, 11 December 2015

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Committee Stage

 

10:00 am

Photo of David NorrisDavid Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Moreover, the document states:

For example, the Norwegian report stated that:

“[W]omen in the street market report to have a weaker bargaining position and more safety concerns now than before the law was introduced. At the indoors market, prostitutes express concerns for ‘out-door calls’. They prefer to have customers visiting them at their own apartment or own hotel room. The threshold for reporting a violent customer to the police also seems to be higher after the law. People in prostitution are afraid that such actions will come back to halt them at later stages.”

Of their discussion with current sex workers in Sweden, the authors of the evaluation reported that:

“They describe having chosen to prostitute themselves and do not consider themselves to be unwilling victims of anything. [It is the Government that is calling them victims.] This self-righteous campaign decided that these people who do not feel they are victims. It is the responsibility of the government to decide what other people are ... ."

It is also stated:

"Even if it is not forbidden to sell sex, they feel they are hunted by the police. They feel that they are being treated as incapacitated persons because their actions are tolerated but their wishes and choices are not respected. Moreover, they state that there is a difference between voluntary and forced prostitution."

[...]

The criminalisation of the purchase of sex has also reportedly impacted on HIV prevention and harm reduction. Condom distribution to sex workers and clients has been publicly criticised for ‘encouraging sex work’ and running contrary to the law and has been scaled back in at least one area of Sweden since the passage of the law.

When thinking about the human rights of prostitutes, we must note that not all of them regard themselves as unfortunate. Some of them are, however. Some of them, as a result of the operation of the law in Sweden, have been deprived not only of a large proportion of their income but also of their homes. I find it shameful that, in Norway, the police actively targeted the landlords of known prostitutes and called this excursion Operation Homeless. It is fairly cynical driving prostitutes out of their homes in a police operation described as Operation Homeless. This has led to the eviction of sex workers from their place of work and occupation. Is that what the Government wants? Does it want an increase in risk and damage to the safety of women? Does it want an increase in the risk to health and the risk of HIV infection, the dispossession of women from their homes, the harassment of women, and the exposure of women to greater danger? I cannot believe this is what the Irish people want.

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