Upcoming attempt to partially criminalise prostitution in Scotland

[YourSlavius]

Update

A few months ago a Nordic Model attempt was blocked by the Scottish Greens, however Ash Regan is now putting forward a private member bill.

https://www.nationaluglymugs.org/2024/08...rs-safety/

The consultation document which can be replied to is here. Unsurprisingly she is not making this known to people she knows won't agree with her.

https://www.parliament.scot/bills-and-la...tland-bill

[YourSlavius]

https://www.parliament.scot/-/media/file...d-bill.pdf

Some points from the proposed consultation document:

My Bill would be similar in  principle to others around the world which aim to reduce the demand for prostitution and provide an environment that will help people to exit prostitution. p8

Ash Regan makes it clear the main focus of the bill isn't to make sex work safer, it's all about attempting to reduce it.

The terms “sex work” and “sex worker” will not be used in this consultation. In recent years, this terminology has been heavily promoted by a small but vocal minority of people in prostitution, and well-intentioned others not connected to prostitution often use these terms in the mistaken belief that this is...

The terms sex work/worker are used by Amnesty Int, World Health Org, UNAIDs and a list of other human rights/health/anti-trafficking orgs as well as sex work advocacy groups. 

I recognise that there are a few people involved in prostitution who would not consider themselves vulnerable and feel they have made a choice that they are comfortable with and feel that they take steps to manage the risks of harm. However, I believe that this typically represents a small number of those involved in prostitution. Melissa Farley estimates this at about two percent

Melissa Farley is used as a source here.

In a Canadian court, evidence given by Melissa Farley on the topic was found to be "problematic" and dismissed by a judge:
https://cybersolidaires.typepad.com/file...farley.pdf p14-15

The law in the rest of the world

p25  Ash lists the countries that have the Nordic Model to write about. Only Nordic Model countries are listed with no mention of NZ, Belgium or the parts of Australia that have decriminalisation.

p32 Effects of criminalising the purchase of sexual acts - international evidence
In Sweden

• on-street prostitution has halved in Sweden since 1995 (the law criminalising purchase of sexual acts was introduced in 1999);117

The decline of sexwork on the street since the 90s could probably be attributed to the development of home internet and escort directories which many use instead, not because of whatever the law is.

I want to underline that prostitution activities are not and cannot be pushed underground. If the buyers can find the women in prostitution- the police can too.

MSP Rhoda Grant used this exact phrase too during her failed Nordic Model members bill in 2015. Yet somehow a quick Google search for "Stockholm escorts" returns plenty of results. The Swedish police have had 25 years to stop those and failed.

p37 Suggestions have previously been made that Scotland should decriminalise all activities related to prostitution, adopting the approach taken in Germany or New Zealand.146 However, I do not believe decriminalising activities related to the organisation, control, exploitation or profiting from prostitution would fit within the framework of the Equally Safe and Trafficking and Exploitation strategies

This means, like all Nordic Model countries, it will still be illegal for sexworkers to work together. Criminalising "profiting from prostitution" can also cause complications such as making it illegal for a sexworker's partner to use her earnings to buy food etc.

Re enforcing the proposed new law-

p41 Locate – police officers locate premises being used for prostitution.

Confirm- overt operations are currently used in gathering evidence relating to the offence of brothel-keeping so current enforcement practice could be employed for an offence of purchasing sexual services

Observe – police observe suspected buyers entering premises being used for
prostitution.

Presumaby the idea is police will locate brothels or the homes of sexworkers (in Sweden the police make hoax bookings posing as a client for the address) and then watch it until a suspected buyer enters. A report by the UN HIV and the Law Commission noted 2 sex-buyer convictions out of 2000 arrests: "Evidence to prove a crime is nearly unattainable. Workers do not consider themselves to be victims and are almost always unwilling to testify against their clients". Which implies simply observing a man enter a premise suspected to be used for sexwork isn't enough for a conviction. The report also notes this is a massive drain on resources.

https://hivlawcommission.org/wp-content/...lth-EN.pdf p38

-There is no mention of the desire to criminalise advertising services/running a profile on an escort directory, however this may already have been covered by the (unclear) Online Harm Safety Bill which was passed.

-Belgium is not mentioned at all in the document, despite having decriminalised sexwork in 2022. Australia is not mentioned either.

-New Zealand is only briefly mentioned, and is mentioned along with Germany despite the countries having two different law models (NZ: decriminalisation, Germany: legalisation). Ash makes no distinction between this.

[YourSlavius]

The consultation questions begin p47. They can be answered the public, deadline Sep 30th. Anonymous submissions are allowed.

The first set of questions is about you. It asks "Are you an individual/an org/politician/professional/academic/member of the public/other". Worth noting there is no tick box for a person with experience of selling sexual services.

The majority of questions are written with the assumption that the person answering is in agreement with the proposal for the Nordic Model. examples:

"How should the proposed offence be enforced"

" Do you believe that there are any new policing powers that would be necessary or beneficial for enforcing this offence?"

" Please indicate which of the following ways of raising awareness of the new offence you believe to be most effective"

" Do you think legislation is required, or are there are other ways in which the Bill’s aims could be achieved more effectively?"

This leaves very little space for those opposed to the Nordic Model (criminalising the buying of sexual services) to give their views. There is a small box in Q1 which asks if you are supportive or opposed to the Nordic Model with room for an explanation and that seems to be about it.

Presumably this is so when the responses are looked at they will appear to be supportive of the Nordic Model which Ash will manipulatively use to make her summary document look how she wants it to.

[YourSlavius]

[duplicate post]