LEGISLATION WHICH would criminalise men who used prostitutes should be introduced urgently, a conference in Dublin on human trafficking heard yesterday.
Fine Gael spokesman on immigration and integration Denis Naughten TD said there had to be “total attitude change to prostitution in this country” and legislation was the most effective way to lead this.
He said he would move a private member’s motion in the Oireachtas later in the year seeking the establishment of a committee to examine how legislation criminalising the purchase of sex could be drafted.
Mr Naughten was speaking at the announcement of the Dignity Project, which will identify the best methods in Spain, Lithuania and Scotland in providing services to victims of sex trafficking. An initiative of the Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI) and the Dublin Employment Pact, it is funded by the EU’s Daphne programme.
The Garda, the Department of Justice and the HSE are among those working with the project.
A recent ICI report found 102 women had been trafficked into Ireland in a 21-month period for forced prostitution, and said this was “the tip of the iceberg”. .
The Dignity Project will report its initial findings and progress at a conference in November.
Gráinne Healy, chair of the European Women’s Lobby Observatory on Violence against Women, said 200,000 women and girls were trafficked into northwest Europe alone last year for sexual exploitation.
“This project will look at how combating trafficking is best done, will look at who the victims are, and will always be looking at achieving best outcomes for the women.”
The “demand” issue had to be tackled, she added.
“Who are these men who think it’s okay to pay for sex? Sex cannot be purchased. It must be negotiated between two consenting adults. This is a conversation we have to have with our husbands, sons and brothers. This is not a career option that any woman would choose if she could live an economically viable life another way.
“For which women is it an okay career option? Not for my daughter. Not for your daughter. Whose daughter is it okay for?”
Mr Naughten said legislation was in place in Sweden which criminalised men who purchased sex, while in the Netherlands many of the brothels had been closed down as the authorities had “recognised the liberal approach has not worked”. With the lack of legislation here there was a danger “Ireland could become the new red-light centre of Europe”.
