Sex Work in Northern Ireland

Section 15 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Criminal Justice and Support for Victims) Act 2015 requires the Department to review the operation of Article 64A of the Sexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 2008 which criminalises the purchase of sexual services.

The Department commissioned research from Queen's University Belfast to assist in fulfilling this statutory requirement.

The report provided by QUB provides findings which allow for an assessment of the operation of the legislation, including the impact of the law on the two particular specifics targeted by section 15, namely the safety and wellbeing of sex workers and the extent to which the offence has operated to reduce human trafficking.

Assessment of impact

On the basis of the findings in the research report, the Department has concluded that there is no evidence that the offence of purchasing sexual services has produced a downward pressure on the demand for, or supply of, sexual services.

Evidence obtained from the survey with people who purchase sexual services shows that the legislation has had a limited deterrent effect on client behaviour. For example, a majority of clients in Northern Ireland (53%) state that the law has made no difference to how often they purchase sex and they will continue to purchase sex with the same frequency. A further 27% are likely to continue to purchase sex at a reduced level. 11% said they would stop buying sex. Almost 76% of those surveyed felt that the law had no impact on the ease with which they purchase sex. The research also found that there had been no reduction in sex worker advertising, which would have been expected had demand fallen post 2015.

Safety and well-being of sex workers

On the first of the specific areas on which the Department is required to make an assessment, ie the impact of the offence on the safety and well-being of sex workers, we have concluded that, although the incidence of serious offending against sex workers is comparatively rare, there are other implications for well-being which the report describes in some detail. The research into self-reported data supplied by Uglymugs.ie (UM) does indicate there while there have been increases in several kinds of more serious offences, overall, the incidence is still lower than elsewhere.

The report also makes clear that it is not possible to say that the change in the law is responsible for any increase in crime against sex workers. Other factors may include the increase in the number of sex workers active in Northern Ireland, existing sex workers fulfilling higher levels of demand, more sex workers using the UM app, better reporting or recording techniques, and a more enhanced awareness of crime amongst the sex worker population in general.

However, what the UM data featured in the report does suggest is that there has been an increase in instances of anti-social and abusive behaviours since 2016. This has led to a heightened fear of crime, and the report suggests that the legislation has contributed to a climate whereby sex workers feel further marginalised and stigmatised.

Human trafficking

The extent to which Article 64A has operated to reduce human trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation was also covered by the research.

There is no clear evidence presented in the report to suggest that the legislation has had an impact on the levels of trafficking for sexual exploitation. The research found that the legislation had minimal effect on the demand for sexual services therefore it is difficult to see in what way it could impact on human trafficking for sexual exploitation. The referrals from Northern Ireland to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) have remained fairly constant. The report also points out that the very small numbers from Northern Ireland involved in the NRM make it problematic in social scientific terms to suggest that Article 64A has had any impact on referrals with any degree of statistical significance.

Laura Lee has won High Court permission to challenge a new law criminalising the purchase of sex in Northern Ireland. She was granted leave to seek a judicial review of Stormont legislation making it illegal for men to pay for prostitutes.

Laura Lee is a sex worker whose customers have been affected by the new law.

A judge ruled she has established an arguable case that amendments to the Human Trafficking and Exploitation Act breach her human rights to privacy and freedom from discrimination.

A date for a full hearing of the unprecedented legal action will be set later this year.

Northern Ireland is currently the only UK region to make the purchase of sex a criminal offence.

The legislative change was introduced last year in a private member's bill brought before the Assembly by Democratic Unionist peer and Stormont MLA Lord Morrow.

Although it shifts the legal burden away from prostitutes, they believe it will put them at heightened risk from customers who will clearly shy away from providing identification and will seek locations more remote from police discovery.

The Times reports that new laws which have made it illegal to pay for sex in Northern Ireland have resulted in just one arrest.

Sex worker support groups said that the figures, released under the Freedom of Information Act, proved that the measures could not be enforced.

The legislation, which came into effect in June means that sex workers are no longer able to make basic security checks such as getting to know who their customers are. Meanwhile it has the potential to destroy the lives of men and their families just for wanting to get laid.

Update: Populist law

4th November 2015. F rom thetimes.co.uk

The Northern Ireland justice minister has said he disagrees with plans to make it illegal to pay for sex in the Republic after The Times reported that just one man was prosecuted under similar legislation in the North.

David Ford said the laws, brought in after a vote in the Northern Ireland Assembly in June, were the result of populism rather than practicalism and are not useful.

From 1st June, 2015 a new law in Northern Ireland criminalising the purchase of sex will come into effect. This will make Northern Ireland the only region of the United Kingdom to adopt the repressive Nordic model, after a similar bill failed to pass in Scotland in 2013.

The bill was passed in Northern Ireland's Stormont assembly by 81 votes to 10 last October despite research commissioned by the Department of Justice in Northern Ireland that concluded that Northern Ireland's adoption of the Nordic Model would not be in sex workers' best interests.

As we reported last year, the research from Queen's University found that trafficking victims account for less than 3% of people working in the sex trades, fewer than 10 people. More than a third of clients surveyed believed that paying for sex was already illegal. Of the 171 sex workers questioned, less than 2% supported criminalisation of clients, 61% saying that it would make them less safe.

A press release from the Northern Ireland Executive was published on 20th May. It said that:

Under section 15 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Criminal Justice and Support for Victims) Act (Northern Ireland) 2015, it will become an offence to obtain sexual services in exchange for payment, either by paying, or promising to pay, any person directly, or through a third party.

This replaces the offence of paying for the sexual services of a prostitute subjected to force, where it is currently unlawful to pay for the sexual services of a prostitute who has been exploited by a third party using force or threats. This offence, which is an offence whether or not the person buying the services knows of the exploitation, carries a maximum penalty of a level 3 (£1,000) fine.

Under the new law, it will be illegal to obtain, for payment, sexual services from anyone, whether or not there is exploitation. The sexual services which will be illegal must involve the buyer being physically present with the seller and there must either be physical sexual contact or the seller must perform sexual acts where they touch themselves for the sexual gratification of the buyer.

Under the legislation, payment includes money or the provision of goods or services.

Anyone convicted under the new legislation can be sentenced to a maximum of one year's imprisonment, or a fine, or both.

It is not an offence to sell sexual services. The new law also removes criminality from loitering or soliciting for the purposes of offering services as a prostitute in a street or public place. It remains an offence to keep or manage a brothel.

A sex worker is to use human rights legislation to try to overturn a new law in Northern Ireland that makes it illegal to pay for prostitutes. Dublin-born law graduate Laura Lee is launching an unprecedented legal challenge that could go all the way to Strasbourg.

The region is the only part of the UK where people can be convicted of paying for sex. The law, which was pushed by Democratic Unionist peer and Stormont assembly member Lord Morrow, comes into effect on 1 June.

Lee told the Guardian she will launch her case at the high court in Belfast in the same month as the law comes into effect. Lee said:

I am doing this because I believe that when two consenting adults have sex behind closed doors and if money changes hands then that is none of the state's business. The law they have introduced has nothing to do with people being trafficked but simply on their, the DUP's, moral abhorrence of paid sex.

I believe that after June 1st, sex workers' lives in Northern Ireland will actually be harder and the industry will be pushed underground.

Lee said her legal team would be referencing several articles of the European convention on human rights to challenge and overturn Morrow's law:

There are several articles that we can look starting with article 8 that governs the right to privacy. We will also focus on article 2 that concerns the right to life and we will argue that this law puts sex workers' safety by the fact the legislation will drive the trade further and further underground.

And then article 3 is about protection from degrading treatment, which is very relevant because in Scotland police have been subjecting sex workers to terrible things such as strip searching on women working in Edinburgh saunas. Our legal team will also refer to the right to earn a living enshrined in the European social charter.

Lee said she will fund the case partly via crowdfunding on social media networks and from sex worker campaign groups across the world.

Update: Progress report

1st June 2015. See article from theguardian.com

In a statement, Laura Lee said:

It is my intention to initiate a judicial review at Belfast's high court in respect of provisions contained in Lord Morrow's human trafficking bill. As a sex workers' rights advocate, I campaigned long and hard against this legislation because evidence from around the world shows us just what damage the Swedish model does. It places sex workers in grave danger and the bill as presented does not decriminalise us as has been claimed. Should it be illegal to pay for sex? Panel verdict Laura Lee, Julie Bindel, Margaret Corvid, Rahila Gupta Read more

The Dublin-born law graduate added:

True decriminalisation looks to repeal all of the nonsensical laws around sex work and allows us to work together for safety. That's not the case in Northern Ireland now, and it will certainly not be the case after 1 June. When two consenting adults meet to have sex then, whether money changes or not, the state has no right to interfere.

A repressive new to endanger sex workers by banning paying for sex in Northern Ireland has passed its final stage in the Stormont Assembly.

The region will become the first part of the UK to introduce such oppressive restrictions of liberty when the Bill receives the formality of royal assent.

The law change, championed by Democratic Unionist Assembly member Lord Morrow, has been hailed by Christian groups but denounced by prostitutes' representatives.

The fate of the Bill's contentious clause six, proposing the ban on purchasing sex, was uncertain at the outset of a crunch debate in October, with Sinn Fein's decision to back the prohibition with the DUP proving crucial.

The Northern Ireland police force has withdrawn its opposition to proposals to criminalise men who pay for sex -- but stopped short of backing the plans, as they could deter people in the sex industry from giving information to the police.

The new law being proposed for Northern Ireland is based on repressive Swedish legislation.

Senior officers have also pointed out that most convictions in Sweden are achieved through phone tapping and surveillance of suspects -- which would not be allowed in Northern Ireland.

Giving evidence at a justice committee meeting yesterday, Assistant Chief Constable Drew Harris said:

We don't oppose it... if the Assembly passes this legislation, we will use it to the best effect we can.

However, he pointed out that men who paid for sex were already risking ridicule and knew they were taking a risk so it is difficult to assess how much effect the threat of prosecution would have .

ACC Harris and Chief Superintendent Roy McComb, who also gave evidence, pointed out that it was already an offence to have sex with a person who had been trafficked and that ignorance was no defence.

Six men have so far been arrested for this offence, but none of them have been convicted because of a legal time limit on how long police have to bring charges. That limitation is now being removed and police are hopeful it will help secure future convictions.

Maurice Morrow of the DUP has whinged at the police for "overstepping the mark" when the did not support his nasty bill to persecute men just for paying for sex.

A senior officer insisted the force does not support the bill which us due to be debated at Stormont. Assistant Chief Constable Drew Harris said the PSNI wanted to find an alternative to tackling prostitution and human trafficking:

The PSNI position is clear in that we do not support the liberalisation of laws [only for women] in relation to prostitution

We are striving to find better ways to tackle the serious problem of prostitution and human trafficking and are keen to be part of the wider societal debate about how we can collectively minimise harm caused by prostitution. The ACC said while investigations into prostitution and trafficking were complex, the PSNI would do what it could to reduce harm and risk involved to all those concerned.

He said the police service had worked closely with the Department of Justice in giving its views on Morrow's Bill and was satisfied its comments would be taken on board in any future legislation.

Morrow yesterday whinged at the PSNI, spouting:

It is unfortunate that the PSNI has become publicly involved in this debate and opposing his Bill. The Northern Ireland Assembly is the forum for debating and reviewing proposed legislation and that process is continuing. Unfortunately, the PSNI has publicly entered the political arena to oppose the introduction of my Bill.

It is a very rare event for a police force in the United Kingdom to intervene and oppose legislation passing through a parliamentary process. The current activity by the PSNI in opposing my Bill is deeply unprofessional and is showing complete disrespect for the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Finally, let's not forget this is a 19-clause Bill. Although the police and Press attention is on criminalising the payment of sex, it is only one clause of the Bill.

Update: 1st stage passed

24th September 2013. See review from  belfasttelegraph.co.uk

The Northern Ireland Assembly has passed Maurice Morrow's private members' bill to criminalise men for buying sex onto its next stage in the Assembly.

NI21 leader Basil McCrea was unimpressed. He said:

Sooner or later the Assembly has to grow up; if a bill will make bad law we should oppose it regardless of how sensitive and emotive the topic is.

To do otherwise is simply to waste taxpayers' money. If ever a bill highlighted the need for the Assembly to develop an official opposition, this is it.

Everyone is, of course, opposed to human trafficking and sexual exploitation (but) a desire to be seen to be doing something should not result in the Assembly producing poor legislation.

This bill is duplicating, badly researched, (but) will pass through the Assembly because Justice Minister David Ford and other parties of the Executive are not brave enough to oppose a bill on such an emotive issue.

His criticism followed the Assembly debate in which DUP MLAs warned that strong legislation expected in the Irish Republic could make Northern Ireland a greater centre for human trafficking in future.

William Humphrey, DUP, said it was clear the Dublin government intends to implement an all-party Oireachtas group report: The problem will be dumped over the border in Northern Ireland because we will have failed to act.

Other parties, however, voiced fears that the proposal to make it a criminal offence to pay for sexual services could force human trafficking further underground. Sinn Fein , Ulster Unionist, SDLP and Alliance united in calling for more research to ensure legislation has the desired effect. The SDLP's Patsy McGlone said: ...it is not clear whether the stated objective would be achieved .

The bill now goes on to detailed scrutiny and potential amendment in committee.

Northern Ireland Justice Minister David Ford is to commission independent research into prostitution in Northern Ireland.

The issue has been in the spotlight because of an assembly bill on criminalising buyers of sex. Ford said prostitution and human trafficking, although there was overlap, needed to be each considered in their own right. He said research would ensure future policy would be based on sound evidence:

I am committed to doing all I can to tackle human trafficking and, indeed, my department is taking forward a major programme of work.

It is a horrendous crime and all our efforts must be on prevention, recovering and supporting victims and prosecuting those responsible. 'Criminalise'

Ford said it was a a matter of public record that he had concerns about elements of the bill and in particular a clause that:

Contains the provision to criminalise paying for sexual services. The wider policy issues surrounding prostitution, including supply, demand, health needs and the safety and wellbeing of vulnerable women, all deserve consideration and, if changes to the law are required, such proposals should be subject to wide ranging consultation.

I am very concerned that in the absence of such thorough research and consultation, we risk a number of serious, unintended, consequences. I consider that this research will set out the position in Northern Ireland from where we can reach informed decisions on the way forward.