Protection, legal advocacy and exit supports

From The Implementation of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017, Part IV – An Interim Review:

From Report:
Civil society organisations are critical of the insufficient resources provided by the Irish State for comprehensive exit supports for women affected by prostitution and sex trafficking. According to Ruhama approximately 90% of women want to exit at some point but have a perception that there are not any viable alternatives for them.

There are a number of barriers in exiting the sex trade, including:
  • Poverty and a lack of viable alternatives;
  • Being under third party coercion, violence and control from pimps, traffickers and/or intimate partners;
  • Homelessness and precarious housing and a lack of safe, gender-specific accommodation both emergency and longer term;
  • Immigration status;
  • A lack of formal educational qualifications;
  • Psychological trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder;
  • Isolation – geographic and emotional.
Ireland has a responsibility to respond to the long-term needs of women who have been sexually exploited in its jurisdiction, regardless of migrant status, including access to welfare, education, training and employment.

Decriminalisation is a core element of the 2017 Act. The introduction of the law on the purchase of sex must also be accompanied by a wide range of measures to ensure there are no negative consequences for prostituted and trafficked women. Research has highlighted the importance of early and specialised legal intervention for victims of trafficking17 and Ireland has been repeatedly criticised for failing to meet standards.18 Given that an overwhelming majority of women in prostitution are migrant women and that many may be undocumented, it is critical that all women have immediate access to accurate information and legal advice. Legal representation from specialised lawyers ensures that women obtain consistent information regarding their rights, including the right to remain in the state.

Specialised accommodation should be available and there has been some movement by the State on it. However, the steps undertaken are insignificant to date and any commitments to gender-specific accommodation remain vague at this stage. Additional resources were to accompany the legislative change, facilitating increase service provision by specialist services such as the Women’s Health Service (WHS) and civil society organisations. Services like WHS are vital because for many vulnerable migrant women in prostitution in Ireland, this is literally the only health service in the country they are accessing. We also need the more flexible type of supports provided by Ruhama, ICI and other NGOs – where cooperation with the Gardaí is not a requirement, and that have a real exiting focus, helping women to leave prostitution for good and plan new futures. Extra resources were promised and have not been delivered on – hence both State and NGO provider services are struggling to meet needs.
Footnotes:
17 O’Connor, M. (2015) “Upholding Rights! Early Legal Intervention for Victims of Trafficking”, Immigrant Council of Ireland. Website & Reports available: http://www.earlylegalintervention.eu
18 Immigrant Council of Ireland (2019) “The need for gender-specific accommodation for sexually exploited, trafficked women”, Submission to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice and Equality.
Available: https://www.immigrantcouncil.ie/sites/default/files/2019-11/2019SubmissiontoJOConVictimsofHumanTraffickinginDirectProvision.pdf
Joint NGO submission (2015) “Draft Second National Action Plan on Trafficking in Human Beings” by APT, Barnardos, Doras Luimní, Immigrant Council of Ireland, NASC, Ruhama, Sexual Violence Centre Cork.
Available: https://www.immigrantcouncil.ie/sites/default/files/2017-10/AT%202015%20Joint%20Submission%20on%20DJE%20draft%20National%20Action%20Plan%20on%20Trafficking.pdf#
Pollak, S. (2019) “Women in Direct Provision being ‘pushed into prostitution’” The Irish Times. Available: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/women-in-direct-provision-being-pushed-into-prostitution-1.4085828.
Legal advice and advocacy can only be properly offered by organisations that are either ideologically neutral or offer a realistic variety of ideological perspectives on the overall issue of sex work.
Comment:
There is quite a substantial body of academic research and evidence in this area that has been completely ignored, including, but not limited to:

Ireland
 UK
Germany

Comment:
“According to Ruhama approximately 90% of women want to exit” yet, in  a 2015 Policy Response to Consultation on NIs Strategy on Exiting Prostitution Ruhama clearly state:
“In our experience women do not come through Ruhama’s doors saying ‘Hi, can you help me to exit prostitution please?’ This circumstance would be extremely rare.”
Comment:
Has Ruhama’s level of engagement with women actively involved in selling sex ever been formally, independently, verified? It seems impossible to locate active sex workers who admit to any level of engagement with Ruhama and hard to locate any who admit to being willing to even consider it, so that the sooner this discrepancy is properly cleared up the better for all concerned.

Full Disclosure: Since 1993 I have found 8 women with varying degrees of engagement with Ruhama that began when they were still actively engaged in selling sex and 5 more people trying to engage with them but finding them inappropriate and unhelpful. Apart from that I am only aware of Mia De Faoite finding engagement with Ruhama to be a positive experience.

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