The International Context

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

From Report:

As Ireland and other countries follow the ‘equality’ approach,13 it is critical that we are fully cognisant of the wide range of institutional mechanisms and measures that have been put in place by other jurisdictions to ensure the success of all the objectives of the law.

For example, the continuing commitment of the Swedish State to providing resources for implementation, policing, services, evaluation and monitoring have ensured that the laws on prostitution and trafficking are embedded in government policy.14

In addition, the French law has also now provided an exemplar of a comprehensive law which not only criminalises the purchase of sex and de-criminalises those exploited in prostitution, but also provides a statutory basis for service provision and exit routes.15

Subsequent to the introduction of the law in France, in a historic decision, the Conseil Constitutionnel (French Supreme Court) has validated the constitutionality of the French 2016 Act16 introducing the criminalisation of the purchase of sex, the full decriminalisation of prostituted persons, and the creation of a nation-wide public exit, protection and assistance policy for victims of prostitution, pimping, procuring and trafficking.


Footnotes:
14. Ekberg, G. S. (2004) “The Swedish Law that Prohibits the Purchase of Sexual Services: Best Practices for Prevention of Prostitution and Trafficking in Human Beings” 10 Violence Against Women 1187 (Sage Publications); Ekberg, G. S. & Wahlberg, K. (2011) “The Swedish Approach: A European Union Country Shows How to Effectively Fight Sex Trafficking” 2:2 Solutions Journal.
15. See French law: Act no 2016-444 of the 13th April 2016, “Aiming to Strengthen the Fight Against the Prostitution System and to Assist Prostituted Persons”; in English: “Presentation of the French Act Aiming to Strengthen the Fight Against the Prostitution System and to Assist Prostituted Persons”. Available: http://www.cap-international.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/CAP-brochure-MARS2017-EN-WEB3-1.pdf.
16. CAP-International (2019) “Supreme Court – and public opinion – enshrines French abolitionist legislation on prostitution”. Available: http://www.cap-international.org/activity/supreme-court-and-public-opinion-enshrines-french-abolitionist-legislation-on-prostitution.
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/2019-11/2019
SubmissiontoJOConVictimsofHumanTraffickinginDirectProvision.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.

Comment:
This is a fully evidenced analysis of one significant strand of the international context. which calls the validity of the entire abolitionist movement into question.

Comment:
The failure of the sex buyer law in Sweden is well documented:

Comment:
The failure of the sex buyer law in France is well documented:

The Supreme Court ruling cited is now being appealed to the European Court of Human Rights:

Prostitution Law of 2016: 250 sex workers in France appeal to the European Court of Human Rights Publié le 19 December 2019

Comment:
The failure of the sex buyer law in Canada is well documented:

Comment:
Similar legislation in the North of Ireland was already assessed in September 2019 and shown to have no positive impact from any perspective and a disastrous impact from the perspective of sex workers .

Comment:
These assessments are well past the point where they can be dismissed as “‘pimp-thinking’” without consideration, particularly as many of them originate from currently active sex workers themselves who have always been conspicuous by their absence from Irish discourse and consultation.

Comment:
Sex workers are the human beings most aware of the facts of their occupation as well as most impacted by legislation and social policy directed at it. I can conceive of no excuse adequate to justify the continuing exclusion of their voices.