Interesting article in the Guardian about trafficking and prostitution.
Parliament is in the final stages of passing the policing and crime bill which contains a proposal to clamp down on trafficking by penalising any man who has sex with a woman who is “controlled for gain” even if the man is genuinely ignorant of the control. Although the definition of “controlled” has been tightened, sex workers’ groups complain that the clause will encourage women to prove that they are not being controlled by working alone on the streets or in a flat without a maid, thus making them more vulnerable to attack.
There are also fears that if the new legislation deters a significant proportion of customers, prostitutes will be pressurised to have sex without condoms in order to bring them back.
Hopefully the publication of this research will weaken the Policing and Crime Bill. Further criminisation of sex work just won’t work.
Here are my previous thoughts on this specific Bill….
I had a quick look at the added Section 53A to the SOA 2003 (looked at your quote so might be missing part) and my logic is such that its just another law that hardly anyone will be prosecuted.
In order for a prosecution to me it seems the man who pays for sex must without any doubt know the prostitute is controlled by a third party i.e. pimp etc.
It could be argued that unless there is direct third party involvement (i.e. the man (A) contacts the third party (C) directly who refers the man (A) to prostitute (B) ) that if it is man (A) directly contacts prostitute (B) that he is immune from that law.
I don’t know any statistics about this but how would anyone find out whether a prostitute is victim to human trafficking (which doesn’t necessary mean country to another country) or down to a limited choice of paying for drugs or to otherwise get money?
The latter is similar but not trafficking by strict definition.
So… not read the full Bill. Just sounds to me as being a new law to criminalise the work with a few clauses which are hard to be proven for a prosecution. There isn’t much point in police making an arrest just to release them later.