Monday, August 10, 2009

FG urges reform of prostitution laws

*Picture from previous Irish Times article on prostituton.

Failure to amend the prostitution laws could lead to Ireland becoming the new “red light district of Europe”, a Fine Gael TD has claimed. Party immigration spokesman Denis Naughten yesterday said that Ireland has not reformed its laws on soliciting and prostitution, unlike many other EU states.

Mr Naughten said the Dutch authorities had recently decided to close a third of Amsterdam’s notorious red light district because its liberal policy on prostitution had failed to prevent organised crime and human trafficking. Similarly, he said, both Norway and Sweden had outlawed the buying of services from a prostitute.

He said that in Britain new legislation will have the effect of clamping down on those who buy sex from women who have been victims of sex trafficking. Mr Naughten claimed tougher laws elsewhere could lead to illegal traffickers targeting Ireland. He called for the establishment of a group to review and examine prostitution laws with a view to preventing the proliferation of sex trafficking in a growing industry.

Full Article

------------------------------------------------------------

As an abolitionist, I fully agree with Mr. Naughten's argument in regard to Irish prostitution law. If anything, a lax regulation or liberal policy of prostitution in Ireland will only facilitate the members of organized crime to take advantage of the systems. Irish Times earlier this year also reported the gravity of sex trafficking in Ireland. While some British showed full support for legalizing of the country's sex industry, a study in the past has proven otherwise. In Netherlands, for instance, the sex industry grew by 25% and accounted for 5% of the Netherlands' national economy. Also, 80% of women in the country's brothels are trafficked from other countries, with 70% from Central and Eastern European countries. But, the world will watch and see if the liberal regulation of the Irish sex industry will in fact countermeasure the problems of human trafficking in Northern Ireland.

No comments:

Post a Comment