Shatter seeks input on law for prostitution

JUSTICE MINISTER Alan Shatter has announced public consultation on the criminalisation of users of prostitutes — though a newly published report makes clear his own department’s reservations about a new law.

The Government has been under pressure from anti-prostitution and human trafficking campaigners to introduce the Swedish model.

In 1999, the Scandinavian country became the first in the world to introduce legislation criminalising the purchase of sex but decriminalising the sale.

Last year, Justice Department officials, members of the gardaí and interest groups operating under the auspices of the Dignity Project, visited Sweden to evaluate the success of the law more than a decade after its introduction.

They were told how 648 people had been convicted for 850 infringements of the legislation over a 10-year period. Swedish authorities have claimed that due to the accelerated conviction rates, the level of purchase of sex has plummeted sharply in its cities. A survey in 1999 found one in every eight Swedish men confirmed they had bought sex from a prostitute. By 2008, that had fallen to one in 14.

The Swedish Government says that has meant a decline in human trafficking because international traffickers realise there simply is not the market in the Scandinavian country any more.

However, a report written by the Department of Justice in the follow-up to the visit to Sweden shows the department has issues with introducing the Swedish model here.

Ruhama which works with women in prostitution welcomed the public consultation on the issue and said it hoped people would engaged in the process. However, it said it was disappointed at some of the findings of the report which appeared to show the department was knocking legislation before it has even been formed.

It also said that since the “Turn off the Red Light Campaign” was launched in February there had been widespread societal support for a crackdown on the users of prostitutes.