Legislation ‘the only way’ to end prostitution
Denise Charlton, chief executive of the Immigration Council of Ireland, wants urgent action to combat pimping online, where last week alone, she said the council found 1,027 women, including young girls, being offered on Irish sites.
If there were no buyers, she said, there would be no market, and legislation must be enacted to criminalise the buying of sex.
Addressing a conference in Limerick on human trafficking organised by immigrant welfare group Doras Luimni, Ms Charlton said: “In Ireland you take drunk-driving and the smoking ban, two prime examples.
“Nobody is on the street driving and drinking at Christmas as the chances are they will get caught and there is a sanction. Whereas there are fantastic advertising campaigns trying to persuade people not to drink and drive, but the reality is when people know there is a sanction they don’t drink and drive.
“If you look at smoking: they brought in a ban, but there was going to be sanctions for any publican who did not implement it.
“So we know about law. When it’s enforced (on buying sex) it changes behaviour, as it has in Sweden, Norway, Iceland, and other countries. I think awareness campaigns don’t work and we are wasting our time. Most buyers (of sex) — what deters them is the fact that it is illegal, that the law will be enforced, and that somebody will find out that they did it.”
She praised the decision of national media editors to name men who were caught propositioning undercover gardaí posing as prostitutes in Limerick.
Ms Charlton said the Garda operation marked a shift, from the women (prostitutes) who are the ones usually penalised to the buyer (male clients).
She said: “It seems to have worked. It seems to have taken prostitution off the street for a period of time, and certainly many men we would work with said: ‘Do you know what, that would be a deterrent for me. It’s the first time I knew it was illegal to buy on the street and I would never want my name in the paper and that would be enough to stop me even thinking about buying sex.’
“I think naming and shaming is a really effective deterrent and research consistently confirms that.”
Ms Charlton added: “I think most men who buy do not want people to know that they do. So, therefore, they know it is not OK. The reality is that it is a very seedy underworld that’s very exploitative and they don’t want people to know that they are buying.”
