Source · Select Committees · Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 26
26
Deferred
Paragraph: 97
Websites advertising prostitution facilitate sexual exploitation; collaboration with them is inexplicable and ineffective.
Conclusion
Websites advertising prostitution significantly facilitate trafficking for sexual exploitation. The threat posed by websites advertising prostitution, the continuing failure of their owners to implement even the most basic safeguards against pimping and trafficking, and the sheer scale of trafficking for sexual exploitation they facilitate, is at total odds with the National Crime Agency and Home Office’s decision to collaborate with them. We found this public partnership working inexplicable, particularly given the total absence of evidence that it has led to a reduction in the scale of trafficking facilitated by these websites—and the flagrant facilitation of trafficking enabled by, for instance, single individuals being allowed to advertise multiple women for prostitution.
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges different legislative approaches to prostitution in Europe but states it has yet to see unequivocal evidence that any single approach is better at tackling associated harm and exploitation, without directly addressing the committee's criticism of NCA/Home Office collaboration with advertising websites.
Paragraph Reference:
97
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
27. The Government is aware of different legislative approaches to prostitution across Europe, including in Northern Ireland, where all buying of sex has been criminalised and selling decriminalised. We have yet to see unequivocal evidence that any one approach is better at tackling the harm and exploitation associated with prostitution.