Time to criminalise purchase of sex cllr ruane
A MEMBER of Mayo County Council says she has no doubt that women and girls are being trafficked into Ireland and forced to work as sex slaves in the sex industry, writes Tom Shiel. Sinn Féin’s Thérèse Ruane, in response to the series of articles in The Connaught Telegraph about the extent of the sex trade in Ireland, including Mayo, maintains the only solution to the problem is to criminalise the purchase of sex.
She welcomes debate on the issue and insists that a new ‘hit the clients’ approach had worked in Sweden and would undoubtedly be beneficial here.
She continued: “There are as many as 1,000 women and girls for sale for sex in Ireland today and prostitution is not a real choice for the vast majority of these women. Women and children are exploited in Ireland’s sex industry. Many have been trafficked into Ireland in order to work as sex slaves in the sex industry. Very few women choose to willingly engage in prostitution.
'The reality is that prostitution has a devastating impact on both the physical and mental well-being of women and girls. It erodes self-esteem, self-confidence, may cause depression and post traumatic stress disorder. Women in the sex industry are vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases, violent attacks and constant threats of violence. Many face beatings, rape, sexual assault and degrading treatment.”
Councillor Ruane put forward a motion at the Sinn Féin Ard Fhéis held in Castlebar in 2013 seeking support for the ‘Turn Off The Red Light Campaign’, which aims to end prostitution and sex trafficking in Ireland and to change Irish legislation to criminalise the purchase of sex. Praising the policies pursued in Sweden, where the purchase of sex is now illegal, she said: “The biggest deterrent to men buying sex is the threat of public exposure or a criminal record. Sweden introduced similar legislation in 1999, and has seen the benefits.'
A Joint Oireachtas Committee unanimously supported the passing of a law criminalising people who pay for sex, in line with the Swedish model, in June 2013. “I am calling on the government to act on this and bring forward the legislation to criminalise the purchase of sex as a matter of urgency. We have a duty to protect vulnerable women and girls, to reduce organised crime, exploitation and trafficking of women and girls on our own doorsteps.”
Councillor Ruane says we also need to ensure that those in prostitution are supported to exit this way of life and make a fresh start by a range of government services working together in an integrated fashion.
Councillor Ruane, who was elected to Mayo County Council for the Castlebar Municipal District last May, is a founder member of Mayo Intercultural Action, an organisation providing advocacy and support to asylum seekers, refugees and migrants in Mayo.