Article 64A of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Criminal Justice and Support for Victims) Act (Northern Ireland) 2015 made it a criminal offence ‘to pay for the sexual services of a person’. The Act also included a requirement on the Department Of Justice to review the operation of Article 64A after a period of three years and to report to the Northern Ireland Assembly on the findings of the review. This report has now been published.
Key findings of the research include:
A trend analysis of 173,460 advertisements indicates that the legislation has had little effect on the supply of or demand for sexual services
This analysis indicates there has been a 5% increase in the number of sex work advertisements since the law was changed
Sex workers reported a surge in business in the period following introduction of the legislation
The number of unique sex workers advertising also increased in the post law period from 3,351 to 3,973, an increase of 622
1,450 advertisements for sexual services were noted over a 6-day period in April 2019
It is estimated that the number of sex workers advertising per day is 308, similar to the number noted in the earlier research
Based on the premise that criminalisation would end demand for commercial sexual services there should have been a greater ‘tailing off’ of sex worker advertising during the period following the implementation of Article 64A. This has not occurred
The on-street prostitution sector has declined further since the 2014 research, from around 20 to less than 10
Serious crimes against sex workers in Northern Ireland are comparatively rare. However, between 2015 and 2018 there has been an increase in the number of reports on the Uglymugs.ie website in relation to, for example, assaults (from 3 to 13) sexual assaults (from 1 to 13) and threatening behaviour (from 10 to 42)
Sex workers are exposed to higher rates of anti-social and nuisance behaviour
Sex workers reported higher levels of anxiety and unease, and increased stigmatisation.
You can read the complete 177 page report at [
www.justice-ni.gov.uk] or the seven page Department of Justice summary at [
www.justice-ni.gov.uk].
There has been a predictable response from Julie Bindel.
[
www.independent.co.uk]