2014 NI Trafficking results are in

[Davidontour]

From Laura Lee's twitter:

2014 -
Nr of crimes against sex workers in NI - 70
Nr of POTENTIAL cases of trafficking - 3
Nr of SW's consulted by Lord Morrow - 1

Comments / explanations welcome from any of the 81 MLAs who voted for Clause 15.

In your own time....

[TonyB]

I'm posting partly to keep this thread current.

I will also say I believe politicians voted this in because of their moral or religious views or those they believe they should be perceived to have.
Facts or alternative views never stood a chance against the possibility of losing votes.

It is hard to stand up and be counted in opposition to this law.
It's difficult to argue a point when nobody wants to listen.

I saw this recently on Facebook when a friend of mine questioned a Torl post.
He was nothing short of abused as it appeared by the response, anyone paying for sex is a rapist and pedophile.

[SteveB]

I'm posting partly to keep this thread current.

I will also say I believe politicians voted this in because of their moral or religious views or those they believe they should be perceived to have.
Facts or alternative views never stood a chance against the possibility of losing votes.

It is hard to stand up and be counted in opposition to this law.
It's difficult to argue a point when nobody wants to listen.

I saw this recently on Facebook when a friend of mine questioned a Torl post.
He was nothing short of abused as it appeared by the response, anyone paying for sex is a rapist and pedophile.

This is the problem. Some people are narrow-mind, and those that are not, are intimated by those that are. It is easy to be brave here, hinding behind the internet but in the real world there is a lot of viciousness, that doesn't always stop at mere words.

[anon361]

The law is wrong, everyone knows that but at the same time something has to be done about trafficking. It's not near as prevalent as we are lead to believe but showing statistics saying it's not near as bad is no argument as to why it's wrong, how many trafficked victims is justifiable if that were an acceptable argument, 1, 2, a 100?

[TonyB]

The law is wrong, everyone knows that but at the same time something has to be done about trafficking. It's not near as prevalent as we are lead to believe but showing statistics saying it's not near as bad is no argument as to why it's wrong, how many trafficked victims is justifiable if that were an acceptable argument, 1, 2, a 100?

Trafficking is already illegal.
If the new law drives sex for sale underground, will this stop trafficking?
Personally I believe this approach is wrong on many levels.

[anon361]

Trafficking is already illegal.
If the new law drives sex for sale underground, will this stop trafficking?
Personally I believe this approach is wrong on many levels.

You're preaching to the choir but as I said, showing statistics is not an argument if there's even 1 case of trafficking on it.

[milkman]

I'm posting partly to keep this thread current.

I will also say I believe politicians voted this in because of their moral or religious views or those they believe they should be perceived to have.
Facts or alternative views never stood a chance against the possibility of losing votes.

It is hard to stand up and be counted in opposition to this law.
It's difficult to argue a point when nobody wants to listen.

I saw this recently on Facebook when a friend of mine questioned a Torl post.
He was nothing short of abused as it appeared by the response, anyone paying for sex is a rapist and pedophile.

I find that the easiest way to counter their rabid accusations is to ask them why THEY and TORL are repeatedly covering up the extent of child rape,increased prostitution , criminality and trafficking which the Swedes disclose in their annual Trafficking Reports?

Its also worth asking them why there are more 'women for sale' in Stockholm today (17 years on after the introduction of the successful model') than in the entire island of Ireland and why do THEY cover up that fact if they believe prostitution is rape?

www.cityoflove.com (as named in Sweden's 2012 Trafficking Report) .Go to Sweden tag....then go to Stockholm...More 'women for sale' there than Ireland . And why does TORL cover than such 'abuse' .

Just compare them as the exact same as the clergy that covered up paedophilia - selling themselves as the good guys to the public whilst covering up Swedish abuse in private , just like the priests - They REALLY hate that.

[Davidontour]

A huge problem and something which I didn't realise until this issue arose in Stormont, is that while a court of law requires proof, the process of making law doesn't.

Some of the statements and figures used to justify clause 15 are just plain ridiculous, but no-one seriously challenged them in the chamber. Most MLAs voted without having a clue on the issues. They just knew they disagreed with sex work and that was enough to justify bringing in bad law based on lies and half-truths.

As far as the quoted statistics are concerned, three suspected (not proven) cases is three too many but Sweden has proved (though won't admit) that 'ending demand' doesn't work. In fairness to Sweden and more recently Canada, neither made any secret of the fact their legislation is about disapproval of sex work, rather than coercive trafficking, which is a minority issue.

To quote Canadian Conservative senator Donald Plett last summer; ''We don't want to make life safe for prostitutes. We want to do away with prostitution. That's the intent of the bill.'' In other words sex worker safety comes a poor second to his moral objections. He may be an arsehole but at least he's an honest one.

[milkman]

Does anybody know whether there's a court challenge to Clause 15 afoot in NI? AFAIK, there is a case being taken re NI ' abortion status .

[The Libertarian]

Does anybody know whether there's a court challenge to Clause 15 afoot in NI? AFAIK, there is a case being taken re NI ' abortion status .

Dianne Abbot of the fake socialist party in the UK (she appears on The Politics Programme and was on Question time less night) has been to the forefront in pressing for the regular UK abortion laws to be extended to the North and even visited there to protest! Guess what? she is part of the social engineering set that wants to bring in sex worker hating laws as well! And is frothing at the mouth again page 3 as well!