Survivors of sex trafficking urge Scottish Government to make paying for sex a crime

At a Holyrood event today Ministers will hear from Diane Martin CBE, a Scottish survivor of prostitution and trafficking, as she campaigns for Scotland to follow countries like Sweden where paying for sex is a criminal act.

The call comes as the Scottish government consults on whether the law should be changed to combat demand for prostitution in Scotland.

Sex workers have called for the proposal to criminalise buyers to be scrapped, saying it is a ‘rapists charter’ that will force workers to take greater risks.

But Martin and survivors argue that the men who pay for sex are fuelling the brutal trade in sex trafficking and exploitation.

Police have confirmed 84 women were identified as victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation in Scotland this year, but warned the true number will be much higher. Nine of the victims were aged under 18 years

Diane Martin CBE, a Scottish survivor of sex trafficking and prostitution, said: “I was exploited through supposed “high class” prostitution in London and then trafficked overseas. Whatever environment prostitution takes place in - whether in an alley, a brothel or a five-star hotel, whether the buyer pays £10 or £500, it is the same experience of violence and exploitation.

“I want to see the Sex Buyer Law introduced in Scotland because it is demand that fuels the exploitation that is the sex industry. I want to be part of a society that rejects the idea that people are for sale, commodities to be bought and sold, handed around, moved across cities and borders, branded even – by men who believe that this is their right and entitlement.

"Too many women and girls have, like me, been subject to the coercive control of organised crime groups keen to turn a profit from unchecked demand.”

Ruth Maguire MSP, Co-Convener of the Cross-Party Group on Commercial Sexual Exploitation, added: ““It should be to our collective shame that in Scotland criminal gangs profiting from sex trafficking can hide in plain sight by advertising their victims on so called “adult services” websites. Most men in Scotland do not pay for sex, but the minority who do are fuelling a brutal sex trafficking trade. They must be stopped.”

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