Prostitution in the United Kingdom

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Prostitution in the United Kingdom is not formally illegal, but several activities surrounding it are outlawed. In England and Wales, the legal situation is :-

• for a prostitute to loiter or conduct solicitation in a street or public place is illegal, therefore outlawing street prostitution.
• it is also illegal for a potential client to solicit persistently, or solicit from a motor vehicle ("kerb crawling"). (In 1992 the head of the Crown Prosecution Service, Sir Allan Green, was caught committing this offence and resigned.) This law does not apply in Northern Ireland although it is likely to be extended there soon.
• owning or running a brothel is illegal.
• child prostitution is specifically illegal for the person paying (where child is defined as below 18)
• controlling prostitution for gain is an offence, banning pimping

The last offence replaced the similar "living on earnings of prostitution" under the Sexual Offences Act 1956.

There has been long and widespread debate as to whether the a toleration of prostitution similar to that seen in The Netherlands and Germany should be extended. Local police forces have historically flipped between zero tolerance of prostitution and unofficial red light districts.

The Government announced on January 17, 2006, that in England and Wales it was considering allowing small brothels, whilst continuing the crackdown against kerb-crawling, which is seen as a nuisance. [1]

A similar situation exists in Scotland, with prostitution itself not illegal but associated activities are. A Prostitution Tolerance Zones Bill was introduced into the Scottish Parliament but failed to become law.

There has been a growing awareness of human trafficking, in particular the trafficking of women and underage girls in to the UK for forced prostitution. A particular high profile case resulted in the conviction of five Albanians who ‘trafficked’ a 16 year old Lithuanian girl and forced her into prostitution. [2] According to Home Office figures, there are over 1,000 cases of trafficking each year. Amnesty International has called on the UK government to sign the The Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings that the UK has not yet signed. [3]

One of the most famous, but controversial, guides is the McCoy's British Massage Parlour Guide.

[edit] See also

• Prostitution
• Trafficking in Human Beings

[edit] External links

• UK Crown Prosecution Service: Offences Against Public Morals And Decency
• Amnesty International UK trafficking/forced prostitution
• Amnesty International UK - Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Beings
• Baltic girls forced into sex slavery - BBC
• 'Child traffic victims 'failed'- BBC
• ‘They said I wasn’t human but something that can be bought’ – The Times
• ‘Mine for £1,300: Ileana, the teenage sex slave ready to work in London’ – The Sunday Telegraph
• 'A modern slave's brutal odyssey - BBC
• 'Slaves auctioned' by traffickers - BBC
• The dangers of being a sex worker - BBC
• Prostitution: What's Going On? Exhibition at The Women's Library 2006