CHRISTIAN organisations have called for a Bill to tackle human trafficking to be strengthened to criminalise the buying of sex, as MSPs prepare to examine the legislation.
Abolition Scotland has welcomed the Scottish Government’s Human Trafficking and Exploitation Bill but says there is “massive” room for improvement.
The group – a coalition that includes the Care for Scotland Christian charity, International Justice Mission and the Evangelical Alliance Scotland – argues the legislation offers a “golden opportunity” to criminalise buying sex.
The Bill will create a specific offence of human trafficking for the first time as well as increase the maximum penalty for offenders to life imprisonment.
Holyrood’s Justice Committee is to begin taking evidence on the legislation tomorrow from a panel including Abolition Scotland, Barnardo’s Scotland, Migrant Help and the Scottish Refugee Council.
Speaking on behalf of Abolition Scotland, Care for Scotland parliamentary officer Dr Gordon Macdonald, said: “This Bill represents a real opportunity for Scotland to take a major step forward in tackling the scourge of modern day slavery.
“Much of the Bill is welcome, not least the fact it places a duty of ministers to provide adequate support for victims. But there’s massive room for improvement. We want to see a number of significant changes, not least in terms of criminalising purchase of sex.
“The evidence from countries where this measure already exists only highlights its effectiveness and if you really want to tackle human trafficking, you need to focus your preventative efforts on addressing the source of it – namely demand for sexual services.”
Macdonald urged the Scottish Government to follow the example of Northern Ireland, which recently became the first part of the UK to make buying sex a criminal offence after legislation was brought forward by Democratic Unionist Party peer Lord Morrow.
He said: “We are calling on the Scottish Government to take a leaf out of Lord Morrow’s Bill.”
Last month, the Church of Scotland joined other churches and faith groups to urge the Government to follow the kind of prostitution law adopted in Nordic countries, which makes it illegal to buy sex, in a bid to reduce human trafficking.
But campaigners said the model, which was first adopted in Sweden in 1999, had made sex workers more vulnerable.
Sex worker-led charity Scot-Pep said laws criminalising the buyer exposed sex workers to HIV and violence and had been rejected by the World Health Organisation and Human Rights Watch.
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