Northern Ireland Is A Warning To Other Countries On Bad Sex Work Legislation…

Donna Moore is from Belfast, and works as an administrator.

It’s a sad fact that Northern Ireland is now being pointed to as a warning on what happens when the wrong legislation is adopted regarding women’s rights. Of course, this presupposes that you regard sex workers as women who deserve to have rights – which a lot of men (and, sadly, quite a lot of women) do not seem to believe in practice.

The Scottish magazine Bella Caledonia recently published an excellent article: ‘On the Problems with the Nordic Model of Prostitution.’ I wholeheartedly recommend that you read it in full, as it catalogues the numerous failings of the Nordic Model in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. It warns that such failings will be replicated if the Alba MSP Ash Regan gets her way and implements the Nordic Model as law in Scotland.

The article also presents the testimony of the Czech writer Anna Rajmon (who I have written about previously on Slugger O’Toole), showing her witty, well-written memoir Elis – Irish Call Girl as insightful evidence of a personal kind against the Nordic Model, and representative of the dangers which all sex workers suffer under this legislation.

One striking fact which more people should be aware of is also disclosed by this article – the Department of Justice in Northern Ireland is well aware that the Human Trafficking and Exploitation Act is a dismal failure, and has known as much since 2019. The review, published in September of that year, was conducted with three specifications:

First, quantitative research into the numbers impacted by the legislation;
Second, qualitative research on the impact of the legislation;
Third, a comparison of the situation before the Nordic Model was implemented in Northern Ireland in June 2015 with the situation after implementation.

The key findings of the review were as follows:

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.

The review concludes that there was “no evidence that the offence of purchasing sexual services has produced a downward pressure on the demand for, or supply of, sexual services” and that the Nordic Model had “contributed to a climate whereby sex workers feel further marginalised and stigmatised.”

Given this damning assessment, the real question that should be asked is why – five and a half years after our own Department of Justice has conclusively determined that this legislation is a complete failure – why is this legislation still in force?

Perhaps this suggests just how important the rights of sex workers truly are in the eyes of our lawmakers, especially as they are by far the most vocal opponents of the Nordic Model – yet their concerns continue to go unheeded. Until that changes, Northern Ireland will continue to serve as a warning to other countries considering this abysmal legislation for their own jurisdictions.