Speak Out!

May 2010

TAKE ACTION: WRITE TO YOUR MP!

The ATA believes that by educating men about the causes and harmful consequences of sex trafficking, both to themselves and the women involved, and challenging the growing cultural acceptance of prostitution it will contribute to reducing the demand fuelling the trafficking of women and girls into the U.K.
                                              
A new law came into effect in the U.K on 1st April 2010 that criminalises the purchase of sex from women who have been co-erced or exploited.

This is a significant milestone in the fight to end sex trafficking - and the demand for prostitution which fuels it – because it shifts criminal liability away from people exploited through prostitution, the majority of them women, and places responsibility on those who contribute to sex trafficking by purchasing sex.

Research launched by the Eaves Project in January 2010 shows that many men who pay for sex either know or believe that a majority of women in prostitution were lured, tricked or trafficked.

Men interviewed also said that the only thing that would deter them from paying for sex would be if the new law was enforced by police i.e they were prosecuted.

We need your help to keep up the pressure on the UK government. At a time of major cuts in government spending, it’s crucial that funding is made available to promote full and effective implementation of this law – and to ensure freshly elected and returning MPs speak up for and support other measures to end this horrific human rights abuse.

Please write to your MP asking for their support to ensure the UK government takes urgent action on this issue. Specifically ATA is calling for:

• Substantial funding to ensure full and effective implementation of the new law, including training for all police forces, increased police capacity, support to survivors of trafficking and increased funding for specialised services
• A powerful and wide-reaching public information campaign to educate the public on the causes and consequences of sex trafficking and the fact that it is now an offence to pay for the sexual services of someone who is forced to provide them
 
Not sure who your MP is? Find out by visiting: www.theyworkforyou.com and entering your postcode. You can send an e-mail directly to your MP via this website or you can write to him/her at: the House of Commons, London SW1A OAA.

Please send a copy of your letter/e-mail and any response you receive to ATA: (my e-mail address and/or the postal address??)

Sample letter:

Dear Rt Hon. Joanna Bloggs MP,

I am writing to urge you to speak up for and support measures to end sex trafficking and the growing cultural acceptance of prostitution that fuels the trafficking of women and girls into the U.K.

As the Anti-Trafficking Alliance highlights in its short film, Behind the Smile (www.behind-the-smile.com), sex trafficking is a horrific form of slavery with terrible consequences for the victims.

I am pleased that the former government took measures to criminalise the purchase of sex from women who have been co-erced or exploited with the introduction of section 14 of the Policing & Crime Act which came into force on 1st April 2010.

However, whilst this measure is a significant milestone in the fight to end sex trafficking - and the demand for prostitution that fuels it - it will have limited impact unless the government ensures significant resources are made available to implement it effectively and to educate the public about the causes and consequences of sex trafficking and violence against women.

Specifically, I would like you to call on the government to:

• Develop and fund a powerful and wide-reaching public information campaign to educate the public on the causes and consequences of sex trafficking and the fact that it will soon become an offence to pay for the sexual services of someone who is forced to provide them
• Provide substantial funding to ensure full and effective implementation of the new law, including training for all police forces, increased police capacity, support to survivors of trafficking and increased funding for specialised services

Please raise my concerns directly with the Prime Minister, David Cameron, and with the Home Secretary, Theresa May.

I look forward to hearing your views and any responses you receive from Ministers.

Yours sincerely,

Joe Smith