Trafficking in Europe and New Zealand

The BBC ran two articles about trafficking this morning: one discussing sex workers' rights advocates' vocal opposition to the criminalization of buying sex from a "forced or coerced woman" in the UK and the other about child trafficking in Wales.

While the two articles brushed the surface of the complexity of the trafficking debate, neither one adequately explored it. The first article seems to favor the point of view of sex workers, advocating that they chose this profession freely, and the criminalization of their employment was merely a "moral crusade". The BBC cited a few government studies "demonstrating" that the population of women coerced into prostitution was far smaller than previously believed. Both of these statements are troubling to me, because the average reader will probably not scrutinize the population in question closely enough to realize that most trafficking victims would not speak on record to a newspaper!! Women who are under the control of violent pimps, a small extreme according to this article, are the least visible part of this population, and women confident enough to speak to a journalist do often represent the minority, in my opinion, of women in prostitution completely of their free will.

Who conducted these government studies? What was the ethnic demographic of the women? Were these women rounded up in a brothel raid and then told that if they confessed to being coerced they would avoid criminal charges or deportation? In a population with this many complex vulnerabilities, many questions must be asked.

Full disclosure: I personally believe the majority of women in prostitution have been coerced. If not by a gun wielding violent pimp (which is not just a stereotype but something I see at work all the time) then by an intimate partner, a friend, even a parent. This choice is never made in a vacuum, and the dire economic circumstances in which the choice is made, as well as lack of other employment opportunities for women who may or may not have much education, are not to be ignored. I find it ironic that in the same issue the BBC publishes the article opposing the criminalization of buying sex from "coerced women", it also publishes an article on the alarming rate of child trafficking in Wales.

The last line of the article about child trafficking quotes Christine Beddoe, from child protection organization ECPAT UK. "Trafficked children were found throughout Wales but there was evidence of a number of barriers to identifying children and keeping them safe. Of these barriers the most worrying was that professionals didn't believe it could happen. This left children vulnerable. "

This debate continues, and I encourage you to read both articles and add any comments.

European ban on coerced prostitution

Child trafficking in Wales