Should the laws against prostitution be abolished?

 

YES: Cari Mitchell says criminalising prostitutes makes them more vulnerable to attack, and targeting clients drives women underground. NO: Kathleen Fahy says legalisation would normalise exploitation but clients should be seen as the real criminals

YES: The overwhelmingly compassionate response to the tragic murders of five young women in Ipswich in England took many journalists by surprise.

Instead of prejudice, they found understanding for the women and indignation at the laws which criminalised them, increasing their vulnerability to attack. The Safety First Coalition, co-ordinated by the English Collective of Prostitutes, has brought together members of the church, nurses, doctors, probation officers, trade unionists, prison and drug reformers, anti-rape and anti-poverty campaigners, residents from red light areas, MPs and lords who believe that decriminalisation is the only way forward.

Proposals in the British government's Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill have added urgency to this issue. They introduce an offence of "persistent soliciting" and the compulsory "rehabilitation" of sex workers under threat of imprisonment.

On January 16th, 2008 we called a meeting in the House of Commons hosted by John McDonnell MP and Baroness Stern, to hear from sex workers organisations in Sweden and New Zealand. Sweden has made it illegal for men to buy sex, whereas New Zealand has decriminalised prostitution. Two hundred people packed the room, eager to find out what effect these laws have had on women's health and safety.

Pye Jakobson from Sex Workers and Allies in Sweden explained how the criminalisation of clients has driven women underground.

The police complain it has obstructed efforts to investigate violence, as no one will come forward, and exploitation by middle men has increased. "Now we have internet pimps who arrange where we can put our ads, and apartment pimps because we are not allowed to rent apartments for work." Only two out of over 100 NGOs initially agreed with the criminalisation of clients. So the government placed it within a package that strengthened laws on rape, sexual harassment and abuse, and it was passed. Sex workers were never asked for their views by the feminist politicians who promoted it.

Catherine Healy, national co-ordinator of the New Zealand Prostitutes' Collective has a totally different experience. The law there is based on "safeguarding the human rights of sex workers, protecting them from exploitation and promoting occupational health and safety". As sex workers no longer fear arrest, they are more able to report violence and insist on their rights.

"Obviously, we didn't decriminalise murder, rape, coercion and exploitation. These crimes are still policed and prosecuted."

Passed five years ago, the New Zealand law has just been reviewed, and the results are encouraging: more street-based sex workers are working together indoors, and brothel operators have had to improve conditions in order to be competitive.

Trafficking has not increased - with the expectation that wrongs should be put right, women find it easier to come forward and report exploitation.

People from all walks of life agree with decriminalisation. Andrea Spyropoulos of the Royal College of Nursing, part of Safety First, supports it so that health services can be more accessible to sex workers.

"I rejoiced when we took off the statute books the criminalisation of consenting sex between men, I hope we are grown up enough in 2008 to have a proper debate about consenting sex whether it's for money or not."

Her views are echoed by Theresa McKay in Ipswich. At the time of the murders she held a "reclaim the night" march - the 300 people who attended supported decriminalisation, and her Trades Union Council has unanimously called for it.

An unholy alliance of fundamentalist feminists and church groups is promoting the criminalisation of clients and anti-trafficking measures which make no distinction between assisted immigration and forced employment. Trafficking has become an excuse to raid and deport immigrant sex workers. And while victims get no help, other women are imprisoned for trafficking just because they were running a working flat with immigrant women. As an ex-sex worker put it: "Trafficking is about slavery not prostitution. They use slaves for a lot of different things - domestic work, cockle picking - yet no-one is proposing we ban the sale of cockles." Decriminalisation would enable women to leave prostitution if they want to, as convictions prevent us from getting other jobs. And police time and resources spent arresting us and our clients, could be redirected to dealing with rape, racist attacks and other violent crimes.

The number of women in prison would fall. Figures in the UK have nearly doubled since 1997 with catastrophic results. Women are society's primary carers, our imprisonment destroys families and punishes thousands of children who are separated from their mothers' love, guidance and concern.

In Britain, the 2006 Home Office prostitution review recognised that poverty, debt, low wages, rape and domestic violence, homelessness and drug use drive people into prostitution. Yet, no resources are being offered. Women are expected to submit to the indignity of "rehabilitation" without any regard for their needs or wishes. There is now even talk of evicting unemployed families in social housing. How else are they to survive except through begging or prostitution?

• Cari Mitchell is writing on behalf of the English Collective of Prostitutes