Is it time to legalise brothels?

11:29am Tuesday 15th April 2008

Comments (7)   Have your say »

In yesterday's Argus we told the harrowing story of Stephanie who was brought to Brighton from Nigeria on a fake passport to work in the sex trade.

Now 17 and with a young baby, Stephanie is getting on with her life having escaped from her captors two years ago.

She was sold into the sex trade by her aunt in Nigeria and told The Argus how she was forced into prostitution at the age of 12, was raped and beaten and forced to have sex with up to 40 men a day.

She said at least 320 prostitutes are working in Brighton and Hove alone, selling themselves for as little as £15 for full sex.

Yet the debate continues over whether women would be safer if the Government was to legalise brothels.

Jonathan Stayton spoke to those on both sides of the argument to find out why they are certain they are right.

Yes
Dorothy Pope, the chairman of East Sussex Federation of Women's Institutes, believes prostitutes would be attacked less often if they were allowed to operate legally indoors.

The Women's Institute movement in England and Wales is made up of 70 federations and 6,800 institutes with more than 200,000 members.

In November last year, WI members in Hampshire said they wanted to see brothels legalised in Britain. The 7,000 members of the county federation voted for the resolution at its annual meeting and are hoping it will be selected for a national WI debate, which would take place in 2009.

The East Sussex federation has not voted on the matter but chairman Dorothy Pope has her own personal views on the subject.

She believes legalising the trade would protect sex workers from assault, exploitation and drug dependency, as well as giving the workers themselves better access to health care, education and medication.

Allowing prostitutes to work in licensed premises would help prevent child prostitution, people trafficking and slavery, she said.

Ms Pope said: "The legalisation of brothels would be a positive step in safeguarding the lives and health of prostitutes.

"With legalisation and the consequent registering of prostitutes and their locations, authorities would be able to ensure that they had a safe and secure place to operate from with the provision of regular health checks and protection - both personal and health wise.

"I am assured that many prostitutes do what they do as they have no other way of earning money.

"There are many reasons for this. Some of them may have an addiction and are unable to hold down regular jobs.

"It would be difficult to traffic women illegally and against their will into this country for the purposes of prostitution if the legislation were in place and registration were obligatory."

Ms Pope said the legalised brothel system worked on the continent with few problems and that her colleagues in Hampshire were exploring the world to see how prostitution worked elsewhere.

She added: "The members who proposed the resolution have been funded to fact-find and assess legalised brothels and prostitutes in Amsterdam, the USA and New Zealand."

Legalising brothels would protect the very women at risk today, said Ms Pope.

"The sooner brothels are legalised, the sooner they will be able to be monitored and the women protected," she added.

No
The Right Rev Kieran Conry, the Bishop of Arundel and Brighton, believes allowing prostitution to become legal would be a step back towards slavery.

And he says allowing the use of brothels gives more protection not to the women but to those making money out of them.

He said: "Last year saw the bicentenary of what many people refer to as the abolition of the slave trade. In 1807, William Wilberforce and others persuaded the Government to end the transport of slaves from Africa to the Americas.

"But this did not mean the end of the slave trade. All it meant was that transatlantic slave trading was officially abolished. Slaves are still bought and sold today.

"The story of the young Nigerian girl sold by her aunt and ending up as a sex-slave in Brighton is shocking. But it is hardly uncommon.

"In 2006, Europe's first centre for trafficked people was opened in Sheffield. At the same time, police raids on more than 500 properties in the UK and Ireland led to 232 arrests.

"Women from abroad who were promised jobs as waitresses were sold for as little as 2,000 euros and forced into prostitution. Some, like Stephanie, didn't even know what country they were in.

"Some of the arguments for the legalisation of prostitution make sense. Since many people enter it through choice, and would say that the client is also making a free choice, then why should they not be allowed to do something that does neither party any harm?

"It could even be taxed and benefit the economy, and it meets what many would argue is a demand that will not go away.

"But it is naive to suggest that legalising it will put an end to the exploitation of women, especially in the trafficking of women explicitly for work in the sex-industry.

"Moreover, the legalising of prostitution will offer protection to those who use women in this way simply to make money. There is plenty of money to be made and while there is, some people will use almost any means to make it.

"Vulnerable women, and the rest of us, need protection against them. The law is one way of offering protection.

"There is at least one person in Brighton today who would not present the case for legalising prostitution.

More worryingly, there are probably more like Stephanie who we don't know about."