Following the recent resignation of Steven Purcell due to ill health, Councillor Jim Coleman is now the acting leader of Glasgow City Council - highly likely he now believes it was an 'act of God' and the 'crusade' to rid Scotland of any sexual pleasure/titilation must continue.

Scottish Parliament's 'Justice' Committee is calling for evidence on Trish Godman`s attempt to ban all 'paid-for sexual activity' (among other things).

See article from scottish.parliament.uk:

Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Bill - call for written evidence on Stage 2 amendments

The Justice Committee has agreed to take evidence at Stage 2 on some of the amendments lodged for Stage 2 which it considers raise significant new issues that were not considered during the Committee's Stage 1 inquiry.

Amendment 8 (lodged by Trish Godman) proposes changes to the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009 to create three new offences – engaging in a paid-for sexual activity, advertising paid-for sexual activities, and facilitating engagement in a paid-for sexual activity, all to be subject, on summary conviction, to a fine of up to £1,000.

Amendments to amendment 8 (8A-8D, lodged by Margo Macdonald) propose the addition of two further offences – causing alarm etc. by engaging in a paid-for sexual activity and profiting from coerced paid-for sexual activities – subject to the same penalties.

These amendments are grouped for debate with consequential amendments 9 and 9A, which specify which of the new offences are to be classed as “exploitation offences” for the purposes of the Antisocial Behaviour (Scotland) Act 2004.

Oral evidence

The Committee plans to take oral evidence on all three topics at its meeting on Tuesday 23 March.

Formal proceedings on the amendments will not take place until the oral evidence has been heard.

 

Call for written submissions

 

The Committee would welcome written submissions

The closing date for written submissions is Wednesday 17 March (to enable all submissions to be circulated in advance of the 23 March meeting).  

Submissions should not normally exceed four sides of A4.  The Committee prefers to receive written submissions electronically in MS Word format. These should be sent to:

cjlb@scottish.parliament.uk

You may also make hard copy written submissions to:

Justice Committee

Room T3.60

The Scottish Parliament

Edinburgh
EH99 1SP

Already some submissions have been received and published here, including some from sex workers themselves. These include those from Margo MacDonald, UK Network Sex Work Projects and Teela Sanders.

James Coleman, the mean minded deputy leader of Glasgow City Council, is at the forefront of the End Prostitution Now initiative, which - according to the city council - has attracted support from MSPs, fellow councillors, unions and religious nutters.

West Renfrewshire MSP Trish Godman is one of the supporters. She has now proposed legislative amendments in the Scottish Parliament as follows:

Engaging in, advertising and facilitating paid-for sexual activities

11A Engaging in a paid-for sexual activity

(1) A person (A) commits an offence, to be known as the offence of engaging in a paid-for sexual activity, if A knowingly engages in a paid-for sexual activity with another person (B).

(2) A sexual activity is paid for where B engages in that activity in exchange for payment.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2), it is immaterial whether the payment is made—

(a) by A or by another person, or
(b) to B or to another person on B's behalf.

11B Advertising paid-for sexual activities

A person commits an offence, to be known as the offence of advertising paid for sexual activities, if that person knowingly advertises, by any means, the availability of sexual activities that can be engaged in for payment.

11C Facilitating engagement in a paid-for sexual activity

(1) A person (A) commits an offence, to be known as the offence of facilitating engagement in a paid-for sexual activity, if A knowingly facilitates the engagement of another person (B) in a paid-for sexual activity with another person (C).

(2) A sexual activity is paid for where C engages in that activity in exchange for payment.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2), it is immaterial whether the payment is made—

(a) by A, by B or by another person, or
(b) to C or to another person on C's behalf.

(4) For the purposes of subsection (1), facilitating the engagement by B in a paid for sexual activity includes (but is not limited to)—

(a) arranging B's engagement in the activity,
(b) making payment to C or to another person on C's behalf,
(c) making available premises in which the activity takes place, or
(d) transporting B, or arranging transport for B, to where the activity takes place

Update: Who is Behind the End Prostitution Now campaign?

28th February 2010. From Melanie-H  on the Melon Farmers Forum

This amendment criminalises all selling and buying of sexual services. Prostitution definitely but if Councillor Jim Coleman gets his way could apply to strip clubs, peep shows, lap dancing.

All Saunas and Agencies would be illegal. No advertisements in any paper, or Internet. (The Sport advertisements would be illegal, only foreign websites would work, adult-work maybe, but punter link would stop). Escort sites would have to be hosted offshore.

No doubts the End Prostitution Now propaganda tool will have a major influence on the outcome.

From their website www.endprostitutionnow.org

End Prostitution Now is a campaign led by Glasgow City Council which aims to raise awareness of the harm caused through prostitution and put the focus on the buyers of sex - the DEMAND - who have in the past been invisible from public debate.

But Glasgow Council seem to be denying that they are running it

There are no references to this campaign in the most recent annual Company report of the Glasgow Community and Safety Services Limited Company and even stranger when Glasgow City Council were approached under the Freedom of Information Act (Scotland 2002).

See article from whatdotheyknow.com

Dear Glasgow Council

Please could provide me with the following information, regarding the political campaign initiated by Glasgow City Council to change Scotland's laws regarding prostitution:

a) The cost to the Glasgow taxpayer of your 'End Prostitution Now' political campaign and associated activities.

b) Any additional funding or assistance received from other sources towards the End Prostitution Now' political campaign and associated activities.

c) Details of the number of people employed by Glasgow City Council working on this political campaign and associated activities, and of any other persons involved in this Glasgow City Council political campaign and associated activities not employed by the council.

d) Minutes of the meeting at which funding and approval for this political campaign and its associated activities was given.

e) Copies of any communication, or details and minutes of any meetings, between Glasgow City Council employees and outside campaign groups, campaigners, or politicians regarding the setting up or operation of this political campaign.

f) Brief details of any other political campaigns currently or recently being run by Glasgow City Council.

Glasgow Council replied:

The Council is treating your request as a request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

On inspecting our records, it would appear that Glasgow City Council does not hold the information which you have requested. Neither does anyone else hold it on our behalf. Accordingly we are unable to comply with your request.

I can confirm that Glasgow City Council does not run political campaigns.

Delegates at the Unison women's conference voted overwhelmingly to support the decriminalisation of prostitutes and criminalisation of the buyers of sex.

They backed the so-called Nordic model which also includes practical and financial support to give prostitutes the confidence and job skills needed to escape the industry.

The approach has been adopted by Sweden, Norway and Iceland - countries that top the global charts in terms of gender 'equality'.

Conference welcomed government legislation to criminalise the buying of sex acts contained in the Policing and Crime Bill, labelling it an important step towards tackling sex trafficking and prostitution. The law is due to take effect on April 1. But delegates argued that the changes did not go far enough.

National women's committee speaker Cath Elliot rejected arguments that decriminalising the whole industry and treating prostitution as any other job would protect women from violence.

Delegates called on Unison to support the Demand Change! campaign by urging its parliamentary group of MPs to actively lobby for the Nordic model.

Conference also voted to take the Demand Change! motion to Unison's national conference in Bournemouth this summer. It's time for our male members to take a stand on this issue, Elliot said.

Britain wants to prosecute YOU!

An attempt to prosecute a man for asking a woman for sex in a Nottingham red light district was slammed as reprehensible by a High Court Judge

The case, from July 2008, had been thrown out by magistrates previously, but prosecutors tried to reopen it.

A police sting operation took place after complaints from Mapperley residents about the impact of prostitution in the area. A police officer posed as Sarah, a prostitute, and agreed a price for sex with the man after he approached her.

The man was arrested but magistrates cleared him of any offence, ruling he had done nothing wrong.

But the Director of Public Prosecutions tried to re-open the case in the High Court.

However, Lord Justice Elias said the attempt was quite hopeless and upheld the ruling a single incident of asking a woman for sex in a known red light district could not amount to a nuisance.

He added a single, otherwise lawful, act does not become a criminal offence just because other people are carrying out similar, otherwise lawful, activity in the same area.

Observing prosecuting authorities were using wholly artificial concepts to criminalise lawful conduct which they considered to be reprehensible, Lord Justice Elias urged all courts to have no truck with it.

18 Swedish soldiers who bought sex in a brothel while on military exercise in Germany last August have escaped punishment.

Sweden's prostitution law, like Norway, makes it illegal to buy sex but not to sell it, with the prostitute seen as a victim. However unlike Norway, Sweden's law doesn't stretch to forbidding sex with a prostitute abroad, while prostitution is legal in Germany.

Following an investigation by the Swedish armed forces, it was explained the troops can neither be charged or face disciplinary measures.

The 18 soldiers from K3 platoon in Karlsborg were in Germany for a joint exercise with German soldiers. They had a few days free time after the exercise was finished and it was then that they visited the brothel.

Investigator Gunnar Jonason told Swedish public service radio Ekot that they couldn't be charged because buying sex in germany was not illegal and because the men were using their own free time then they couldn't face disciplinary measures from the army.

We obviously think that it feels very wrong not to do something, because we have very clear values in the armed forces., Jonason told Ekot.