NS director David Newell, PERA director Santha Rasaiah and
communications director Lynne Anderson met with Ministers for Women
and Equality Harriet Harman MP and Barbara Follett MP and their
officials this week to follow up on progress by the government and
regional press industry amid concerns about the link between
prostitution and human trafficking.
Harriet Harman, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and Minister
for Equality, has welcomed the action taken by the Newspaper
Society, who are drawing up new tougher guidance for local
papers on advertising, which is expected to include
suggestions on what type of ads to refuse; training for staff;
consulting with police and Local Authorities; and only taking
payment by cheque or credit card so accounts can be
traced.
Minister for Women and Equality Harriet Harman
said: “Next to the ads where it says skip hire and
lost pets you’ll find ‘fresh girls in every week’, ‘girls age
eighteen to twenty four from Africa, from South East Asia’.
Within these ads are girls who’ve been trafficked into modern day
slavery.
“We are very concerned about the growing problem of human
trafficking. We’ve changed the law, we’re backing up police
operations and the Crown Prosecution Service, and we’re also
working across Europe with organisations like Eurojust. But unless
we tackle the demand side we will not be able to protect women from
this evil trade.
“I welcome the opportunity to work with The Newspaper
Society who share our concerns and who will be issuing new
strengthened guidance. Some regional press, including the
Manchester Evening News and Reading Post, have already said they
will no longer accept this kind of advertising. If other papers
follow this example, and when the guidelines are implemented, we
can make progress towards eradicating this intolerable
trade.”
Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker said:
“I and my colleagues in Government are committed to looking at
what more we can do to tackle the demand for prostitution and the
links this has to the heinous crime of trafficking for sexual
exploitation.
“We have already achieved a great deal. The
criminalisation of all forms of human trafficking has secured 70
convictions under the Sexual Offences Act and earlier this month we
announced our intention to ratify the Council of Europe Convention
against trafficking in human beings by the end of the year. We have
established a dedicated Human Trafficking centre and provided £4.5
million over the last 5 years for victim protection under the Poppy
scheme, which supports adult women, trafficked into the UK for
sexual exploitation.
“Personal classified adverts have been around for a long
time, but police tell us they can fuel the demand for trafficked
women. We can’t talk about tackling demand without looking afresh
at these adverts and challenging cultural attitudes more
widely.”
Vera Baird QC MP Solicitor General,
said: “I have been looking at regional
newspapers, since we raised this issue. It seems clear that
some papers do not take these advertisements. That suggests that
they are not important to the bottom line. In addition they will
often clash with the editor's wish to support local
communities, who do not want prostitution on their
doorstep.”
David Newell, Director, Newspaper Society,
said: “Since our meeting with ministers in
November, the Newspaper Society has raised this issue with local
newspaper publishers and is updating its guidance to ensure it
fully reflects new concerns about the link between prostitution and
human trafficking. The regional press has demonstrated its
commitment to work with the government to help the campaign to
eradicate this dreadful trade in trafficking.
“We would also welcome a coordinated approach from the
government, police and local authorities on this issue. Many
publishers work closely with their local police forces to ensure
the ads they carry are legal and published in accordance with
guidelines agreed with the police. In some cases, the police have
asked for the ads to remain in the newspaper to help keep
prostitution off the streets.
“We had a follow-up meeting with ministers this week to
discuss government progress on a more coordinated approach with
police and other authorities, so we can ensure this is reflected in
our updated guidance to publishers.”