Harlots Parlour

Press Release
Majority of migrant sex workers ‘not forced or trafficked’.
The International Union of Sex Workers
Friday 28th October 2011 Immediate Release

The International Union of Sex Workers warmly welcomes the publication of “Migrant Workers in the UK Sex Industry” by Dr Nick Mai.

This is the largest ever qualitative research into the experience of migrants selling sexual services in London, and key findings are:
• The large majority of interviewed migrant workers in the UK sex industry are not forced nor trafficked.

• Immigration status is by far the single most important factor restricting their ability to exercise their rights in their professional and private lives.

• Working in the sex industry is often a way for migrants to avoid the unrewarding and sometimes exploitative conditions they meet in non-sexual jobs.

• By working in the sex industry, many interviewees are able to maintain dignified living standards in the UK while dramatically improving the living conditions of their families in the country of origin.

• The stigmatisation of sex work is the main problem interviewees experienced while working in the sex industry and this impacted negatively on both their private and professional lives.

• The combination of the stigmatisation of sex work and lack of legal immigration documentation makes interviewees more vulnerable to violence and crime.

• Interviewees generally describe relations with their employers and clients as characterised by mutual consent and respect, although some reported problematic clients and employers, who were disrespectful, aggressive or abusive.

• The impossibility of guaranteeing indefinite leave to remain to victims of trafficking undermines the efforts of the police and other authorities against criminal organizations.

• Most interviewees feel that the criminalisation of clients will not stop the sex industry and that it would be pushed underground, making it more difficult for migrants working in the UK sex industry to assert their rights in relation to both clients and employers.

Catherine Stephens of the IUSW says, “We will only successfully target trafficking within the sex industry when we make policy based on evidence and in reality. There is currently a climate of fear amongst London sex workers due to police activity, that is driven by hype and misinformation promoted by NGOs with a financial vested interest in the anti-trafficking industry, who are ideologically opposed to commercial sex. It is time to set aside their ideology and emotion, and give people in the sex industry – whether from the UK or migrant – the same human rights and protection of the law as others.”

Rosie Campbell, Board member of the UK Network of Sex Work Projects, says, “UKNSWP member projects in London see thousands of sex workers a year and these findings reflect what they see. We welcome this research and hope that local and national government will use it to inform policy. For some time we have been expressing concern about the under-reporting of violent and other crimes committed against sex workers in London. Clearly there is a need for the police to work pro-actively to increase trust and confidence in them amongst sex workers and to ensure they are fulfilling their duty to provide protection to sex workers.”

Both Catherine and Rosie were members of Dr Mai’s Advisory Board.

For further information contact:

Catherine Stephens
activist, International Union of Sex Workers
catherine@iusw.org
07772 638748 / 020 7697 1057
IUSW c/o MSH Suite C Maples Business Centre 144 Liverpool Road London N1 1LA

Lorraine Galatowicz
Chair, UK Network of Sex Work Projects
chair@uknswp.org.uk
07811 442479
UKNSWP 114 Cariocca Business Park Sawley Road Manchester M40 8BB

Details of the research launch event:
In whose name? Migration, sex work and trafficking
Monday, 31 October 2011 3pm-6pm
London Metropolitan University
Liebeskind Building166-220 Holloway Road London N7 8DB

http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/research-units/iset/projects/esrc-migrant-workers.cfm

and the full document can be downloaded from

http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/research-units/iset/projects/esrc-migrant-workers.cfm

——-
The International Union of Sex Workers:
For our human, civil and labour rights. For our inclusion and decriminalisation.
For freedom to choose and respect for those choices, including the absolute right to say no.
For the full protection of the law. For everyone in the sex industry.
ONLY RIGHTS WILL STOP THE WRONGS.

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Once again the British justice system is revealed to be about robbing money from sex workers. No trafficking, no coercion, no under-age but a profitable business obviously ripe for the plucking. The police of course will keep up to half this money and the CPS the rest. Nice earner for the government and the police who are supposed to protect the British public….erm of course if your a sex worker they rob you and offer you no protection but that’s OK because they DON’T CARE.

Published on Thursday 6 October 2011 09:23 in the Lancashire Evening Post.

A man who ran a brothel masquerading as a ‘gentleman’s club’ has been told to pay back almost £750,000 of his ill-gotten gains – or face prison.

John Williams Burrows, 63, funded a “lavish lifestyle” from the proceeds of the business, a court heard.

He pleaded guilty in July 2009 to managing the brothel.

And Burrows, of Hough Clough Lane in Chipping, near Preston, was given a 10-month prison term suspended for 18 months.

But now, a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing at Manchester’s Minishull Street Crown Court has ordered him to pay back £742,759.83.

He must pay in six months or face four years in jail, after which he would still owe the money.

When the Evening Post visited his home, a large converted barn, a woman who answered the door said: “It is all being handled through solicitors and barristers.

“He does not want to make any comment.”

Police raided the World Famous Babes Gentleman’s Club in Worsley Road, Swinton, Greater Manchester in June 2007 following numerous complaints.

During the raid, officers discovered two men engaged in sexual acts with women working as prostitutes.

A search of the club by officers also revealed further evidence it was being used as a brothel.

Since he was sentenced, specialist financial investigators at the North West Regional Asset Recovery Team, part of the Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU), have examined all of Burrows’ business dealings.

He could now be forced to sell his assets and hand over his savings to meet the POCA ruling.

Other residents in the remote Hough Clough Lane area said they were shocked by the news.

One, who has lived in the area for 10 years, said: “I know him but I don’t know anything about what you are telling me.”

Another, who has lived in the area for 15 years, said: “I saw him recently and he was telling me he had lived here for 24 years.”

Steve Taylor, senior financial investigator at the NW Regional Asset Recovery Team, said: “Brothels are a blight on our communities and we fully understand the concerns of residents who live in or near areas affected by the illegal sex industry. Burrows enjoyed a lavish lifestyle from the exploitation of young women. He has a property portfolio that will now have to be sold to fund this repayment.”

Salford’s Divisional Commander, Chief Supt Kevin Mulligan, said: “This shows that anyone who profits from criminal acts will be pursued through the courts and we will do everything in our power to seize their assets.”

“HERE”

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Proof if proof were ever needed that it is the law that is wrong and that it is the police who are the truly despicable criminals. Two people given a criminal conviction and sentenced for what crime? Organising work for willing sex workers so that they were safe. When is this vile use of the law to destroy peoples lives going to stop?

A SEX trafficker has been jailed for three years and four months for controlling prostitutes in Newcastle and elsewhere around the UK.

Stephen Craig, 34, was jailed for arranging travel, accommodation and advertising for 14 women. His co-accused, Sarah Beukan, 22, was jailed for a year and a half for her part in the human trafficking network operated by Craig.

They admitted at an earlier hearing to moving 14 people to various addresses in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Belfast, Cardiff and Newcastle to work as prostitutes. The women were moved around the UK to work at all of the premises.

Those living in the UK illegally would travel to Belfast by ferry and around the rest of the country by train.

Pre-paid credit cards were used to transfer money and pay for the rental of properties, so the women would not carry cash when they travelled.

They also provided accommodation for the women to work out of, put out advertisements for their services in newspapers and online, and took a cut from their wages.

Craig, from Clydebank, and Beukan, from Leith in Edinburgh, pleaded guilty under Section 22 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 at Glasgow Sheriff Court on September 9.

A number of foreign nationals were also found working in the brothels but there is no evidence to suggest Craig and Beukan were trafficking people from overseas into UK.

Passing sentence at Glasgow Sheriff Court, Sheriff Cathcart told Craig and Beukan there was no alternative to custody.

He went on: “I also accept that none of those individuals were new to prostitution.

“But the gravity of this offence means the only appropriate way of dealing with you is a period in custody.”

As well as being involved in the management of the scheme, Beukan also worked as a prostitute herself. She and Craig recruited women by advertising “luxury apartments” for them to work out of.

They also recruited through escort websites, which cost between £40 and £90 for each advert. In total, 23 witnesses were identified, including women working as prostitutes from Brazil, Bolivia, Nigeria and Scotland.

The court was told Craig had expressed remorse for what he had done and shown empathy for the women involved, admitting he had been “naive”.

In his defence, Murdo MacLeod QC said there was “never any pressure, force, threat or compulsion of any kind directed at the women involved”.

Speaking on behalf of Beukan, defence advocate Paul Brown told the court she “had the shock of her life” in custody and it was “abhorrent to her to return to that lifestyle”.

He told the court Beukan had done well at school and had no problems with drugs or alcohol, but had a broken relationship with her family.

He said: “What she does have is a totally shared experience with the complainers in this case.”

He said she lived off only her own earnings as a prostitute and had not made money through the other women’s work.

The trafficking scheme came to light following Operation Factor, a joint initiative by Strathclyde Police and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

Detective Inspector Stephen Grant, from Strathclyde Police major investigation teams, said Craig and Beukan were “despicable individuals”.

<a href="http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-east-news/todays-news/2011/10/04/man-jailed-for-trafficking-prostitutes-in-newcastle-61634-29533593/"HERE&quot;

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Prostitution law change planned:

Sir, – Sex Workers Alliance Ireland welcomes Conor Lally’s article (Home News, October 18th) highlighting the difficulties attached to introducing the Swedish-style law on prostitution which would criminalise the buyers of sexual services while giving immunity to the sellers.

Evidence from Swedish sex workers shows that the law has put them at much greater physical risk from dangerous clients; they have less time to assess the client as the deal takes place very hurriedly; genuine clients are afraid of being arrested, demands for unprotected sex have increased and there is more violence. (Purchasing Sexual Services in Sweden and the Netherlands: Legal Regulation and Experiences, Norwegian Ministry of Justice and the Police, (2004); Prostitution in Sweden, 2003).

Furthermore, research from Sweden to the UNAIDs group shows that 18 per cent of street sex workers are not using condoms . In addition, street prostitution has returned to two-thirds of its pre-criminalisation level in Stockholm (Prostitution in Sweden, Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare 2003). Therefore, if this law does not work in Sweden, why would Ireland consider introducing it?

Ireland should study interventions and policies in other countries, for example Queensland, Australia and New Zealand; or the initiatives trialled in Liverpool and supported by Merseyside Police and Liverpool City Council to address crimes against sex workers; police treating crimes against sex workers as hate crime and the role of a specialist independent sexual violence adviser (to support sex workers who have been victims of crime). – Yours, etc,

TERESA WHITAKER,

Secretary, Sex Workers

Alliance Ireland,

Capel Street, Dublin, 1.

Read full article “HERE”

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Jane Pitchard contacted me some time ago to ask if I would be interviewed as part of her research into sex work. I of course agreed and met her in Newcastle recently. The interview was pleasant and I think the research could be very helpful in creating a more balanced understanding of sex work and the varying markets in which sex workers operate.
Jane has asked me to put this introductory letter on Harlots to ask if any other sex workers reading this blog would be kind enough to help her in her research.

Douglas.

Hello,

You can also find further details about my background and previous research I have undertaken on

“HERE”

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