http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/crime-victims/reducing-crime/prostitution/

In April it will become an offence to pay for sex with someone who has been forced, threatened, exploited or otherwise coerced or deceived into providing the sexual services by someone else who has engaged in such conduct for gain. If convicted of the offence you could face a fine of up to £1,000, a court summons and a criminal record and risk having your name mentioned in newspapers. It will be no defence for a person to say that they did not know the prostitute was being forced or threatened.

The laws on kerb-crawling are also changing If convicted of kerb crawling you could face:

a £1000 fine
losing your driving licence
exposure of your habits to family, friends and work colleagues

If convicted of paying for sex with someone who is under 18, you could be sentenced to a lengthly prison term. The maximum sentence for the offence varies according to the age of the victim and the sexual acts invovled.

UKNSWP has three months of funding to begin planning how a UK wide “Ugly Mugs” scheme could work, with another nine months expected. We’ll be talking to lots of people to make our plans as effective and inclusive as possible. At the end of the development project we’ll come up with proposals about how such a scheme could work. The aims would be to;

· Share information about people who commit crimes against sex workers & alert sex workers to dangerous people

· Give sex workers a safe, confidential way to report crimes against them

· Help catch people who commit crimes against sex workers

Provide statistics about crimes against sex workers so it is possible to create policies that prevent them
Show that crime against sex workers will not be tolerated and will be targeted by the police
As well as talking to sex work projects we want to talk to people in the sex industry about what they would want from the scheme and what would enable them to feel safe to share information into the scheme.

We will soon be holding meetings to discuss this and will let you know when they are arranged.

If in the meantime you have thoughts and ideas you would like to share, please contact Rosie, a long term IUSW/GMB member on rosiecamp1@aol.com You can give ideas by email, or Rosie can arrange to talk on the phone, or possibly meet with you one to one.

I know its not in Ireland, however I am posting this as it is serious any anything that helps to catch those responsible must be good

http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/4688603.Sex_worker_was_strangled_in_Brighton_flat_fire/

A sex worker found dead after a flat fire had been strangled.

Andrea Joanne Waddell, 29, was found at her home in Upper Lewes Road, Brighton, by firefighters late on Thursday night.

Today Sussex Police said the clean-living masters student had been leading a secret life as a sex worker in the city.

A post mortem examination carried out yesterday revealed Ms Waddell was strangled.

If you have toured or know Joanne please contact Sussex Police on 0845 6070999, quoting serial 1925 of October 15, Operation Merewood.

Young teens below the legal age of consent are being trafficked into Northern Ireland and the Republic for sexual exploitation, according to the support group Ruhama.

Ireland has become “firmly enmeshed in the global sex trade”, the group, which aids women sexually exploited for commercial purposes, has warned.

It also fears more people may get involved in prostitution due to the downturn.
During 2007-08, it stated that there were 341 women directly assisted by the group, including 100 women trafficked into Ireland for prostitution, the majority from Nigeria.

Six of the women were under the age of 18; some were as young as 15 at the time they were lured into prostitution.

Spokesperson Geraldine Rowley said there had been an increase in street prostitution since the economic downturn on both sides of the border.

“We supported 341 women who have been affected by prostitution in Ireland and of those 55 were new referrals who were trafficked into Ireland,” she said. “Seven of those were trafficked into Northern Ireland.

“Six of the overall number who were trafficked into Ireland were under 19 and I can confirm that some were based in Northern Ireland.”

There have been 151 investigations by gardai over the past 18 months into alleged trafficking but no prosecutions have taken place.

Gardai said last night that 23 potential victims of trafficking had been referred to the Garda National Immigration Bureau in 2008 and, where appropriate, these were being investigated with police forces from other jurisdictions such as the UK and the Netherlands.
A senior officer said all referred cases were fully investigated and if sufficient evidence was found files were prepared for the Republics Director of Public Prosecutions.

As a result of a recent investigation, female victims were granted immunity from prosecution by the DPP to help further garda inquiries.

Fine Gaels immigration spokesman Denis Naughten said Irelands asylum system was a “soft touch” for traffickers.

Taken from Belfast Telegraph 7th September 09

Prostitutes in Northern Ireland could be provided with a confidential phone line to report sex and violent crimes to police.

And to make sure they remember the telephone number they could be given stickers for the soles of their shoes.

That was one just one of the radical schemes endorsed by new PSNI Chief Constable Matt Baggott during his time in charge of Leicestershire Police Force.

The 50-year-old devout Christian will take over the PSNI hotseat from Sir Hugh Orde in the coming weeks and may adopt similar measures here.

A big supporter of community-style policing, Baggott is being tipped to introduce a raft of changes, including the Crimestoppers STOP campaign that gives greater protection to prostitutes.

Under the scheme, prostitutes who have suffered physical or sexual violence ring the STOP number. Volunteers then pass on details of the attacker to police.

Because the information comes from a third party detectives cannot access the prostitute’s phone details, ensuring their identities remain secret.

Groups that work with prostitutes are also provided with stickers bearing the STOP number to give to those involved in the sex trade.

Prostitutes wear the stickers on the soles of their shoes so they cannot be seen by clients.

The STOP scheme was endorsed by the Association of Chief Police Officers, which Matt Baggott sits on as Vice-President.

It proved a huge hit with the Leicestershire Police Force, with officers making a number of high-profile arrests.


Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/new-psni-chief-may-introduce-radical-scheme-to-help-protect-northern-ireland-prostitutes-14482288.html#ixzz0RUcpIKVG