Sexual Offences Act Revisited

"Do we think it's right in the 21st Century that women should be in a sex trade or do we think it's exploitation and should be banned?"

"Can we really stop this trade [in human trafficking] when we've still got a lawful sex trade going on?"

The English Collective of Prostitutes and the vice chairman of the Police Federation say Harriet Harman is wrong to seek to outlaw prostitution, warning that such a move would simply force prostitution underground and make women more vulnerable to violence. Let us know what you think.

Harnessing the Abolitionist Spirit

Simon Schama's Rough Crossings on BBC2 this evening was history at its best - the forgotten story of the African-American slaves who fled the plantations to fight behind British lines in the American War of Independence and went on to establish Freetown in Sierra Leone. Not an all-white tale, as some have complained of Amazing Grace, nor a revisionist's version erasing the contribution of British abolitionists, as was the case with Moira Stewart's In Search of Wilberforce, but a shared story involving black and white from three continents.

The way the drama intercut with present-day scenes constantly emphasised the continuity between the problems of the past and present, forcibly reminding us that slavery remains a global issue. Not just for the 2.4 million people caught up in human trafficking throughout the world, but for at least 12 million who are forced to work and treated as property to be bought and sold.

As Beth Herzfeld of Anti-Slavery International writes in The Difference Magazine, in her piece "Will we finish what the abolitionists started?":

"In the Philippines, young girls are used as domestic slaves, boys as young as four years old are abducted from their families in South Asia to be used as camel jockeys in the Gulf, in Niger people are born into a slave class; young men in Brazil are used as forced labour to clear the Amazon, and women are trafficked to western Europe and forced to work in food-processing factories.

"In Niger at least 43,000 people are enslaved as a result of being born into an established slave class. They are used as herders, agricultural labourers and as domestic servants. Many are subjected to torture and other forms of violence, including rape. They are inherited over generations as property, some are given away as gifts or as part of a dowry. They work every day without pay and are denied the freedom to make choices, whether it is deciding when to eat and sleep or whom to marry."

As Beth goes on, the problem isn't something "out there" and demands action: "You too can harness the abolitionist spirit and demand an end to slavery once and for all."  So, what will you do?

Britain's Modern Slave Auctions

The Government's U-turn on their previous refusal to sign the 2005 European Convention on Action against Trafficking, giving victims of human trafficking more time to recover from their ordeal before deciding whether to help police, is to be welcomed. Speaking on behalf of the Conservatives, who had called for Britain to sign up to the international convention earlier in the year, shadow home secretary David Davis said this was necessary for "moral reasons" such as protecting exploited victims, some of whom are forced to have sex with up to 40 men a day.

According to Home Office estimates, there were 4,000 victims of trafficking working in prostitution in the UK during 2003, up from just 1,400 two years earlier, and it is believed the problem has continued to grow since then. The Crown Prosecution Service last year revealed that "slave auctions" of women sold into forced prostitution are carried out on the concourses of British airports, with women being sold to the highest bidder as soon as they arrive on British soil from countries including eastern European states.