Saturday, January 10, 2009
The numbers on prostitution and sex in the UK don't add up
Tim Harford has an interesting analysis, on the BBC radio four programme, on Mathematics, the numbers that have been released on prostitution in the UK are not clear.
The radio programme is only available for a few more days, so listen to it while it is on air.
Some of the numbers are
Some of the numbers are
- 80% of Prostitutes, escorts are controlled. This is a figure Fiona Mctaggart has come up with.
- Julia O 'Connell Davidson challenges this view as she says that 80% of the sexworkers who were described by receptionists in flats, brothels or agencies were described as foreign.Does this mean that they are controlled?
- In 2006, 515 raids were carried out on brothels over 4 months in Operation Pentameter. There were 232 arrests and 84 women were rescued.
- There were 822 raids in Operation Pentameter two, and 167 women were identified. The raids suggest that less than 80% of the women were trafficked.
- There are supposed to be 80,000 prostitutes/escorts working in the UK. These numbers are based on research that was done ten years ago.
- There are supposed to be 25,000 sex slaves in the UK.
- 70% of London's off street prostitutes/escorts are foreign nationals.
Do politicians and academics choose their data to support their stance?
Labels: bbc radio 4, Escorts, London, Prostitutes, Trafficking, uk
Friday, November 14, 2008
The fate of Oriental Gems
Oriental Gems was one of the leading Asian escort agencies in London. The agency was shut down earlier this year.
The owners who ran it for five years, have been jailed for trafficking.
I wonder what has happened to all the women who were working there.
The owners who ran it for five years, have been jailed for trafficking.
I wonder what has happened to all the women who were working there.
Labels: bbc news, Escort agencies, Trafficking
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Rehabilitation for trafficking victims
The Maagan shelter in Tel Aviv, offers support to women who are victims of human trafficking.
Earlier this year, the Israeli government changed its position, and agreed to offer a one year visa and rehabilitation to all women who could prove they were trafficked.
I know that in the UK, some of the women who are trafficked, are deported when they go to the police.
More on that, in this article on how to tackle human trafficking.
What I find disturbing in the article, is that some of the women who are returned, are raped in police stations, in their countries.
The only UK equivalent that I know of is the Poppy Project .
Update
Related article Italian law gives trafficking victims a chance to escape traffickers.
Labels: alertnet.org, News, News.bbc.co.uk, Trafficking
Friday, August 10, 2007
Weekend of Prayer for victims of Sex trafficking
The Salvation army and the CWA have called for a weekend of prayer for victims of sex trafficking.
Spare a few minutes to say a prayer for anyone who has been, or is in this situation.
On Tuesday Cambridgeshire police started Operation Radium, a total crackdown on Sex Slavery.It will focus on 100 brothels in Cambridgeshire.
Update
Simply Alexa has been added to my blogroll, please pay her a visit.
Have a great weekend.
Labels: Julia O'Connell Davidson, News, Simply Alexa, Towncriertoday.co.uk, Trafficking
Saturday, August 04, 2007
Olympic athlete manages to escape from traffickers
A network that imported Russian girls for trafficking to Spain has been foiled.The gang trafficked women to Almeira and the Canary islands. The olympic athlete had attempted to escape before, and failed. Second time round she was lucky.
The gang used the usual tactics, promises of jobs, which were sexual labour.
Hope you are enjoying the weather, beautiful sunshine in London, and I am loving it.
Labels: Escorts, Theolivepress.es, Trafficking
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Virtual pimps and Escort webmasters may pay the price in Israel
Tal Zohar was arrested in Israel for the escort agency he ran on the internet. The charges were for trafficking, pimping and exploitation. He cheated some of the girls of their wages. Israeli law enforcement seldom convicts pimps who operate virtual brothels or escort agencies.
The Hotline for Migrant Workers last month submitted a bill to the Knesset Subcommittee on Trafficking in Women, to amend the wording of the existing law prohibiting the operation of a business involved in prostitution to include virtual brothels.
The traffickers in women do their homework, learn the market and keep up to date. The law must also be updated. The law's current format allows for the trial of a person who operates a virtual brothel, but the proposed amendment stresses the severity of this type of whorehouse."
"The proposed amendment also states that not only are the owners or operators of a virtual brothel accountable to the law, but also the graphic artist and the site's content editor.
"This determination has a foundation in the existing law, according to which not only the operator of a regular brothel is liable, but also the cashier, the driver and the guard."
"It doesn't matter if you are only a graphics geek who once set up a site. If the woman you advertised is a victim of human trafficking, you must be accountable," says Levenkron.
Quotes from Virtual Pimps may pay the price by Ofri Llani .
This takes it to another level if the graphic artist, and webdesigners are accountable. I imagine escort photographers would be accountable too.
I wonder how the escort webmasters and escort photographers, are able to verify that the escorts they do work for are not trafficked?
Times are changing.
Update
I am having a problem with my email at the moment. I am not ignoring anyone, but some mail, hotmail mainly is taking three or four days to get me. If I have not responded to anyone, please resend your mail.
Labels: Brothels, Escort agencies, Escorts, Haaretz.com, News, Trafficking
Friday, May 25, 2007
Trafficking
Officials in Belarus at a recent UN conference said that the media ignore their role in fighting sex trafficking, and often end up promoting it through the advertising columns of profit-oriented newspapers. The media has a duty to expose their likely fate.
Arizona has flunked the sex trafficking survey, in failing to protect victims. I hope their grades improve as soon as possible.
Have a good weekend.
Labels: Escorts, News, People's Weekly World, Prostitutes, The Business Journal Phoenix, Trafficking
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Major award
Janice Raymond is to receive an outstanding award for her outstanding contribution, against the war on trafficking. This is her life work, and she is not popular.
The cost to her, is that she receives hate mail, death threats, cannot give out her phone number or address, or have her picture taken.
It is amazing, that she continues her work, given the dangers she faces. Traffickers are ruthless as Julia O'Connell Davidson points out here.
It is not an easy job to do. I think she is an inspiration, and I salute her.
Labels: Escorts, News, Prostitutes, The Herald, Trafficking
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
About time
A new police team has been set up to target people who traffick women to the UK. The police team, have acknowledged that a more effective approach is needed. It is a start, but I wonder at what point they decided things needed to change.
Detective Superintendent Mark Ponting from the Metropolitan Police said as much as £8,000 could change hands for women who are brought into Britain and sold as prostitutes.
He is responsible for the overall strategy of the new Human Trafficking Team which will co-ordinate the Met’s efforts to stamp out the practice. Det Supt Ponting was heavily involved in last year’s Operation Pentameter, which removed 84 victims from human trafficking in a series of raids across the country.
Quotes from New police team to target sex slave gangs by the Birmingham post.
Sheffield is leading the way, with a human trafficking centre coordinating investigations all over the UK.
Police are appealing to punters.
He added: "Punters are sometimes their only contact with the outside world, so they are an important source of intelligence for us.
"There have been a number of instances where punters have actually brought victims into police stations to help.
"I see the punters as key partners in terms of gathering intelligence. We want people to get the message that many women working in prostitution are there against their will.
"If you go into a brothel you will be offered the services of women across the globe and it is a fair guess that not all those women are there of their own free will.
Quotes from New sex trafficking squad set up by Lifestyle Extra.
Labels: Lifestyle extra, News, Prostitutes, Sheffield star, The Birmingham Post, Trafficking
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Romanian prostitutes take control in Tadworth
These women took matters into their own hands, and were able to call the police.They were brought in to tout their services at the Candyshop in Tadworth.
ROMANIAN prostitutes smuggled into the country to work in a Tadworth brothel called in the police when they became fed up with the arrangement.
They charged punters £100 an hour,receiving half the takings, but decided after a month that they wanted to return home and walked out.
Quotes from Smuggled prostitutes tipped off police about brothel by Post reporter.
It is great that they felt able to call the police, collectively.A seven month jail sentence is lenient, in my view.
Labels: IC Croydon, News, Prostitutes, Trafficking
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
It is deeply disturbing when the carers become careless.
I read this article, and was bewildered. It is worrying,when responsible adults who are paid to look after vulnerable children are unable to do so. I struggle with the possibility that some of these children may have been returned to their captors.
Forty-eight children illegally trafficked into Britain have disappeared while in the care of social services. More than half of the 80 children identified in a report on victims of trafficking have gone missing, according to an assessment of care provision in parts of the north-west, north-east and West Midlands.
The authors of the study of five local authorities warned that the 48 were only "the tip of the iceberg", and there are likely to be hundreds of child victims of smuggling who have escaped the radar of the social services. Many are thought to have been returned to the criminal gangs who smuggled them in - often for child "slavery" - or to have fled in fear that they would be recaptured.
The children were brought into the country to work as prostitutes, tend plants in cannabis factories or work as domestic servants, according Missing Out, a study published today by Ecpat, a coalition of children's charities. Others are believed to have been brought in for forced marriages or to work illegally in factories or restaurants.
Christine Beddoe, Ecpat's director, called for a national inquiry into the "deeply disturbing" findings. She said many social workers had told researchers that the immigration status of trafficked children was an obstacle to treating them as victims of human rights abuses. "From the moment children are passed into social service care they are defined as under 'immigration control'," she said. "Social workers are unsure of how to deal with them.
"One solution would be to provide residency permits or another form of visa to these children to allow them to stay in the country beyond the age of 18, when they are currently deported. This would enable social services to provide long-term care plans - something they find difficult."
Missing : 48 children trafficked into care an article by Paul Lewis of the Guardian newspaper
What I want to know is where were the carers?
How could all these minors have disappeared?
What is happening to Social Services?
Labels: guardian, Trafficking
Thursday, November 16, 2006
New Article
For those of you who are interested Julia O'Connell Davidson has an article on trafficking online.
Labels: Articles, Julia O'Connell Davidson, Trafficking
