What you can do

Please contact the members of this Committee to encourage them to make the Bill a reality and start criminalising men who abuse their power and money by buying women in prostitution.

Let's encourage our decision makers to de-criminalise all those involved in prostitution, delete the crimes of loitering and soliciting and wipe criminal records, invest ring-fenced funding on exit services AS WELL AS so-called harm-minimisation services.

Please urge these committee members to do what they can to protect the most vulnerable people in our communities who are being bought and sold, appeal to them to outlaw this human rights abuse.

Here are the details of the committee members:

Chairs:

• Sir Nicholas Winterton (Con, Macclesfield) wintertonn@parliament.uk
• Hugh Bayley (Lab, City of York )  bayleyh@parliament.uk

Members:

• Ian Austin (Lab, Dudley North) austini@parliament.uk
• Dr Roberta Blackman-Woods (Lab, City of Durham ) blackmanwoodsr@parliament.uk, presented lap dancing legislation in the 2nd reading debate so probably supportive of propsals
• James Brokenshire (Con, Hornchurch) brokenshirej@parliament.uk
• Simon Burns (Con, West Chelmsford ) burnss@parliament.uk
• Alan Campbell (Lab, Tynemouth )  campbella@parliament.uk
• Ian Cawsey (Lab, Brigg & Goole)  cawseyi@parliament.uk
• Vernon Coaker (Lab, Gedling), coakerv@parliament.uk, the government minister who led the review of demand which came out with the current proposal to criminalise punters
• Nadine Dorries (Con, Mid Bedfordshire) dorriesn@parliament.uk,  used to be a member of the RCN and spoke at the Second Reading against the compulsory rehabilitation clauses
• Jim Fitzpatrick (Lab, Poplar & Canning Town ) fitzpatrickj@parliament.uk
• Dr Evan Harris (Lib Dem, Oxford West & Abingdon) harrise@parliament.uk, has consistently opposed the measures
• Paul Holmes (Lib Dem, Chesterfield )  holmesp@parliament.uk  spoke in the second reading questioning the wisdom of following Finish legislation on criminalising punters
• Sally Keeble (Lab, Northampton North) keebles@parliament.uk
• Julie Kirkbride (Con, Bromsgrove) kirkbridej@parliament.uk
• Mr David Ruffley (Con, Bury St. Edmunds) ruffleyd@parliament.uk
• Lynda Waltho (Lab, Stourbridge) walthol@parliament.uk
• Phil Wilson (Lab, Sedgefield)  wilsonp@parliament.uk

FCAP supports Object's "Stripping the Illusion" campaign to get lap dancing clubs to be licensed in the same way as sex shops and sex cinemas, to reflect their status as part of the commercial sex industry. In response to pressure, the Government has now pledged to bring in new licensing laws for lap dancing clubs by placing them under a new licensing category - 'Sex Encounter Venues'.

However the proposals do not go far enough:

1. The new category will be optional for local councils - which will create a 'postcode lottery' style of regulation.
2. Venues where lap dancing happens less than once a month will be exempt.

Sign the petition to protest about these very serious holes: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/lapdance-reforms/

Go to the Object website for information about other things you can do to protest: http://www.object.org.uk/LapDancingGetInvolved.html

We need to let our Government know that most people in this country want a world without prostitution. We need to create a buzz around this issue, because at the moment MPs are not seeing or hearing the strength of public opinion on this matter. Don't stay silent on this.

Why not email Lord Faulkner, who has raised the issue of this Bill in the House of Lords, and your MP and tell them that you want a world where nobody is for sale. Urge them to consider the Swedish approach to prostitution law reform, which has got to the heart of the matter by criminalising demand - the 'buyers' and decriminalising all those involved in prostitution. It is not a right to buy and sell others for sexual exploitation, this is in fact a human rights abuse. A modern society should stand up and say so, and make laws accordingly to criminalise those who attempt to buy and sell other human beings. Such legal changes must be alongside dedicated funds to provide exit, support and safety services for all those involved in prostitution.

This is very important. Time is of the essence. There will not be many windows like this where the issue is open to reform. We have to use this chance to let decision makers know that most people do not think prostitution is good for women or society, that we want real freedom for all, that we do not believe in a Britain where anybody has a price on their head simply because of their sex.

A model letter is now available and a Word version is available to download from our Documents section. You can cut and paste the text into an email, personalise it and send it to your MP via the Write To Them web site.

 
Lord Faulkner's email address is
faulknerro@parliament.uk

You could also contact Vernon Coaker Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Crime Reduction who is working on this issue
coakerv@parliament.uk

You can also contact Harriet Harman and thank her for all the work she has been doing on this. Harriet Harman has said publically that she supports a Swedish style law and that the only way forward it so criminalise demand. Email her to thank her for her work and urge her to continue at

harmanh@parliament.uk

If you are in a Trade Union or Student Union or Party Political Branch then put a motion to your branch to support the criminalisation of demand and an end to the buying and selling of women. You can also put in resolutions to your national conference.  

See the Q & A on prostitution myth and reality, produced by the Women's National Commission working group on sexual violence. This is really useful in arguments!