Criminalise people who buy sex, not sex workers, conference told
An international conference on prostitution in Dublin today is hearing calls from experts for the criminalisation of people who buy sex.
Sweden was the among the first countries to bring in a law targeting those who purchase sex, resulting in a significant drop in prostitution there.
The so-called the "Nordic model", which decriminalizes the selling of sex and makes paying for sex a criminal offence, was recently passed into law in Northern Ireland.
Swedish journalist Kajsa Ekman said the law has recently been extended in Sweden to include men who buy sex abroad.
"What we've seen in the 15 years that we've had this law is that it has reduced the number of men who would pay for sex. It used to be one in eight Swedish men who paid for sex on a regular basis. It's now one in 13," she said.
However, she added Swedish men continued to travel to pay for sex, especially to Thailand, so the law was being changed "to also punish men who pay for sex abroad as well".
