The country joins countries like Canada and Sweden in criminalizing clients
Photo by Nils Hamerlinck
Ireland has criminalized the act of soliciting or buying sex from prostitutes as a way of addressing sex trafficking and protecting women in the profession.
The country now joins Canada, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Israel and Northern Ireland in passing laws that criminalize the clients instead of those driven to prostitution.
The law came into effect on the 22nd of February and under the law, first time offenders will be charged a fine of 500 Euros which will be doubled for second time offenders. Those caught using the services of a trafficked individual will face up to 5 years in prison.
Campaigner Rachel Moran, a previous sex worker told Reuters, “This law will, for the first time in our history, firmly place legal responsibility on the exploiters rather than the exploited.”
However, critics of the law have questioned the law’s effectiveness saying that it will force prostitution to go underground putting these women in greater danger. The new law will also give sex workers less time to assess a client or negotiate before jumping in their cars.
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Thailand should do the same. Too many old farangs walking around trying to solicit sex from bar girls here
They hardly have to try. Bar girls aplenty. Plus more often than not they fall “in love” with the bar girls and try to take them to their home country.
Lol and then they spend tons of money on something that will take 2 years to fizzle out. A buddy of mine fell madly in love with a bar girl and spent thousands of dollars on a U.S fiancee visa from Thailand only to be dumped a year later.