Written question asked by Diane Abbott (Labour) on Tuesday, 2 May 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 4 May 2006. It was answered by Lord Coaker (Labour) on Thursday, 11 May 2006 on behalf of the Home Office.

People Trafficking

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he plans to make it a criminal offence to pay for sex with a person who has been illegally trafficked.

Answer: We consider that the Sexual Offences Act 2003, with its emphasis on consent freely entered into, is sufficient to prosecute men who knowingly have sex with women against their will, including women who have been illegally trafficked. The Act provides at section 74 that"““a person consents if he agrees by choice, and has the freedom and capacity to make that choice””."If the trafficked woman is engaging in prostitution under duress then we find it difficult to see how she would be considered to be freely consenting. There are also evidential assumptions at section 75 of the Act which, if proven, will mean that the complainant is taken not to have consented and these include the use and threat of violence and unlawful detention of the victim. Furthermore, creating a further offence of paying for sex with a trafficked woman may give the appearance that it is a lesser offence than rape; it is not.If the woman does not freely consent to sex and if the defendant does not reasonably believe that she consents, then regardless of her occupation, it is rape.

Secondary information