The bill proposing to introduce the #NordicModel has passed its first reading in parliament and will go for its 2nd on Jan 29th. It proposes the criminalisation of buying sex and includes a crackdown on sites sex workers use to advertise services and share safety/client info

and has been presented as an anti-trafficking measure. The problem is, overwhelming evidence from countries where it's been introduced indicates that it harms safety for SWs, forcing them further underground, gives (predominantly) male clients more bartering power and reduces

clients (so depresses incomes and increases risk) and has lead to a rise in violent crime against SWs (92% increase in Ireland). As usual, it's been cooked up in the absence of meaningful involvement from the people it actually affects and is fiercely opposed by @ProstitutesColl

@sexworkreshub @SWARMhive amongst others and flies in the face of international research by @TheLancet demonstrating no link between criminalisation of SW and a reduction in trafficking. It's a policy that past experience suggests will harm SWs (who are largely women)

and who have been some of the hardest hit during this pandemic - many of whom have not been able to benefit from income support (e.g. furlough) available throughout the crisis, encounter barriers when accessing the social security system and employment discrimination.