16 AUGUST 2006

Prostitution Act continues to fail

Revelations today that girls as young as 16 are prostituting themselves to fund their P drug habits come as no surprise.

"The Prostitution Reform Act was destined to fail from day one," says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First. "There is no such thing as 'safe prostitution' and as a result of this flawed legislation, we now have girls as young as 11 involved in street prostitution, brothels setting up in residential areas next to families, and now teenagers mixing drugs and prostitution. And pimps continue to reap the financial rewards."

When politicians decriminalized prostitution, they effectively said to a younger generation "Prostitution is ok - it's not as bad as we made out - just try and be safe." They effectively normalized the behaviour.

"Prostitution is destructive to all parties concerned," says Mr McCoskrie, "and the association of prostitution with gang and criminal behaviour, alcohol and drug abuse, and sexual abuse and violence means that we are sentencing more and more young people to an uacceptable situation.

"These cases on the Kapiti Coast are just the tip of the iceberg."

Family First calls on the Working Party on the review of the Prostitution Reform Act to visit Kapiti Coast and the streets of South Auckland and Christchurch, and to see the devastating impact the Prostitution Reform Act has had on young people and families. The Working Party must do something to stop the increase of street soliciting and under-age prostitution.

ENDS

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