Chamber and committees

I express my gratitude to my colleague Ruth Maguire for securing this important debate, and to my colleagues in the cross-party group on commercial sexual exploitation for their determined and focused work to highlight the brutal business that is the world of online pimping.

In Scotland, we have a Government that rightly recognises prostitution as a form of violence against women, and our “Equally Safe: Scotland’s strategy for preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls” underlines that. We need to implement a “challenging demand” approach, whereby it is the sex buyer who is recognised as the driver for that violence and, in turn, the pimps—whether they are on the streets, in brothels or operating online—are understood to be the traffickers and suppliers of prostituted women.

It beggars belief that men in Scotland are able to simply turn on their smartphones, open up the likes of the Vivastreet platform, and order themselves access to a woman’s body as easily as they can order a pizza. What does that say about the position of women in our society? It says that they are commodities to be bought and sold, trafficked and abused from coast to coast. There is very little empowerment for women in a system that allows online platform companies and pimps to get rich at the bodily expense of women.

I recently watched the “Panorama” documentary “Online Pimps Exposed”, which saw investigative journalist Bronagh Munro take a forensic look at the Vivastreet platform, on which one can buy a second-hand car as easily as one can find a woman in one’s vicinity to exploit. Although the company maintained that it does all that it can to prevent pimps from operating on the site, that is not believable, given that the programme uncovered evidence that hundreds of ads included the same mobile number and the same language, including grammatical errors, but advertised multiple women. Those are clear warning signs that Vivastreet should have picked up on as indicators of sexual exploitation.

A known Northern Irish trafficker was followed to airports where he picked up women who were then quickly added to the platform, with access to their bodies for sale within hours. That clearly indicates sexual exploitation for financial gain.

The news documentary also featured interviews with Detective Sergeant Stuart Peall, who runs the exploitation team at Lancashire Police. He told “Panorama”:

“Every single job is Vivastreet, they advertise over Vivastreet ... It is very common knowledge that if you need sexual services, Vivastreet is the place that you will find it. You can arrange what you want the girl to look like—it’s like a takeaway menu. There isn’t a job we have done that’s not Vivastreet”.

That is echoed by Detective Superintendent Filippo Capaldi, who is head of Police Scotland’s national human trafficking unit. He said:

“Adult services websites are one of the main facilitators of trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation in Scotland and the rest of the UK, and we come across them quite commonly when we are dealing with trafficking inquiries, particularly involving foreign nationals.”

There have been numerous prosecutions for pimping and sex trafficking involving people who have used Vivastreet to advertise the women whom they are exploiting. In one case in the north-west of England in 2017, a man spent £25,000 on adverts on Vivastreet, which actually gave him his own personal account manager. What does that say?

A Model for Scotland’s briefing for the debate further outlines that a small number of highly lucrative pimping websites dominate the online marketplace for advertising prostitution. They are the go-to websites for sex buyers who are looking for a woman to pay for sex. As a result, pimping websites centralise and concentrate demand from sex buyers online.

Women are murdered and assaulted in appalling numbers. We cannot disengage that reality from exploitation of women who are involved in prostitution and pornography. Violence against women must be seen in all of its forms and in all the places where it exists. Reducing women to commodities harms us all, so our laws must reflect that.

Does the member agree that, at this point in time, it is most important that we ensure safe case transfer for all people who are in receipt of disability living allowance and PIP, and that the right time for reassessment is during the independent review, after a year has passed?

Will the member take an intervention?

If you are very brief.

I will bring in my colleague Natalie Don, who will ask questions on the Afghan citizen resettlement scheme.

Pam, did you have another question?

Sticking with that last point, could you talk about the specific issues that councils across Scotland may face in relation to asylum-seeking children? How does the support offered in Scotland differ from that offered in the rest of the UK and why does that give councils particular problems?

It would be helpful if you shared those figures with us, considering that in Scotland we have an obligation to people who are care-experienced, up to their 26th birthday.

I see that Councillor Aitken is indicating that she wants to speak. Do you want to add anything, Councillor Aitken?

That is fantastic. We look forward to receiving that information. Pam Gosal has a few questions.