Debate contribution: Justice Bill: Consideration Stage

Debate contribution by Mr Paul Frew on 8 June 2026.

MLA

Mr Paul Frew

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

8 June 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Executive Committee Business

Heading

Justice Bill: Consideration Stage

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5600750

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I thank the Minister for that really important intervention. I echo the sentiments in her speech on that. It is horrific. It takes great courage for a woman who finds herself in that position to actually speak up, get out and seek the support and help that she needs. For most of the time that she is in captivity and being trafficked, that will be denied to her. That is really important. It is vital that we get to grips with it. Modern slavery referrals in Northern Ireland have increased. They went up by 50% in a single year and by 1,000% over four years. What is fuelling that increase? It is fairly obvious: it is demand. Those websites drive demand for women to be bought and sold across Northern Ireland. That is happening in each and every constituency that is represented in the House. It is organised by criminals. Critically, it all happens online. The shift from street corners or adverts in telephone boxes or magazines to online is the defining feature that has led to the massive increase in modern sexual exploitation. The Independent Anti-slavery Commissioner's recent report makes for alarming reading. Tens of thousands of such adverts appear across the UK, and almost 60% of those adverts contain multiple indicators of trafficking or exploitation. It is trafficking on an unimaginable scale. The National Crime Agency describes those websites as:

"the most significant enabler of commercial sexual exploitation"

in the UK. I do not apologise for labouring the point and for setting out in detail the exploitation that the amendment seeks to end. It is important that the issue is set out fully and comprehensively, so that no one can turn a blind eye and say, "I didn't know the scale of this problem". Members may ask, "If the problem is so prevalent, why is nothing being done? Why have those sites not been shut down?". The reality is that we have a plethora of laws on the statute book relating to combating pimping and ending the demand for the purchase of sexual services, but those laws were designed for an analogue era. The problem is this: while individuals involved in prostitution may be criminalised, the platforms and intermediaries that build the infrastructure and profit from exploitation often sit beyond the arm of the law. There is no explicit offence in Northern Ireland prohibiting the publication of advertisements for sexual services, whether online or offline. We have no law to dismantle the infrastructure that connects trafficking gangs and the people in our cities who seek to exploit the women who are brought here. Many police forces, including ours, have sought to cooperate with those websites, but evidence given to the Home Affairs Select Committee at Westminster confirms that voluntary cooperation does not work. The Committee found that cooperation led to limited prosecutions and resulted in absolutely no dismantling of the structures of trafficking. In a recent debate on the issue that was secured by colleagues on the all-party group on modern slavery and sexual exploitation, the Minister rightly pointed out that she has no power over regulation. Regulation of telecommunications is a reserved matter. However, combating this issue is not just about regulation; it is about helping people exit prostitution and getting our criminal law into a state that is fit for purpose. We do not have the power to regulate, but we do have the power to make modern criminal law. We have the power to be a leader across the UK's legislatures and pass the law that is needed to start the process of dismantling the infrastructure of trafficking. That is what the amendment seeks to do. Criminal law change is needed to ensure that those websites are shut down. All that we can do in the House is play our part, which is to bring in a criminal sanction, and the amendment gives us the chance to do that. Hopefully, our actions will be a spur to Westminster to bring in the change to regulation that is required there and that will cover us. That is what is needed. What exactly does amendment No 78 do? Having set out the policy background, it is important to take some time to do exactly that, so I will now turn, in detail, to the provisions of amendment No 78. The amendment creates a new offence under the Sexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 2008. It provides that a person commits an offence if he or she:

"publishes or displays, or causes or allows to be published ... an advertisement"

for sexual services. That extends to coercing someone to do so against their will. Therefore, if someone tries to get around the law by having a trafficked victim publish the advert themselves, that will also be caught by this law. The amendment is carefully constructed. It captures the entirety of the infrastructure of trafficking: the website owner, who publishes and displays the advert; the pimp, who may control and advertise women in Belfast; the individuals who manage those women on a day-to-day basis and allow that to happen; and those who go out into our communities and entice girls into exploitation. They will all be captured if a victim is advertised on one of the online platforms. Paragraph 1(a) applies to all adverts, whether they are online or offline. The amendment is technologically neutral and future-proofed. It is extraordinary to think that there is no law here against such advertising already. The amendment ensures that old-fashioned, analogue adverts as well as those on websites, apps, AI and social media will all, hopefully, be captured. It will close a gap in our law. Paragraph 2 makes clear that the offence applies regardless of whether or not a person profits financially. That is essential, because the infrastructure of exploitation networks often utilises layers of intermediaries. Some people in the exploitation network will facilitate the posting of the advert, some key in the data to the online platform, some coordinate activity, and others ensure that the online infrastructure is managed and remains online. Many receive no payment, or, at least, no traceable payment, for that work. Paragraph 2 ensures that all facilitators at every level of the trafficking infrastructure are captured, not just those who take a visible cut of the money. Paragraph 3 aligns penalties with existing offences in the 2008 Order, providing for imprisonment for up to six months on summary conviction and up to seven years on conviction on indictment. That ensures proportionality and consistency while also recognising that some people in the trafficking infrastructure will be more culpable than others. Amendment No 78 is not the end of the matter. The Assembly has much more work to do, and Westminster and Dublin also have work to do if those sites and the exploitation that they enable are to be ended. The Assembly needs to make better provision for those who have been exploited, and Westminster needs to make the necessary regulations to ensure that Ofcom can enforce the necessary court orders against the owners of those websites and shut them down for good. The amendment, however, represents the first step in what we can do as an Assembly. Whilst it will not fully solve the problem, it at least ensures that Northern Ireland sends a signal to criminal gangs and platform owners that we will not tolerate the infrastructure of trafficking and exploitation here.

I thank the Member for that intervention. In all examples that we give and all opportunities that we have in the House, we should acknowledge that anyone who has been exploited, trafficked, held in captivity or forced to do any activity against their will, including sex, needs to be supported. The police need to reach into those activities in the darkest corners of our Province, streets and towns, so that those people can be found, rescued and supported to recover and get justice.

Yes.

1,320 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:55 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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