Debate contribution: Justice Bill: Consideration Stage
Debate contribution by Ms Kate Nicholl on .
- MLA
- Ms Kate Nicholl
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 8 June 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Executive Committee Business
- Heading
- Justice Bill: Consideration Stage
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5600766
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Thank you. Yes, I completely agree when we are talking about people who have been trafficked. Some of the people whom I have met — they have come to me — have chosen sex work. We can have a whole debate about whether that is violence against women or not; there is a whole feminist argument about that. Those are people who may be doing that independently on their own and are not trafficked or pimped. My question to you is this: are you confident that the legislation will not move those people further away from getting support? It is one of the things that we may have had a difference of opinion about years ago when we were discussing clause 4 of Lord Morrow's Bill, which was to do with the criminalisation of payment for sex and whether that drove it further underground so that people found it harder to get access to support. I am 100% behind you on the work to end trafficking, and you are completely right that dismantling the infrastructure is a key part of that. My only question is about people who willingly engage in sex work. We can debate whether you agree that it is or not, but they are not trafficked and they are sex workers. Are you confident that they will not be made more vulnerable? Are there any mechanisms in place that can ensure that those people can get support, should they need it?
244 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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