UN expert backs MSP Ash Regan’s bid to criminalise those buying sex

A UN expert has backed a bid by Alba MSP Ash Regan to criminalise those buying sex at the same time as decriminalising those selling it.

Ms Regan’s so-called “Unbuyable Bill” has won support from the United Nations special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem.

Ms Alsalem said the proposals put forward by Ms Regan were “in line” with recommendations she made in a report to the UN Human Rights Council last year.

As well as seeking to criminalise those buying sex – with those convicted of this facing fines of up to £10,000 as well as possible jail sentences – Ms Regan’s Bill also seeks to quash the convictions of those who have previously been caught soliciting.

The legislation also sets out that help and support should be given to those seeking to leave prostitution.

Ms Alsalem had already described Ms Regan’s statement to MSPs on the Criminal Justice Committee about her proposals as being a “must listen”.

Ms Alsalem said: “I fully support Ash Regan’s Proposed Prostitution (Offences and Support) (Scotland Bill) as it is in line with the recommendations I made in my 2024 report on prostitution and violence against women and girls to the Human Rights Council and the report on my 2024 visit to the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland.”

She added that proposals such as this, known as the Nordic Model, provided an “effective framework for ending the exploitation and violence that women are subjected to in prostitution, by discouraging the demand for buying sexual acts and offering exit strategies for the victims”.

Ms Regan hailed Ms Alsalem as being “the leading voice globally in eradicating violence against women and girls”.

Speaking about the UN special rapporteur, the MSP added: “She is a strong advocate for the model I am proposing and indeed she has presented recommendations to the Human Rights Council previously that are in line with what I have proposed.”

Ms Regan said her support was “extremely welcome” as she urged fellow MSPs at Holyrood to “take note of the voice of the UN special rapporteur when she says that only the route proposed in the Unbuyable provides an effective framework for ending the exploitation and violence that women are subjected to in prostitution”.

Ms Alsalem’s support for the Bill comes after Siobhian Brown, community safety minister in the Scottish Government, highlighted “significant and deep concerns” about the proposals

In a letter to the Criminal Justice Committee, which will scrutinise the proposed legislation after Holyrood’s  summer recess, Ms Brown said that quashing convictions was an “exceptional” measure and “not a step that can be taken lightly”.

The minister stressed while the Scottish Government backed the “underlying intent of the Bill to challenge men’s demand and to tackle commercial sexual exploitation”, she added there were still “significant questions and concerns regarding the measures within the Bill and how they would work in practice”.

Meanwhile, the sex worker safety charity National Ugly Mugs has urged MSPs to “pull the plug” on Ms Regan’s “misguided and dangerous” Bill.

It fears that “criminalising the purchase of sex only serves to make life more difficult and dangerous for sex workers, while having no impact on trafficking and exploitation”.