Help Women Out of Prostitution - Say No to Leeds Red-Light District.

Despite the murder of a young Polish prostitute, Daria Pionko, in Leeds just days before Christmas, a pilot-schemed “red-light” district has been given the go-ahead and will become a permanent feature of the city. Within the Holbeck region of the city, prostitutes will face a substantially reduced likelihood of arrest for loitering, soliciting and kerb crawling between 7AM and 7PM while complying with some specific rules. The reason for the City Council’s decision is that efforts to reduce the incidents of prostitution over the last 10 years have failed and, in the interests of the safety of the prostitutes it is thought that this is the best approach. Sign this petition to Hilary Benn, MP for Leeds Central, asking him to overturn the decision of the City Council and implement alternative measures which will really help prostitutes leave a profession the vast majority do not want to be in. http://www.citizengo.org/en/pc/32695-murder-leeds-managed-red-light-district-shows-it-time-stop-it Beyond taking away the fear of prosecution, this managed district does very little to solve the very real dangers that come with being a prostitute. Women in prostitution are 18 times more likely than the general population to be murdered, and the reasons why this is the case remain completely unaddressed. Those who sell their bodies through sex experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety disorders at levels similar to those who have been in armed combat: this is a not a line of work that should be encouraged in any way. Demand drives prostitution: if nobody purchased sex, prostitution would be eradicated. One of the many sad realities about prostitution is that it only exists because certain members of the population (most of whom are male) continue to demand it. When those who (ab)use women working as prostitutes were asked if having their name and picture made public, if being given a criminal record or a fine, or if being added to the sex offenders register would deter them from buying sex, 80-85% confirmed that it would. Sign this petition to Hilary Benn, MP for Leeds Central, urging him to overrule the City Council’s decision and asking instead that he pursue alternative means to help those who are trapped in prostitution. http://www.citizengo.org/en/pc/32695-murder-leeds-managed-red-light-district-shows-it-time-stop-it Over 90% of prostitutes across a number of countries have said that they want to escape prostitution immediately. Rather than providing a “managed” area for them to “work” it would be far better to promote routes for them to escape from it, and pursue those who use prostitutes rather than the prostitutes themselves. The fact that some people end up in prostitution as a result of human trafficking, is yet another consideration which Leeds City Council appear not to have taken into account. Sincerely,  Greg Jackson and the entire CitizenGO team PS The women involved in prostitution are in large part, not their due to their own choice. They deserve our help. Sign this petition to Leeds Central MP Hilary Benn, to remind him of this fact and urging him to overrule the City Council’s decision. CitizenGO is a community of active citizens that seeks to defend life, the family and fundamental rights worldwide. To find out more about CitizenGO click here or follow us on Facebook or Twitter. This message is addressed to arnottl@aol.com. If you do not wish to receive emails from CitizenGO, click on this link.