by NMN

Response to the Law Commission’s hate crime consultation

In 2020, the UK Law Commission ran a consultation on “reforms to hate crime laws to make them fairer, and to protect women for the first time.” It also included a question about whether the hate crime legislation should be extended to include “sex workers” as a protected characteristic. Nordic Model Now! responded to the consultation and this post provides our full response.
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by NMN

How to respond to the Scottish Prostitution Consultation

The Scottish Government is running a consultation on its prostitution policy. We would like to encourage all our supporters to respond to this consultation. You do not need to live in Scotland to respond.

This post provides two options to make it as easy as possible for you. You can either use a two-minute option to send a template response, or you can use our crib sheet to fill in the full consultation.

The deadline for responding is: Thursday 10 December 2020. Read More

by NMN

Human trafficking and online sexual exploitation

This is the text of our submission to a Sheffield University study on human trafficking and online sexual exploitation.

AdultWork and similar sites make it extraordinarily easy for sex traffickers to exploit the prostitution of vulnerable women and girls. In fact it is hard not to come to the conclusion that these sites have been specifically designed for this purpose. If the UK is serious about cracking down on human trafficking, it must hold websites that facilitate sex trafficking and who profiteer from women and girls’ prostitution to account, as it is obliged to under international law. Read More

by NMN

The Law Commissioners’ Key Proposals for Surrogacy Law Reform in the UK

This is an edited transcript of Anna Fisher’s talk at the What’s wrong with surrogacy? webinar on 6 September 2020.

I’m going to very briefly run through the law as it currently applies in England and Wales and then I’ll explain the key features of the proposals for change that the Law Commissioners put forward in their recent consultation and what we expect to happen next. Read More

by NMN

What are we talking about when we talk about surrogacy?

This is a transcript of Heather Harvey’s talk at the What’s wrong with surrogacy? webinar on 6 September 2020.

First, I have to state our position which, is uncompromising. There is no human right to have and rear a child at all, let alone to have one with a genetic connection to you. And, notwithstanding our sympathy for those who desperately want, and are unable to have, a child of their own, our position opposes both the proposals in the consultation and the whole concept of surrogacy. This position arises from the belief that surrogacy is incompatible with women’s rights and equality. Read More

by NMN

What FOI requests revealed about the Law Commission’s surrogacy consultation

This is an edited transcript of Lexi’s talk at the What’s wrong with surrogacy? webinar on 6 September 2020.

Good afternoon everyone. Thank you for joining us today. My name’s Lexi. I submitted a freedom of information (FOI) request to the Law Commission on 27 August last year (2019) and it concluded with an internal review that finished on 9 July this year. So, it was almost a year for the entire process. Read More

by NMN

What’s wrong with surrogacy: Recordings of the webinar

This page provides access to pre-recordings (and links to transcripts) of the talks from our ‘What’s wrong with surrogacy?’ webinar that was held on 6 September 2020, along with practical ideas for how you can push back against the Law Commission’s proposals.

This webinar aimed to balance the one-sided picture of surrogacy that is mainly provided in the mainstream media with a feminist analysis and a look at the risks and abuses that can be involved. We also provided a brief overview of the proposals the UK Law Commission put forward in its public consultation last year and consider what they might mean for women and children. Read More

by NMN

Ask your MP to take action on the Law Commission’s surrogacy proposals

Calling all UK citizens! Please write to your MP to ask them to take action in response to the Law Commission’s proposals for surrogacy law reform, which we believe will lead to the UK becoming the commercial surrogacy destination of Western Europe. We provide a template letter that you can simply copy and paste (or download) and send. This only takes a couple of minutes. Read More

by NMN

NMN Submission to GRETA’s third evaluation of the United Kingdom

This is the text of our submission to the Council of Europe Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) on its call for evidence in advance of its third round of evaluation of the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (the Convention) in the UK. Read More

by NMN

Surrogacy: How much is a woman worth?

In 2019, the UK law commissioners ran a consultation on proposals to open up commercial-style surrogacy in the UK. We argued at the time that it was so flawed it should be abandoned and restarted, this time centring the human rights of women and children. The law commissioners subsequently invited us to meet with them to expand on our concerns. This is a personal account of that meeting, which took place on Thursday 13 February 2020 at their London offices. Read More

by NMN

PRESS RELEASE: Over 50 organisations sign open letter condemning the Law Commissioners’ surrogacy consultation

The UK and Scottish Law Commissioners’ joint consultation on opening up commercial-style surrogacy in the UK ends today (11th October 2019). The proposals and the methodology of the consultation have been heavily criticised by numerous women’s groups from the United Kingdom and around the world in an open letter sent to the UK and Scottish Law Commissioners today. The open letter, organised by campaign group, Nordic Model Now! was also signed by hundreds of concerned individuals. Read More

by NMN

Open letter to the UK and Scottish Law Commissioners about the surrogacy consultation

This open letter, signed by 27 UK organisations, 24 international organisations, and 794 individuals, calls on the UK Law Commissioners to scrap the biased consultation on their flawed proposals to open up commercial-style surrogacy in the UK and to go back to the drawing board, this time centring women’s and children’s welfare and human rights. Read More

by NMN

Flyers about the UK Law Commission’s Surrogacy Consultation

We’ve had some flyers printed to raise awareness about the important consultation that the UK and Scottish Law Commissioners are currently running about proposed new surrogacy legislation that aims to encourage surrogacy in the UK. We want the flyers to be used to raise awareness of the consultation and encourage people to respond objecting to the proposals. Read More

by NMN

How to respond to the UK Surrogacy Consultation in 10 easy minutes

Should babies be on sale as commodities in the UK? Should disadvantaged women be paid to be a ‘breeder’ for people much richer than she is? Should those richer people become the legal parents of that child the moment it’s born? Do you think Facebook and Google should be allowed to present adverts to hard-up female students suggesting that becoming a ‘surrogate’ would provide the solution to their financial worries?

No? Then please respond to the Law Commission’s consultation – otherwise all these things and more are likely to come to the UK very soon. This page explains how to do it in 10 easy minutes. Read More

by NMN

The Law Commission’s Surrogacy Consultation: How to bamboozle through a dangerous new law

The UK Law Commission is running a consultation on proposals that would open up surrogacy in the UK, including provisions for paying birth mothers and allowing the advertising of surrogacy-enabling services. This article provides an overview of these proposals, and explains why we profoundly disagree with them, and how they are an assault on both women’s and children’s human rights. We show that the consultation is confusing, misleading, one-sided, and fails to ask clear questions about the high-level ethical issues. Read More

by NMN

Submission to the Home Affairs Committee’s inquiry into modern slavery

This is the text of our submission (sent in October 2018) to the inquiry into modern slavery conducted by the Home Affairs Select Committee in the UK Parliament. Our submission is focused on our grave concerns about how the Modern Slavery Act 2015 frames human trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation and how its failure to deal effectively with the forms of human trafficking that particularly affect women and children can be viewed as sex discrimination and a failure to protect children. Read More

by NMN

Submission to UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty & human rights in the UK

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Professor Philip Alston, is undertaking an official visit to the UK from 6 to 16 November 2018. He is investigating the interlinkages between poverty and the realization of human rights.  Before his visit he made a call for written submissions to help him prepare for the visit. We made the following submission about how extreme poverty and widening inequality between the sexes is driving many women into prostitution, in violation of their human rights.  Read More

by NMN

Hate crime as expression of dominance and inequality

This is the text of our submission to the APPG on Hate Crime’s inquiry into hate crime in the UK. We argue that hate crime is typically the behaviour of members of a dominant group towards members of a less powerful group – usually with the motivation of maintaining their collective and individual dominance; that the hate crime framework must never be used to silence respectful debate and dissent; that porn should be considered a form of hate propaganda; and that the hate crimes that are centrally monitored and for which perpetrators can get an increased sentence should be extended to include misogynistic hate crime. Read More

by NMN

Submission to the UK Government’s Consultation on its Domestic Abuse Bill

The text of the Nordic Model Now! submission to the UK Government’s recent consultation on its proposed Domestic Abuse Bill, without the questions we did not answer and those for which we simply endorsed the responses given by End Violence Against Women (EVAW). Read More

by NMN

Women and girls, what is your experience of sexual harassment in public places?

The Women and Equalities Committee in the UK parliament has launched an inquiry into male sexual harassment of women and girls in public places and are calling for written submissions. Anyone can send a submission and we would encourage you to do so. Alternatively, feel free to share your experiences with us and we will use them to inform our submission. You can do this in the comment section below the post or by emailing us in confidence. Read More

by NMN

Submission to the APPG on Prostitution & the Global Sex Trade’s inquiry into ‘pop-up’ brothels

This is the text of our submission to the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Prostitution and the Global Sex Trade’s inquiry into ‘pop-up’ brothels. We argue that pop-up brothels are not a new phenomenon, permanent brothels are operating with impunity all over the country, prostitution is damaging to both individual and community, the UK is not meeting its international obligations in this area, the police too often pursue vulnerable women involved in prostitution rather than the ruthless profiteers, and we provide 13 recommendations for a complete overhaul of the law and policy. Read More

by NMN

Submission to the MOPAC Consultation

This is the text of a written submission to the MOPAC consultation on its Draft Police & Crime Plan for London 2017-2021. It was submitted by Nordic Model Now! jointly with thirteen other groups that work for women’s rights and development, and/or to resist the objectification of women and girls, and male violence against women and children. Read More

by NMN

Submission to the Liberal Democrats “Sex Work” policy consultation

This is the text of a written submission to the Liberal Democrats’ consultation on their “Sex Work” policy. It was submitted by Nordic Model Now! jointly with eighteen other groups that work for women’s rights and development, and/or to resist the objectification of women and girls, and male violence against women and children. Read More