The Justice Minister has written to the UK Government encouraging
action around commercial sexual exploitation of women and girls
through adult services websites.
As telecommunications is a reserved matter, has contacted the Home Office
Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls
about the “deeply disturbing issue”.
The Minister said: “I believe it is important to do everything
possible to protect women and girls from life‑changing abuse. I
am determined to maintain momentum in this area and where the
evidence supports it, I would support the UK Government to
advance legislation that reduces the facilitation of all forms of
exploitation and abuse.”
In addition to a suite of measures has already introduced here to
strengthen protections and modernise the response to harmful
behaviours, further legislative reforms are underway including:
- Updating the existing offence of possessing a paedophile
manual so that it explicitly captures AI‑generated material;
- New child sexual abuse image‑generator offences to
criminalise those who make, adapt, possess, supply or offer to
supply anything which is made or adapted to create, or facilitate
the creation of child sexual abuse images;
- Bringing forward legislation to criminalise the creation and
sharing of sexually explicit deepfake images of adults.
The Minister added: “While the majority of victims of
online sexual exploitation are women and girls, as Justice
Minister I am unwavering in my commitment to protecting everyone
from harm and to taking every possible step, within my power, to
keeping those who are vulnerable safe from all forms of abuse and
exploitation.”
Notes to editors:
- On 10 July 2024 a three-year Strategy which sets out Northern
Ireland's overarching framework for tackling slavery and human
trafficking was published.
- Northern Ireland remains the only part of the UK where the
purchase of sexual services is a criminal offence.
- The introduction of the Online Safety Act 2023 marked a
landmark step in protecting both children and adults from online
harm across the United Kingdom. Ofcom, as the regulator is
driving forward implementation through clear guidance and robust
codes of practice for online platforms. Responsibility for the
Act and telecommunications legislation rests with the UK
Government.
- DoJ has introduced significant legislative reforms to
strengthen protections and modernise the response to harmful
behaviours: The creation of criminal offences such as
upskirting, downblousing, and cyber‑flashing, new offences,
unique to Northern Ireland, where adults pose as children
for the purpose of sexual grooming and a strengthening of the law
on the abuse of positions of trust, enhancing safeguards for
young people against inappropriate and exploitative
behaviour.
