FORMER US PRESIDENT Jimmy Carter has written to TDs and Senators, urging them to press on with legislation that would criminalise the buyers of sex.

In an open letter made public this morning, the 89-year-old called on the Oireachtas to implement the findings of the Justice Committee, which last year recommended laws to target pimps and sex buyers, while protecting “prostituted women and girls.”

Denise Charlton, CEO of the Immigrant Council of Ireland, which briefed Carter before his submission, dated 27 August, has welcomed the intervention.

This contribution by a global figure who enjoys international respect again shows the importance of the debate which has taken place here in Ireland and the need for urgent political leadership to bring this issue to a conclusion.

In the letter, Carter describes the committee’s proposals as a “transformative approach to ending the exploitation, abuse, and trafficking of women and girls.”

He notes, however, the government’s 12-month delay in introducing legislation, and concludes by encouraging TDs and Senators to act quickly:

I hope that you will lead your nation towards the protection of prostituted women and girls with a sense of urgency.

Carter, who was a Democratic president from 1976-1980, is an active campaigner on human rights and public health throughout the world, through the Carter Center he set up in 1982.

He won the Nobel Peace prize in 2002.

Here’s the text of his letter to TDs, in full:
http://cdn.thejournal.ie/media/2014/09/president-carter-letter.pdf

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