Armed Forces: Prostitution

(asked on 25th October 2021) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the current code of conduct is with respect to serving military personnel engaging in the sexual exploitation of prostituted women and men in the UK and abroad.


Answered by
James Heappey Portrait
James Heappey
This question was answered on 28th October 2021

Defence recognises the devastating and long-term impact that Sexual Exploitation and Abuse has on those who are victims of it, and that it is an abuse of trust and power which causes immeasurable harm to those who are affected. We have existing policies on the values, standards, and behaviours expected of all service personnel and any allegation of sexual offending, wherever it occurs, must be referred to the Service Police. We have adopted the NATO policy for the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse on peace-keeping operations and we are building on that to develop a policy to be applied overseas and in the United Kingdom. Anyone found to fall short of the Services' high standards or to have committed an offence will be dealt with robustly, which can include imprisonment and dismissal from Service.

At present, the sexual exploitation of any person is not recorded as an offence in its own right, however, any criminal activity or undesirable behaviour is recorded by the specific type of offence or prohibited behaviour which took place and we publish details of those offences on a yearly basis: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sexual-offences-in-the-service-justice-system

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