This is great news. Even though they are a small party, they are represented at "anti-globalist" events (European Social Forum, etc.), and as such it is important that they take a clear stance (given the ambiguous or pro-legalisation position of other "alternative" organisations, likesay a part of the German Grünen and French Les Verts, two ecologist parties that have had governmental responsibilities).
I liked Mhairi McAlpine's statement:
(...)
Economic coercion to perform sex acts is a violation of women’s integrity and can only be understood within the context of ongoing social and economic discrimination. To criminalise prostituted women is to criminalise the victim.
Nonetheless decriminalisation is not the answer, for this is not a victimless crime. Those who use prostituted women are party to a system of enslavement, which brings women from poorer parts of the world to be multiply raped on a daily basis, which keeps women drug addicted to blot out the realities of their experiences, and which causes adult victims of sexual abuse trapped in a cycle of negative sexual relations.
(...)
We want to see a Scottish wide education programme to highlight the realities of the industry and of the experiences of women trapped within it and send a clear signal to anyone contemplating purchasing sex that it is unacceptable by bringing in legislation aimed at outlawing the purchase of sex.
(I almost wish I could find a can of Irn-Bru to celebrate.)