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THE US STATE Department’s annual report into human trafficking worldwide has said it has received reports of children being subjected to prostitution in areas such as Dublin, Cork and Kilkenny.
Though the report, which was published yesterday, showed that Ireland was one of only 33 out of a total of 185 countries to have complied fully with laws in place to end human trafficking – making it a ‘tier one’ country – there was some dissatisfaction raised with the implementation of anti-trafficking laws in this country.
Writing for TheJournal.ie today, human trafficking campaigner David Lohan says there needs to be more awareness within Irish communities of the issue of human trafficking and a more deeper understanding of how it affects people.
“Awareness is a key element in tackling this, and other, abuses perpetrated against the person,” he says. “However, awareness cannot be premised on misunderstandings. It demands real understanding of what is done by traffickers, why it is done and how they benefit.”
The State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report found that while Ireland was rated as a tier one country there were instances where women from Estonia and Hungary were trafficked to Ireland for the purposes of prostitution.
Most significantly it cited reports from non-governmental organisation (NGO) experts who said that children are being subjected to prostitution in places such as Dublin, Cork and Kilkenny.
It noted that the State has yet to fully prosecute and convict any trafficking offenders as defined by the 2008 anti-human trafficking legislation but it said that the government “complies with all minimum standards of elimination of trafficking”.
The legislation, introduced by former Justice Minister Michael McDowell and which came into force in June 2008, created separate offences including trafficking in children for the purpose of labour or sexual exploitation.
The report urged Ireland to “vigorously implement” the law as well as consider drafting an amendment to criminalise forced labour and other forms of compelled service.
The State Department said that while the government had identified no cases where human trafficking victims had been deported from Ireland or had been deported in cases where they had committed unlawful acts there were concerns from NGOs that “unidentified victims may have been inadvertently deported or punished for crimes committed while under coercive control of their traffickers.”
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Where is the evidence? Who are these NGOs who are alleging child prostitution in Dublin, Cork and Kilkenny? The whole thing smacks of hysteria to me without any hard facts to back it up. Earlier this month there was a joint Garda/PSNI operation which saw raids on brothels across the country. Were hundreds of trafficked women released from their captivity at the hands of violent pimps? No. The Gardai said (according to a Sunday Independent report) “that despite claims about organised prostitution rings, all the young prostitutes who were subject to raids and searches in more than 100 locations in the Republic were working independently. Only eight people, seven young women and a man in his forties, were arrested. They were released without charge”.
The report just say’s NGO’s. There was one prosecution of a Nigerian woman who was prostituting a 16 year old girl and as a result got a 4 year sentence.
There is no evidence. These NGO’s exaggerate any facts to bolster their politically motivated campaign to criminalize one gender over another. In other words, feminists want gender profiling written into Irish law.
Penalise the clients.
Problem solved.
Joe anyone having sex with a child is open to some serious penalties as it is whether it is for money or not.
Yeah, they should go to jail for that already.
Penalising clients solves nothing, if Sweden’s anything to go by.
No Joe. Penalizing clients would create gender profiling and expose the state to an array of court challenges in both the High court and in the European courts. I have a better suggestion: Legalize the profession to eliminate the criminal elements.
That Joe Walshe is living in some kind of delusional world. Penalizing the clients wouldn’t even make a drop in the ocean.
Kilkenny-the new Amsterdam.
The gardai are to busy going after the real criminals in the country in there eyes,the ones who grow some marijuana where they can make an easy arrest and get there name in the local paper while jumping up the ladder in the gardai,this country is a joke..
For all the Fine Gael/Labour government’s talk about child protection- nothing is being done and we can’t blame the Church on this on-
Child abuse is still taking place and the government is no closer to ending the issue that is taking place in this day and age- we can’t blame the Church on this one.
Where does it say that the church are being blamed?
The problem there James is the vast majority of child abuse takes place in private homes by relatives and friends and that is very hard to tackle. The Church has taken a right hammering over the last few years and rightly so but now it’s time to start looking closer to home and educating people better.
The US report does not actually mention Ireland at all except to mark it on a map and list it as a Tier one country. Everything else would appear to be a wild guess at best.
Hmm……….don’t know about that …. this is what it DOES say on
from link provided above
“Ireland is a destination, source, and transit country for women,
men, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor.
Sex trafficking victims originate in Eastern Europe, African
countries including Nigeria, South America, and Asia. Adult
labor trafficking victims are reportedly from South America,
Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa. Forced labor victims are
found in domestic service and restaurant work. According to
local reporting, within the last several years some victims have
been subjected to domestic servitude by foreign diplomats on
assignment in Ireland. According to NGO experts, children are
subjected to prostitution in various cities in Ireland, including
Kilkenny, Cork, and Dublin.
The Government of Ireland fully complies with the minimum
standards for the elimination of trafficking. The government
took important steps to investigate and prevent domestic
servitude among employees of diplomats posted in Ireland.
During the year, the government prosecuted and convicted a
sex trafficker for the prostitution of a minor. The government,
however, has yet to fully prosecute and convict any trafficking
offenders, as defined by international standards using the
country’s 2008 anti-trafficking law. The government developed
victim-centered care plans for many trafficking victims,
provided holistic care through the provision of temporary
residency permits and associated services, and continued to
provide funding to NGOs that provided specialized assistance
to trafficking victims. All identified victims received services
regardless of immigration status. However, the majority of
trafficking victims from non-EU countries received services
and pursued refugee status through Ireland’s asylum process,
which NGOs criticize as resulting in inadequate care and
insufficient protection of victims’ rights, in comparison to
the provisions specific to trafficking victims.
Recommendations for Ireland: Vigorously implement
Ireland’s 2008 anti-trafficking law to ensure labor and sex
trafficking offenders are held accountable; consider drafting
an amendment to explicitly criminalize forced labor and
other forms of compelled service with a view toward increasing
efforts to implement the 2008 anti-trafficking law; explore
and enhance NGOs’ roles in the victim identification process;
ensure proactive screening for trafficking during asylum intake
interviews; ensure all potential trafficking victims, regardless
of immigration status, are afforded an official recovery and
reflection period to make an informed decision about whether
to assist law enforcement; ensure asylum-seeking trafficking
victims who are cooperating with law enforcement have
accurate information on the support they may qualify for
under Ireland’s explicit provisions for trafficking victims, and
ensure they are aware this is an option they can pursue; expand
legal aid beyond representation during trials for victims
assisting law enforcement; continue educating potential clients
of prostitution about the linkage between prostitution and
trafficking; and consider establishing a national anti-trafficking
rapporteur or similar entity to encourage more self-critical
assessments to improve law enforcement and victim protection ….”
@ Eileen Lang
Exactly. This report had input from feminist NGO’s whose research is unreliable because it fails to properly define what ”forced” means.
The proof is here:
”Most significantly it cited reports from non-governmental organisation (NGO) experts who said that children are being subjected to prostitution in places such as Dublin, Cork and Kilkenny”
While it is true some women are coerced into prostitution, that holds no bearing on the women who did choose. The coercion itself should be illegal, but we should not take away the choice from those who would like to make it.
http://www.turnofftheredlight.ie/learn-more/the-situation-in-other-countries/ Former mayor of Amsterdam Job Cohen has stated: “We realise that this is no longer about small-scale entrepreneurs, but that big crime organisations are involved,” he said “It’s about trafficking women, it’s about drugs and it’s about killings. In 2008, a report was produced saying that of Amsterdam’s 8,000 to 11,000 prostitutes, 75 per cent were foreigners, mainly from Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia. The national police force (KLPD) estimates that 50% to 90% of the women in licensed prostitution ‘work involuntary’. This would mean that in Amsterdam, there are at least 4,000 victims of trafficking on yearly basis. CHOICE?
I think it is worth noting one facts
Having sex with someone under 17 is illegal in Ireland.
So if you are caught paying for sex of someone under 17 it is a crime therefore linking it to the wider “criminalize the client” argument is pointless as it is already a crime.
If you true (and I doubt it) all it shows is laws dont work when it comes to people’s morals
have your say