System allows child trafficking victims in Ireland to go undetected, warns human rights agency

The current system for identifying victims of human trafficking, where only gardaí can identify victims, is being replaced with a new national referral system.

Victims of child trafficking in Ireland are not being found because of a weakness in the system for identifying victims, according to the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC).

The commission, which is Ireland’s national rapporteur on trafficking, is seeking a review of the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Act “before the commencement of the provision relating to international surrogacy”. 

It also recommends that international surrogacy arrangements are subjected to the same minimum standards of ethics and protection as domestic surrogacy.

The commission terms the exploitation of surrogacy as “one of the most concerning novel and emerging forms of trafficking”.

The current system for identifying victims of human trafficking, where only gardaí can identify victims, is being replaced with a new national referral system which will enable other State agencies and NGOs to be involved in the formal recognition of victims, with agencies in the sector expecting an increase in referrals as a result.

While welcoming the development of the new referral mechanism, IHREC says there are gaps in the legislation under which it is being introduced, “such as details relating to child trafficking, the equal application for all victims regardless of nationality, immigration status, or pending international protection application, and statutory protection from prosecution for victims.” 

Noeline Blackwell, Irish Human Rights and Equality Commissioner, said: “We are hoping that what Minister Helen McEntee is doing now — preparing operational guidelines for a new referral mechanism — will be more specific around children. If you don’t have age assessment, you are not going to be able to identify child victims.” 

The report notes that children have accounted for 8% of all identified victims of trafficking in Ireland in the past 11 years, with 44 children among 566 victims detected here. But the report points out that the most recent EU average is 15%.

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Ms Blackwell said: “It may be that we only have half the number of children trafficked but it may also be that we just don’t have the information, we don’t just have the data, we don’t have the mechanisms and it is highly unlikely that we are an outlier in that way so we have a worry about it." 

Ms Blackwell said that the recently recast EU Anti-Trafficking Directive “for the first time specifically named exploitation for commercial surrogacy as something that has to be watched out for”.

She added: “The complication for the government will be that it is easier to control standards in Ireland and they can’t control them abroad so that is why this Europe-wide mechanism will be important.”