Women are being ‘trafficked to order’ for sex with countrymen

WOMEN are being trafficked into Ireland to meet the demands of their fellow countrymen for sex with girls from their homeland.

The trend for trafficked-to-order sex workers was just one of the features of the burgeoning Irish sex industry studied over a six year period for a report published yesterday. Researchers, Dr Eilis Ward of National University of Ireland, Galway and Dr Gillian Wylie of Trinity College Dublin, found 76 women from 20 different countries had been trafficked into Ireland to work in brothels and lap dancing clubs during that period but said the number could be far greater.

They identified 75 other women they suspected but could not prove were victims of trafficking. Only one of the women had been identified through Garda surveillance while the rest came to light when they sought help.

“Our research indicates that sex-trafficking is growing at a time when the sex industry in Ireland is becoming increasingly less amendable to surveillance at a state or community level,” the researchers warned.

Among their findings were high levels of violence and coercion used against women who were usually trafficked by someone from their home town on the promise of work opportunities in Ireland.

Some knew they were coming to work in the sex industry but were duped into believing they would be properly paid but were kept in “conditions approximating slavery”. Others believed they would be entering domestic service but ended up trapped in brothels. Only a handful of women were willing to talk to the gardaí and 36 disappeared after initial contacts with authorities.

The Ruhama organisation, which works with women in prostitution, called for more Garda resources to be put into the fight against traffickers.