Witchcraft and threats used against trafficked workers

WITCHCRAFT and other threats have been used by employers to keep control of workers trafficked into Ireland for the sex industry and labour market.

People rescued last year also reported they were denied food and drink, forced to hand over their travel documents, worked excessive hours and were also subjected to debt bondage.

Sexual, physical and psychological abuse were employed by bosses against vulnerable workers and, in some cases, threats were made to family members back home. And Juju, a form of witchcraft practiced in some African countries, was used to put some workers in fear.

The experiences were recounted by some of 66 people Gardaí suspected of being trafficked into Ireland last year, according to the first report of the Department of Justice’s Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (ATHU).

Most of the cases were still under investigation at the end of the year and the workers involved were allowed to make applications for asylum or for visas and other permits.

The report found that most of the workers, 58 out of the 66, were female. The majority came from Africa and Asia, but six came from European Union countries, showing that membership of the EU is no protection against being trafficked.

Seventeen of the cases involved children aged 16 or 17 while the oldest person encountered was 55. They had come to the attention of the Gardaí either directly through the Garda National Immigration Bureau, through charities like Ruhama, the Migrant Rights Centre, the Immigrant Council of Ireland or through hospitals, embassies or the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner.

The report, the first of its kind, warns the true figure could be higher. “Due to the clandestine nature of the crime and its overlap with other illegal activities, such as those related to prostitution, estimating the prevalence of trafficking in human beings is highly problematic.”

It says the details in the report should be used to enhance understanding of the issue rather than as an estimate of the precise nature and extent of the phenomenon.