Ireland ‘near bottom’ in tackling child-trafficking

IRELAND languishes among the bottom of the league of EU states when it comes to tackling child trafficking, a public talk on the issue was told last night.

Jillian van Turnhout, head of the Children’s Rights Alliance — a coalition of more than 90 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working to secure the rights and needs of children in Ireland — said it should not be left to other countries to get to grips with the situation.

“Recent research has shown that Ireland is one of the poorest performing EU states in combating sex trafficking of children and young people. Between 2000 and 2010, 512 separated children went missing from state care, and just 440 of these have been found. It is feared that many of these vulnerable, missing children were trafficked,” she said.