Put spotlight on victims in Ireland, says support body

As police in Britain continue their probe into the enslavement of three women — one Irish — for 30 years, support groups here have urged greater focus on the potential of slavery in this country.

The Department of Foreign Affairs yesterday confirmed London Metropolitan Police have been in contact with the Irish Embassy in connection with the 57-year-old who was one of three women rescued from a house in Lambeth last month.

Police are satisfied that the woman is Irish, although it has not yet been confirmed if she is an Irish citizen. Gardaí said as yet they had received no notification from police regarding the woman.

An international report into modern day slavery last month claimed as many as 340 people are currently in ‘slavery’ in Ireland, including children forced to work on cannabis farms.

The Walk Free Foundation, an Australian organisation founded last year and backed by former US Secretary of state Hillary Clinton and former British prime minister Tony Blair, issued the report into the levels of modern-day slavery worldwide.

It found as many as 30m people around the world are living in slave-like conditions, with half the total number in India alone.

The figure for Ireland, estimated at between 300 and 340, is much smaller, but the Immigrant Council of Ireland said it should act as a wake-up call for the Government over the need for new laws here.

In a report last month, the charity The Walk Free Foundation estimated that there's around 4000 slaves living in the UK.

— Johny Cassidy (@johnycassidy) November 21, 2013

According to the report, “modern slavery in Ireland affects men, women and children. It is a ‘source’ and ‘transit ’ country for victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation, forced labour and forced criminal activity.”

It also alleges that “children get trafficked to Ireland to work in cannabis farms” and that “children are being sexually exploited and exploited through domestic servitude, benefit fraud, sweatshop or restaurant work, illegal removal of organs, illegal adoption, and forced begging and pick-pocketing”.

Adults in slavery are in domestic, construction, and agricultural work, and in the catering and entertainment industries, with the majority of victims originating from west African countries.

Immigrant Council CEO Denise Charlton said “the findings underline the urgent need for a response to end this modern day slavery”. She said recommendations in the report for countries to employ a National Anti-Trafficking Rapporteur should be heeded in Ireland.