Call for speed on measures to help victims of traffickers

Ireland’s failings in tackling human trafficking will be exposed when a major report is published this afternoon.

The Trafficking in Persons Report, compiled annually by the US state department, will say Ireland is still being used by traffickers to source, place and move adults and children for forced labour and sexual exploitation.

While Ireland’s position in the report’s tier-one or ‘least worst’ category is not expected to change, campaigners say it’s not good enough, because the same problems are highlighted year after year.

The Immigrant Council of Ireland has called on the Government to act swiftly to complete its new National Action Plan to Prevent and Combat Human Trafficking, a draft of which was issued for consultation recently.

The ICI also said today’s report should reinforce the need to bring forward the new Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill, which will criminalise the purchasers of sexual services.

Brian Killoran, chief executive of the ICI, said in advance of today’s publication that its annual findings consistently echoed the concerns of the council.

“It is our hope that the 2015 report will be used by the Minister for Justice, Frances Fitzgerald, as a roadmap on how we can get to grips with this crime,” he said.

“It is important that we take any criticisms on board and incorporate them into a new National Action Plan on Human Trafficking.”

Among the commitments the ICI wants in the plan are the provision of safe houses for victims escaping traffickers, and the appointment of an independent rapporteur to regularly assess the effectiveness of national policies and measures.

It also wants sex-buyer laws to prosecute those who buy sex. This may eliminate demand for prostitution and the abuses, including trafficking, endemic in it.

Ms Fitzgerald said earlier this month that the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill, which includes the sex-buyer sanctions, was “priority legislation”. “It will be published shortly,” she said.

Last year’s Trafficking in Persons report identified 11 countries as the main sources of people trafficked into Ireland, but said there was also a rise in Irish children trafficked for sex within the country.

It also highlighted labour trafficking as a concern, saying some domestic workers, mainly women, were victims of forced labour.

It said the official number of trafficking victims in Ireland was low, at 44, but said this was because there was a failure to track and identify the full range of victims.

The ICI said these were the same points made consistently each year and little had changed in policy, or practice, to suggest a different conclusion would be reached this year.