Warning over trade in sex slavery

Vice squad detectives are running three separate investigations into suspected people trafficking gangs in a bid to clamp down on sex slavery, gardaí revealed today.

As a new report warned Ireland is at increasing risk from eastern European smugglers, gardaí said around 10 women had been rescued from forced prostitution in Dublin brothels in the last three years.

Officers warned the issue could not be ignored but stressed many foreign women were working of their own accord and only offering sex for sale to members of their own ethnic communities.

The figures were revealed as gardai urged the public and victims of trafficking to come forward with any information on smuggling rings.

Garda Chief Superintendent Derek Byrne said one case involved a young woman from the Baltic states forced to work in a brothel to pay for being smuggled into the country.

“We could talk about a 21-year-old eastern European female being trafficked into the country to pay off a debt incurred in her own country. And a similar case of that would be being investigated at the moment. We are investigating that extensively and we hope to bring charges in the future,” the Chief Supt said.

The International Organisation for Migration revealed it had supported more than half a dozen cases of people who were trafficked.

Women claimed to have been smuggled from African countries of Nigeria, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo while others came from Romania, Moldova, Croatia and Brazil.

Michael McDowell warned that eastern Europe was one of the main sources for traffickers.

“Human trafficking is a form of modern day slavery. Victims of human trafficking are subjected to force, fraud, or coercion, for the purpose of sexual exploitation or forced labour,” he said.

“It is a growing international crime and has become a major global business for organised crime groups and networks. To date the incidence of such trafficking in Ireland is limited, but we face the same threats as those faced by many other countries worldwide.”

The work of two dedicated garda vice investigations was detailed. Operation Hotel, set up in November 2005, targets the trafficking of females from eastern Europe as sex workers.

Two non-nationals have been prosecuted and deported and further suspects in the same people smuggling ring have been identified.

Meanwhile, Operation Quest has seen officers interview several hundred strippers working in lap dancing clubs up and down the country but found only one instance of trafficking.

A Bulgarian man is suspected of bringing the girl here and officers believe he operates under a number of aliases across Europe and is no longer in Ireland.

The new poster, showing a woman and asking the question ‘Sex Slave?’, will target the victims of trafficking urging people to call Crimestoppers 1800 250025.

Translated into five languages, Romanian, Russian, Chinese, French and Portuguese the posters will be displayed at ports, airports, train and bus stations, A&E units, hotels and pubs.

Diane Grammer, chief of mission at the International Organisation for Migration, said it was important to recognise the issue.

“The victims of trafficking are often promised jobs and money and then forced into prostitution,” she said.

“We hope that through this information campaign, victims of trafficking and the people who may come in contact with them will be made aware that assistance is available.”

A United Nations report Trafficking in Persons – Global Patterns, published last month, noted that there is a casual approach to sex trafficking with traffickers easily buying and selling people to establish prostitution of foreign women all around the world.

Citing 127 countries from which women are trafficked and 137 countries that are favoured as destinations, Global Patterns confirms the vast majority of trafficked people are women, bought and sold to be put to work in the sex trade.

Germany is one of the most popular destinations with 40,000 sex workers likely to be smuggled into the country in the next month, in anticipation of huge demand for prostitutes during the World Cup.