Shelter for trafficking victims delayed due to Ukrainian refugee crisis

The Irish Government announced in 2020 that it was establishing a shelter for female trafficking victims, but that has not happened yet. File picture: Chung Sung-Jun/Getty

The tender process for a shelter for female trafficking victims has been delayed while the Government responds to the accommodation crisis for people seeking protection from conflict zones including Ukraine. 

The latest Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, published by the US State Department on Tuesday evening, was critical of Ireland for not having progressed the trafficking shelter project since 2020.  

Ireland’s position was upgraded in the report after the country spent two years on the tier 2 watch list of the report. Now, Ireland is still on tier 2 but off the watchlist.

The report said: “In 2020, the Government announced plans to open an accommodation centre for 8-10 female trafficking victims, but the shelter remained non-operational during the reporting period.”

In a statement to the Irish Examiner, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth said the project has not yet gone to tender.

It elaborated: “Due to the unprecedented Ukraine and international protection crises, delays have arisen on a number of other Departmental priorities. This includes the running of the tender for the establishment of a specific victims of trafficking centre. 

Work on the tender for this centre will recommence in the autumn once tender processes focused on urgently needed accommodation for international protection applicants have been completed.” 

The TIP report noted concerns by NGOs about victims of trafficking being accommodated in direct provision centres.

It said: “The Government did not offer trafficking-specific shelter or services for trafficking victims. 

"However, the Government provided accommodation arrangements for victims and potential victims through the Government-funded direct provision system, which housed asylum-seekers, refugees, and trafficking victims in centres and temporary accommodation facilities across the country. 

"Victims were not required to stay in the direct provision accommodation, originally established for asylum seekers, although the Government did not otherwise offer dedicated shelters for victims of trafficking.” 

'Victims are still part of the direct provision system which has been repeatedly condemned ... as being woefully inadequate,' Immigrant Council of Ireland CEO Brian Killoran said. File picture

And it said Ireland’s failure to “overhaul its accommodation framework for trafficking victims” has left them with inadequate and unsuitable accommodations.

It recommended that Ireland must “offer specialised accommodations to trafficking victims that are safe, appropriate, and trauma-informed”.

Chief executive of the Immigrant Council of Ireland, Brian Killoran, said: “There has still been no change in the provision of accommodation for victims of human trafficking which has been referenced in the report as one of the reasons Ireland remains on tier 2. 

"Victims are still part of the direct provision system which has been repeatedly condemned and called out as being woefully inadequate by ourselves and several other civil society organisations working in this space.”