Human trafficking - Exploitation of the very worst kind

ANYONE who read this morning’s deeply disturbing report about how a naive, young Lithuanian woman was targeted by compatriots who planned to sell her as a sex slave will recognise that the very darkest forces were at work on this island.

Befriended by fellow nationals the lonely and isolated woman, who was trying to build a life in a foreign country, fell in to the hands of three men who abused and raped her repeatedly to “prepare her body for the rigours of prostitution”.

They set about turning a woman into a dehumanised commodity to be traded as a disposable entertainment.

There is hardly a family in this country which has not experienced emigration and today’s economic situation may force many of us who never contemplated the prospect to do so. Some of us may find ourselves as vulnerable as that Lithuanian woman was.

The judge in the Belfast trial earlier this month said the men had initially spoken to the unfortunate woman in English and it must have been reassuring for her to discover that they were Lithuanians.

Little was she — throughout the trial she was only known as “TR”, the ordeal even cost her her identity — to know that they intended to force her into prostitution. Their aim was “to cut her off from her family, her friends, her home and the person that she was. To utterly change her life”.

Though she was terribly traumatised it could have been much worse. One of the three men did not believe they could get €15,000 for her even though one man “came to look her over”. “TR” suggested that she might be able to raise €5,000 if she was allowed to go free. While pretending to arrange that she contacted police and convictions followed, though the mastermind evaded prosecution.

Cases like this raise all sorts of issues, some of which challenge beliefs about human dignity and civil liberties.

One of these challenges is how we view the sex industry, whether it is a place where “consenting adults” meet or something altogether more sinister. Unless there was a demand for the services of enslaved prostitutes in this country these tragic events would never have occurred.

The case also challenges how we protect immigrants. Sadly, this is not just a challenge for Ireland.

It also reaffirms the need for a European Union wide register of people convicted of the most serious crimes. At the moment there is no such safety net. Though these men have been deported to serve long jail sentences in time they will be free to resume their travels without any alarm system in place.

Cases like this force civil libertarians to consider whether opposition to national identity cards does more to help criminals than it does to protect the vast majority of people. Surly the advantages of secure identity cards outweigh the disadvantages.

Neither is the Belfast case an isolated one as yesterday’s dismissal in the Court of Criminal Appeal of an appeal against conviction of a man found guilty of trafficking illegal immigrants into Ireland confirms.

Olaitan Illori, a Nigerian, was sentenced to four years in prison in July of last year on 12 counts of illegal trafficking. Each count related to one of 12 adults who tried to come in at Dublin Airport in October 2004.

There is no suggestion that Illori is involved in the sex industry but his conviction again underlines the vulnerability of the poor in pursuit of a better life.

Though economic exploitation is usually far less brutal than sexual exploitation it is still unacceptable.