Sexual exploitation accounts for ‘majority of trafficking’ cases in Ireland during 2022

Women being moved into the country in order to be sexually exploited accounted for the majority of human trafficking cases in Ireland last year, with technology playing an increasingly important role in what the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) describes as the “fastest growing criminal industry in the world”.

Five children were among the 42 cases formally recorded by the Department of Justice in 2022 but this is widely accepted to be an underestimate with non-governmental organisations like Ruhama, the Migrants Rights Centre and the International Transport Federations providing services to a significantly higher number of people over the course of the year.

Many more are believed to go undetected while others leave the country before their cases are properly recorded.

Real numbers

Sexual exploitation was involved in more than half of the total cases, with labour exploitation accounting for almost 40 per cent. All but one of the victims in the former category were women while a majority in the latter were men.

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Hospitality, fishing and the food industry were among the sectors in which victims were found to have been working. Almost half of the victims were of African origin with most of the rest from either the European Economic Area or Asia.

In its second report as Ireland’s national rapporteur on human trafficking, the IHREC acknowledged the increased effort of Government to deal with the issue and said progress has been made on several fronts. However, it said a statutory reporting mechanism is needed to provide more robust data on the real numbers affected and it called for more gender-based services, particularly in relation to accommodation, in order to support the mainly female victims.

The organisation said a combination of recent and expected legislation “will greatly improve the State’s overall anti-trafficking response” but suggested some ongoing failings are rooted in an “erroneous conflation of two distinct frameworks — International Protection and Human Trafficking”. It said this was reflected in the number of victims accommodated in Direct Provision centres.

More training for frontline staff is needed, it said, along with measures to ensure victims, especially children, are supported rather than punished in instances where they have been forced to commit crimes.

More vigorous prosecution of those found to be involved in the organising of human trafficking is also required, according to the IHREC.

Technology, the report suggested, is playing an ever-growing role in the criminal enterprises behind the illegal operations. In labour exploitation it is particularly important to the recruitment phase with many victims lured from their home countries in the belief they are dealing with legitimate online agencies.

Where sexual exploitation is involved, mobile communications have made advertising of services, their provision and the related financial transactions both easier to carry out and harder to detect.

Escort websites

The report calls for greater resources to be devoted to online monitoring of pornography and escort websites for evidence of exploitation.

The report estimates the global profit being derived from human trafficking at $150 billion (€140 billion), with two-thirds relating to sexual exploitation.

“Trafficking in human beings is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world,” said IHREC chief commissioner Sinéad Gibney. “It profits from the exploitation of vulnerable people and deprives them of their most basic human rights. Trafficking often targets people living in poverty, or those fleeing situations of armed conflict or persecution, particularly migrant women and girls.

“Specific to Ireland, the increased use of technology has facilitated the expansion of the indoor commercial sex trade, including via sex trafficking. The State must raise public awareness of these crimes, with the development of national campaigns targeted at demand.”