Noel O'Flynn (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)

I am delighted to speak on the Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) Bill, which deals with a despicable crime and what is widely agreed to constitute a modern form of slavery. This Bill is timely given that it is 200 years since the abolition of the slave trade.

Contrary to public perception there is existing legislation to prosecute people for trafficking offences. Under the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998 it is an offence, punishable by up to life imprisonment, to traffic a child into, through or out of Ireland for the purpose of sexual exploitation. For the purposes of this Act, a child is a person under 17 years of age.

It is an offence under the Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking) Act 2000 for a person to organise or knowingly facilitate the entry into Ireland of another person whom that person knows or has reasonable cause to believe is an illegal immigrant or a person who intends to seek asylum. The maximum prison sentence on conviction for this offence is ten years. In trafficking cases, it is also possible for the prosecuting authorities here to bring charges for a range of offences covered by our criminal law, including sexual offences, false imprisonment, possession of false documents etc.

However this legislation will make trafficking a specific offence. It will provide vulnerable and marginalised victims with greater protection. Under the new law the powers to prosecute for child trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation will be greatly expanded and the Garda Síochána will have the power to prosecute child trafficking for the purposes of labour exploitation and organ removal. The sale or purchase of humans of any age, regardless of type of exploitation, is covered and victims of trafficking will be guaranteed anonymity during court proceedings.

The new legislation also changes the maximum jail sentence for human trafficking offences from 14 years to life imprisonment. The immigration, residence and protection Bill, to be introduced later, is aimed at helping the victims. This will set up a system whereby a victim of trafficking can be afforded an immediate period of recovery and reflection in the State and also, in circumstances where he or she wishes to participate in any criminal proceedings in the matter, a further period of residence to enable him or her to do so.

The Government must expressly legislate for protective measures for victims. Otherwise victims will not come forward to the authorities. This is vital not only for the health and safety of the victims but also to ensure that we are aware of the scale and the nature of this problem. I welcome measures in the Bill that will ensure the right to anonymity for those who testify in court against the trafficker and exclude members of the public from proceedings where publicity might place trafficking victims or their families at risk. Furthermore, I am happy to see that this tough new legislation is being accompanied by a commensurate jail sentence of life imprisonment.

The Bill is just one part of the strategy which involves the establishment of a high level group to combat trafficking. This Bill will also enable the State to comply with the relevant victim protection provisions in the Council of Europe convention. A high level working group dedicated to putting in place an action plan covering all aspects of this horrendous crime will also be established.

Over a year ago I saw a "Prime Time Investigates" programme on the issue which shocked me and no doubt had a similar effect on everyone who saw it. It showed women who had voluntarily left their home to set out to countries like Ireland, only to find when they arrive at their destination they were expected to work as a prostitute. The pimps running the trafficking trade are brutal and the women experience extreme violence. They are raped, beaten and even starved in order to force them to work. Often the pimps will also threaten to kill their families if the women refuse to co-operate.

Of course there has always been prostitution. However in the past this usually took the form of street prostitution, with most women operating for themselves and no involvement of serious criminal gangs. While brothels were in existence their prevalence was much less than today. Encounters with non-national women were extremely rare. This legislation is very timely as the industry has become highly organized and is firmly linked with a global crime network.

In recent times the tolerance of the sexual exploitation of women for entertainment has grown while the stigma for the women involved remains the same. Ruhama appeared before the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights in May 2006 and stated that it knew of 200 women who had been trafficked into Ireland in recent years. It believes this represents the tip of the iceberg, to which Deputy Rabbitte and other Members referred. The unpalatable truth is that these women are trafficked because there is an organised sex industry to receive them and because the demand for commercial sexual services in women and children is so lucrative.

I commend the work of Ms Mary Crilly and the Cork Rape Crisis Centre for raising awareness in Cork of sexual exploitation and trafficking. I addressed these groups on this issue some months ago. The brutal reality seems to be that society holds an ambivalent attitude towards prostitution, an attitude that accepts the idea of trading in human beings in this way and does not see it as exploitation.

International experience suggests that countries that have legalised prostitution create an environment that is more conducive to trafficking. It creates a safe haven for criminals who can now operate with impunity under the cover of legitimacy. In the state of Victoria in Australia it was found that, contrary to expectations, legalisation resulted in a great increase in unlicensed brothels.

I researched the situation at home and abroad before speaking in the House. What I learned left me both astonished and truly horrified. I am sure Members are aware of the following facts but I wish to spend a few minutes detailing what I have learnt. The United Nations estimates that between 700,000 and 4 million women and children are trafficked around the world for purposes of forced prostitution, labour and other forms of exploitation every year. Trafficking is estimated to be a $7 billion dollar annual business. Some 50,000 women and children are trafficked into the United States from no less than 49 countries every year. As many as 750,000 women and children have been trafficked into the United States over the past decade. Women and children as young as 14 have been trafficked from Mexico to Florida and forced to have sex with as many as 130 clients per week in a trailer park. These women were kept hostage through threats and physical abuse, and were beaten and forced to have abortions. One woman was locked in a closet for 15 days after trying to escape.

Victims of trafficking are subject to gross human rights violations including rape, torture, forced abortions, starvation, and threats of torturing or murdering family members. Nearly every country is involved in the web of trafficking activities, either as a country of origin, destination or transit. Countries of destination include Ireland, Australia, Brazil, Cambodia, France, India, Israel, Japan, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates and the United States. In the Netherlands, where prostitution has been decriminalised, it is believed that around 3,500 women are trafficked into the country each year from Eastern Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia to work in secret brothels or sex clubs, often in shocking conditions.

Traffickers recruit women and children through deceptive means including falsified employment advertisements for domestic workers, waitresses and other low-skilled work. Traffickers include those involved in highly sophisticated networks of organized crime and may be as close to home as a relative to the victim.

Traffickers are members of highly sophisticated networks of organized crime. Traffickers are family members and friends of the trafficking victim and these victims may be used later to traffic other women and children. Victims of trafficking are afraid to testify or contact law enforcement agencies due to their complicity with traffickers and pimps.

By its very nature, human trafficking is a clandestine activity and owing to the intimidation associated with it, victims are often reluctant to come forward to the authorities. This is the experience internationally and for these reasons, it is impossible to be precise about the extent of human trafficking into Ireland. We know it is happening but these people exist in the shadows of Irish society. While I recognise this modern form of slavery is a problem, I was somewhat heartened to read in the recently published United Nations report, Trafficking in Persons: Global Patterns, that Ireland ranks at the low end of destination or transit countries in western Europe. This analysis is confirmed by the US State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report 2006, which was published last June and examines the approach to human trafficking in 158 countries. The report states that "while Ireland has a growing population of migrants, there is not yet evidence of a large number of trafficking victims". While this remains the case, we have a duty to protect anyone who has been brought into our country in such appalling conditions.

To date, Garda operations have uncovered a small number of trafficking cases. These indicate the involvement of eastern European nationals in trafficking and attempted trafficking activity. The Garda Síochána and the Garda National Immigration Bureau, in particular, take a proactive and vigorous approach in preventing and combating trafficking of human beings.

The Garda Síochána, the Police Service of Northern Ireland and police forces across Britain are taking part in the project which aims to help victims of trafficking and prosecute those responsible. The campaign is named Pentameter II after an operation last year which led to the arrest of more than 200 people and the rescue of 80 women and children forced into sex slavery in the UK. A permanent unit, the UK human trafficking centre, was set up following the first Pentameter operation, bringing together police, prosecutors and officers. As the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Lenihan commented, operation Pentameter II is an example of the proactive, preventative approach being taken by the Garda Síochána in tackling those who engage in this despicable crime. To this end, training is key. A training programme has been prepared for delivery to key Garda personnel throughout the State. This training programme has been designed specifically to enable members of the Garda Síochána identify victims of trafficking whom they encounter in the course of their duties, ensure that members fully understand the complexity of the phenomenon and ensure that victims receive appropriate assistance from all the relevant agencies.

Trafficking like other international crimes requires an international response. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform recently announced that Ireland has been invited to be part of a European G6 initiative against human trafficking. This initiative involves six European countries, namely the UK, Poland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Ireland and will run for one year. It has four strands of activity. Ireland will lead the strand on awareness raising and will host an international meeting in Dublin in January 2008. This initiative is designed to ensure the EU becomes a more hostile environment for criminals engaged in trafficking. Successful prosecutions, as with other criminal matters, will continue to depend on evidence that will stand up in court and for that to happen, there must be a willingness to co-operate with Garda investigations. Under this initiative, Ireland will launch new awareness raising campaigns in 2008. I congratulate the Minister on his involvement.

This country has also, through Irish Aid, contributed over €1.7 million towards anti-trafficking projects carried out by the International Labour Organisation among others. It is also important to ensure that victims receive the support and assistance they need so that they feel safe enough to testify against the perpetrators and are not forced to return to the terrifying situation from which they have just escaped.

A group of MPs in the UK recently formed a committee on the issue. I fully agree with sentiments expressed by the chairman, Mr. Andrew Dismore, MP, who said "We should recognise women trafficked for prostitution through deception, fear and violence as victims of this serious crime and not immigration offenders or criminals themselves."

Sex trafficking has become the third most profitable illegal trade in the world, after arms and drugs. That is a startling revelation, particularly when one thinks of the numbers of people involved. Somewhere between 700,000 and 4 million women and children are being trafficked throughout the world every year, as estimated by the United Nations. The truth is that Irish men are paying money for sex with foreign women who live in terror of beatings and other punishments. Trafficking and prostitution are expressions of a gross form of prejudice against women. They blight the lives of the weakest women in society — the young, the poor, the sexually abused, those dependent on alcohol or drugs, foreign women and women who are coerced. I hope this legislation will put an end to such human rights abuses on our shores.

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