Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As others will have done, I sat down and opened my emails this morning and received a number of positive updates concerning women, which was befitting for International Women’s Day. They included updates on the launch of the women’s health action plan, the roll-out of free period products in further education, the introduction of gender pay gap reporting, and research commissioned into gender-based violence against people with disabilities. We also had the first public sitting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality last week. We are making progress, but today remains a particularly difficult International Women’s Day.

There are two issues that I want to highlight in my contribution today: the vulnerability of women who are fleeing their homes and countries and the dangers of war, and the trafficking and involvement of women in illegal prostitution against their will in Ireland. Many colleagues have spoken today with passion and solidarity about the women of Ukraine, who are facing unimaginable challenges today. There are women who have moved and are moving across Ukraine, with their children, their parents and their families. There are women who are leaving their partners behind as they rush to get to safety. There are women who are hiding in Ukraine. They are hiding themselves and their children from the brutal indiscriminate violence of Russia - its illegal and unwarranted invasion of a democratic state and the murder of civilians that we have seen so repeatedly and desperately over the past 13 days. These women are at huge risk today. It must be said that many remain at risk, even when they reach the relative safety of the border. We must remember that sadly, global conflict has many dark reaches and many dark opportunities for criminals to prey on the vulnerable. We must be alive to that risk.

Today I met with the lead researcher from the Sexual Exploitation Research Programme, SERP, of the Geary Institute in UCD, Ruth Breslin, to discuss that concern, namely, vulnerable women in a time of war. The concern of the Geary Institute and the reports it is receiving are of women and children in desperate circumstances. Some - not all - women are being offered help, including lifts and accommodation, from strangers. There are already reports of women disappearing from view. This is not a new phenomenon. When it comes to trafficking for sexual exploitation, one of the greatest risk factors for women and girls is being a refugee fleeing natural or man-made crises. Exploiters will always prey on such vulnerability. SERP has received many concerning reports of incidents of sexual violence and exploitation. As a Parliament and as a member of the EU, we need to be alive to that risk as we respond to the humanitarian need of people coming from Ukraine.

Of course it is just as important to highlight the risk to women in other countries. This morning I had the opportunity to hear from Fawzia Koofi, who was the first woman second deputy speaker of the Afghan Parliament, the head of the Afghan Parliament's Women Affairs Commission, a staunch advocate for women and a Nobel Peace Prize nominee in 2020, to name a few of her achievements. We were both panellists on an Irish Women’s Day event hosted by the Department of Foreign Affairs. Ms Koofi used her time to talk about the extraordinary existential risk to women in Afghanistan.

The second group of women that I wish to highlight is women working in prostitution in Ireland today. As of 12 noon today, International Women’s Day, there are 744 women for sale on Ireland’s main prostitution website. That is 744 women for sale in Ireland alone. This figure was checked and confirmed by SERP in UCD. More than 90% of these women are migrants. As Deputies will be aware, buyers select the women whose bodies they want to purchase sexual access to, with many returning later to the same site to rate each woman out of five stars on her physical appearance, the satisfaction she gave and the value for money she provided. Some will also write about the details of the woman’s appearance and the various acts they purchased from her, reviewing each woman not as a person but a product. That is happening today. As I said, more than 90% of these women are migrants. The research carried out by SERP has shown that most of these women are young and vulnerable, drawn or forced into the sex trade by poverty, coercion or a combination of both. Many are fleeing violence elsewhere only to meet new violence in Ireland, daily violence committed by perpetrators, members of organised crime gangs and others. For fear of the criminals who control them, these women often fear the Garda, which has made so many renewed efforts to help and offer welfare interventions. These efforts have been highlighted as important and positive interventions by the women who have engaged with SERP, notwithstanding their general fear of the Garda because of what they have been told.

The HSE’s women's health service is a lifeline as a specialist health service for women in prostitution. Interviews conducted by the service with women who use the service demonstrate the extent to which the sexual and mental health of these women is harmed. This is what is happening in our modern Ireland today, on International Women's Day, when women’s rights are meant to be equal and protected. Ireland’s laws to combat the highly exploitative trade are currently under review. For the safety and well-being of Irish women and migrant women who have come here for a better life, it is most important that we target every element of the trade, including the sex buyers, the pimps, the traffickers and the organised crime gangs profiting from abuse of vulnerable women. Women are not products to be reviewed. Vulnerable women remain at risk daily. We need to be aware of that risk in all forms at this time. We need to be aware of the risk to other women who are fleeing violence in Ukraine. We must ensure the steps we take to protect them at every point in their journey, as they seek refuge in Ireland and across Europe, consider that risk.

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