Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Every year, more than 7,000 people become victims of human trafficking in the EU and this figure can be expected to be much higher as many victims remain undetected. This is sad. The yearly cost of trafficking in human beings in the EU reaches, and I hate to put a monetary figure on this, a figure of €2.7 billion. We should, I suppose, not be mentioning the cost in money but the cost to people themselves and the damage and depravity of this trafficking. The majority of victims are women and girls, as we know. The share of male victims, though, is also on the rise, particularly for labour exploitation. Forms of exploitation have evolved in recent years, with the crime increasingly taking an online dimension. This calls for new action at the EU level as traffickers benefit from opportunities to recruit, control, transport and exploit victims, as well as moving profits and reaching out to users in the EU and beyond. It is a high-tech operation, as we know, and we must try to keep abreast of it. Traffickers also benefit from weak or poor immigration laws, as observed with Ireland's open door immigration rules and policies. The updated rules are supposed to provide stronger tools for law enforcement and judicial authorities to investigate and prosecute new forms of exploitation. An important example concerns ensuring that knowingly using the services provided by victims of trafficking constitutes a criminal offence. The European Commission's proposal put forward mandatory sanctions against companies for trafficking offences and not only individuals. It also aims to improve procedures for early identification and support for victims in member states, particularly through the creation of a European referral mechanism.

The first step for Ireland, however, would be to implement a stringent immigration control mechanism that would at least question the people arriving here without documentation.

In particular, the new rules will include forced marriage and illegal adoption among the types of exploitation in the definition the directive covers. This will require member states to criminalise such conduct in their national criminal law as human trafficking. The rules will also include explicit reference to human trafficking offences committed or facilitated through information and communication technologies, including the Internet and social media. The rules will provide for mandatory sanctions for legal persons held accountable for trafficking offences. This covers excluding them from public benefits or temporarily or permanently closing down the establishments where the trafficking offence occurred. This is very important. We must have teeth in this regard and have proper sanctions that will hurt those people who are hell bent on circumventing any rules and regulations, and who continue with this heinous behaviour.

The rules will include formal national referral mechanisms to improve early identification and referral for assistance and support for victims, which will create the basis for a European referral mechanism by the appointment of national focal points. The rules will provide for the stepping up of demand reduction by making it a criminal offence for people knowingly to use the services provided by victims of trafficking. This is also very welcome and important. There will also be EU-wide annual data collection on trafficking in human beings, to be published by EUROSTAT.

Like everyone else, I welcome this legislation. The context of the directive provides for the criminalisation, investigation and prosecution of trafficking in human beings, including the definition of offences, penalties and sanctions. It also provides for the provision of assistance and support to, and protection of, victims of trafficking of human beings and the prevention of trafficking in human beings.

Each and every one of us in government in each jurisdiction must play our part in this and must step up the measures to stamp out this heinous, distasteful and desperate trading of human beings. It is shocking.

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