Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

On Tuesday, I hosted a presentation in the audiovisual, AV, room on human trafficking in Ireland. It came a day after the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, published her third action plan on the prevention and combating of this crime and human rights abuses. We heard from Kevin Hyland, a former police officer who headed up Scotland Yard’s anti-human trafficking unit. He was appointed as the UK’s first independent anti-slavery commissioner and he co-founded the Santa Marta Group, an anti-trafficking charity that works with civil bodies and Governments across the world to strengthen protections for vulnerable persons. We also heard from Shawn Kohl, who is the director of International Justice Mission’s anti-human trafficking unit in eastern Europe and who has secured dozens of convictions for traffickers across the EU.

While we welcome action plans, these two experts who have decades of experience pointed out the following areas where Ireland needs to change. First, on the prosecuting of trafficking for labour, when a person is trafficked for labour exploitation, this must be prosecuted as a trafficking offence, and not as a labour law violation. Where a child is groomed for the purpose of engaging in criminal enterprise, the court must recognise the child as a victim of active grooming where it has occurred and must factor this into prosecution. Where the State deports victims of human trafficking back to their home countries, it must do so in co-operation and communication with the government of that state and ensure a continuation of care. Too often, these people are sent back into the environment or networks in which exploitation and trafficking started in the first place. The State must examine the legal status of victims of trafficking who come forward and report the crime of their exploiter. This breaks the hold of fear of deportation over them from reporting the crime. Finally, the State must recognise victims of human trafficking automatically and as a duty. It cannot be an opt-in system where victims must make an application to be viewed as victims. We need a debate with the Minister for Justice because we are failing on this front in this country.