Moves being made to tackle human trafficking
By Stephen Rogers
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
THE girls found in brothels in the Midlands were just 15.
They were forced to have sex with men out of fear that something terrible would happen to either themselves or their families.
They could not turn down a client. They had to be willing to supply sex on demand from 10am to 1am, seven days a week. If they missed a client they had to pay the fee to their pimps themselves under threat of violence.
Those responsible for trafficking these women were never brought to justice.
Instead, the Irish man who, along with his family, controlled these women would eventually be sentenced to seven years in prison for controlling prostitution and money laundering.
The case broke the long-held myth that Ireland was immune to human trafficking.
Although the case had been prosecuted in Britain, finally a cast iron example of women being forced to have sex for money against their will had reached the public domain.
Now — many would say very belatedly — Ireland is finally coming to terms with the fact that human trafficking is taking place here and it is beginning to take steps to address that. Moves are afoot to adopt the Swedish model on prostitution and human trafficking.
As far as the Swedish authorities are concerned all prostitution is human trafficking. With that as its mantra, it has gone on the offensive against traffickers and pimps, spending millions to ensure cast-iron cases lead to long prison sentences.
The effect has been dramatic.
Not only has the presence of prostitutes declined massively — street prostitution has halved — but so has the attitude of Swedish men to buying sex.
In 1996, 33% were in favour of criminalisation. In 2008 that had risen to 71%.
They could not turn down a client. They had to be willing to supply sex on demand from 10am to 1am, seven days a week. If they missed a client they had to pay the fee to their pimps themselves under threat of violence.
Those responsible for trafficking these women were never brought to justice.
Instead, the Irish man who, along with his family, controlled these women would eventually be sentenced to seven years in prison for controlling prostitution and money laundering.
The case broke the long-held myth that Ireland was immune to human trafficking.
Although the case had been prosecuted in Britain, finally a cast iron example of women being forced to have sex for money against their will had reached the public domain.
Now — many would say very belatedly — Ireland is finally coming to terms with the fact that human trafficking is taking place here and it is beginning to take steps to address that. Moves are afoot to adopt the Swedish model on prostitution and human trafficking.
As far as the Swedish authorities are concerned all prostitution is human trafficking. With that as its mantra, it has gone on the offensive against traffickers and pimps, spending millions to ensure cast-iron cases lead to long prison sentences.
The effect has been dramatic.
Not only has the presence of prostitutes declined massively — street prostitution has halved — but so has the attitude of Swedish men to buying sex.
In 1996, 33% were in favour of criminalisation. In 2008 that had risen to 71%.
This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Tuesday, January 04, 2011
Source: The Irish Examiner.com
Related articles
- Hundreds of children at risk as police fail to track and prosecute traffickers (independent.co.uk)
- 2010's Human Trafficking Zeros (humantrafficking.change.org)
- 2010's Human Trafficking Heroes (humantrafficking.change.org)
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