Buying Sex Should Not Be Legal - NYTimes.com

Op ed by Rachel Mora­n. Moran is the "founder of Space International, which advocates the abolition of the sex trade, and the author of the forthcoming memoir “Paid For: My Journey Through Prostitution.”"

Buying Sex Should Not Be Legal - NYTimes.com:

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Children subjected to prostitution in Dublin, Cork and Kilkenny – report · TheJournal.ie

http://www.thejournal.ie/children-subjected-to-prostitution-in-dublin-cork-and-kilkenny-report-494064-Jun2012/

Source: TheJournal.ie 

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Image: Paul Barker/PA Archive/Press Association Images

THE US STATE Department’s annual report into human trafficking worldwide has said it has received reports of children being subjected to prostitution in areas such as Dublin, Cork and Kilkenny.

Though the report, which was published yesterday, showed that Ireland was one of only 33 out of a total of 185 countries to have complied fully with laws in place to end human trafficking – making it a ‘tier one’ country – there was some dissatisfaction raised with the implementation of anti-trafficking laws in this country.

Writing for TheJournal.ie today, human trafficking campaigner David Lohan says there needs to be more awareness within Irish communities of the issue of human trafficking and a more deeper understanding of how it affects people.

“Awareness is a key element in tackling this, and other, abuses perpetrated against the person,” he says. “However, awareness cannot be premised on misunderstandings. It demands real understanding of what is done by traffickers, why it is done and how they benefit.”

The State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report found that while Ireland was rated as a tier one country there were instances where women from Estonia and Hungary were trafficked to Ireland for the purposes of prostitution.

Most significantly it cited reports from non-governmental organisation (NGO) experts who said that children are being subjected to prostitution in places such as Dublin, Cork and Kilkenny.

It noted that the State has yet to fully prosecute and convict any trafficking offenders as defined by the 2008 anti-human trafficking legislation but it said that the government “complies with all minimum standards of elimination of trafficking”.

The legislation, introduced by former Justice Minister Michael McDowell and which came into force in June 2008, created separate offences including trafficking in children for the purpose of labour or sexual exploitation.

The report urged Ireland to “vigorously implement” the law as well as consider drafting an amendment to criminalise forced labour and other forms of compelled service.

The State Department said that while the government had identified no cases where human trafficking victims had been deported from Ireland or had been deported in cases where they had committed unlawful acts there were concerns from NGOs that “unidentified victims may have been inadvertently deported or punished for crimes committed while under coercive control of their traffickers.”

African sex slaves forced to work in Irish brothels | GlobalPost

By Conor O'Clery - GlobalPost
Published: May 27, 2010 11:20 ET

In a scene from the film "Trafficked," Ruth Negga plays Taiwo, an African woman trafficked to Ireland. (Courtesy of New Decade TV & Film Ltd) Click to enlarge photo

DUBLIN, Ireland — A founder of the Irish Republic, Eamon de Valera, famously idealized Ireland 70 years ago as an innocent land of saints and scholars, whose villages were joyous with the laughter of happy maidens. If he came back today he would be shocked to find that a village in Ireland is just as likely to contain a brothel, populated by sex slaves from Africa.

Despite its isolation off the western edge of Europe, Ireland is now a destination for the trafficking of young women from Africa and eastern Europe to work as prostitutes.

Any illusions about the extent of the trafficking to Ireland were shattered by the exposure in a recent court case of the biggest vice ring in the country’s history. It involved a network of 48 brothels operating mostly outside the capital and making huge profits for the owners. The ring was discovered when police raided one establishment and found two young Nigerian women prepared to cooperate. Usually victims of trafficking are too frightened to seek help.

A new movie just released in Dublin called "Trafficked" also exposes the lives of these young women. It tells the story of Taiwo, an young African woman played by Ruth Negga, who escapes her kidnappers after being smuggled into Dublin Port. Without a passport or any English she ends up being exploited and corrupted in a brutal underworld of sex and drugs.

The film’s director, Ciaran O’Connor, told me that as a documentary filmmaker he has told the true story of the burgeoning sex industry in Ireland, but “I couldn't extract the back stories of the women or of the people who ran it.” He turned to drama to flesh out one fictional girl’s journey so as to offer an insight “into what some women consent to as they struggle to survive in this savage and unrelenting world.” Unfortunately, O'Connor added, most people in Ireland do not want to engage with or simply recognize trafficking as part of modern Irish society.

But the business of buying and selling women is flourishing in this country, according to Sara Benson, CEO of Ruhama, a Dublin-based organization that works with sexually-exploited women. She told the audience at the movie premier that Ruhama, Hebrew for "renewed life," has come across eight women in the last month who have been trafficked into Ireland. Some 100 of the 431 women helped by Ruhama during 2007 and 2008 were victims of traffickers and most were from Nigeria.

“What you will see in the film is happening right now in our cities, towns and small villages in our own country,” she said. “Nothing will change as long as long as there are people willing to trample on the victims’ human rights.”



African sex slaves forced to work in Irish brothels | GlobalPost

Carroll case is no exception in Ireland - The Irish Times - Mon, May 10, 2010

The Irish Times - Monday, May 10, 2010

THE STATE’S leading group assisting women involved in prostitution says that while the details of the oppression and violence inflicted by TJ Carroll and his associates are shocking, they are far from uncommon.

Ruhama, a Dublin-based voluntary organisation, says many international and Irish-organised gangs are now conspiring to traffic women into Ireland for sexual exploitation at a time when prosecutions for trafficking are non-existent.

The group’s spokesperson Gerardine Rowley said the key control mechanisms used by TJ Carroll’s gang and those he worked with – debt bondage, voodoo rituals and threats of violence – are often experienced by African women trafficked to Ireland.

“Some are also undocumented and they are afraid to go to the gardaí,” Rowley says of the victims. “In many cases they come from countries where the authorities like police forces are corrupt so they don’t think of going to the police.

“But really they’re trapped in their minds from fear and intimidation. They are so oppressed they’re not able to get away themselves and ask for help.”

The TJ Carroll case underlined not only the extent of sexual exploitation in Ireland, but also how sophisticated and lucrative it has become. Rowley says Ruhama assisted the women identified as having been trafficked into Carroll’s empire, six of whom are still in Ireland and have various immigration statuses.

“We saw the human face of these crimes. We saw the impact it had on the women and children, because two of the victims we saw were minors. It’s a wake-up call not only in terms of prioritising policing but also in terms of prioritising services to support victims of these crimes.”

Ruhama initially had “great hopes” for the Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) Act. But two years after its enactment, while charges for brothel-keeping and controlling prostitution are regularly before the courts, no trafficking cases have progressed.

“Without total enforcement of the legislation we’re not going to have a deterrent and we’re still going to be an attractive place for criminals to exploit women in the sex trade and make huge amounts of money, which cases like the Carroll case are showing,” adds Rowley

Even operations much smaller than the network built up by TJ Carroll can be extremely lucrative.

Last week the High Court heard evidence from Det Garda Lucy Myles, of the Criminal Assets Bureau, that a Chinese woman being targeted by the bureau had made more than €1 million in recent years through running one “massage parlour” on Thomas Street in Dublin’s south inner city.

Det Garda Myles said Junxiu Hua, a convicted brothel keeper, held a number of bank accounts in different financial institutions here, and between November 2004 and April 2008 a total of €1,251,834.65 passed through them.

Gerardine Rowley says such cases, where key figures are in control of women and are becoming rich, are now the norm.

Women are operating from brothels in apartments and houses across the country. The majority are controlled in some way by Irish or foreign third parties, either by traditional pimp-style figures taking some of their earnings or by others charging grossly inflated fees to rent the properties being used as brothels, or for advertising space on websites known to advertise sexual services.

Rowley is calling for more proactive policing of Ireland’s prostitution trade and for regular raids on known brothels and other locations linked to all forms of sexual exploitation.

In its biennial report for 2007-2008, Ruhama revealed that 100 of the 431 women it helped during the two-year period were victims of trafficking, the majority from Nigeria. Six of those were aged under 18 years when they were brought to Ireland and forced to have sex with men.

Carroll case is no exception in Ireland - The Irish Times - Mon, May 10, 2010

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Conference hears benefits to criminalising purchase of sex

05/11/2009 - 09:52:43

A major conference on sex trafficking being held in Dublin today has heard that the only way to end the exploitation of women is to criminalise the buyers of sex.

International approaches to policing sex trafficking are being discussed at today's event, which is being held by the Dignity Project.

Sweden, Iceland and Norway have all introduced legislation criminalising the purchase of sex and the Irish Government is being urged to do the same.

"We have a policeman from Stockholm police where, in Sweden, they have introduced legislation 10 years ago where they have criminalised those who purchase sex," said Grainne Healy, project co-ordinator of the Dignity Project.

"They've had great success with this; they've seen a drop in the demand for sexual services and more importantly they have seen a fall in trafficking of women for sexual exploitation into Sweden."

http://www.breakingnews.ie/Ireland/eymhmhaueymh/rss2/