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What is trafficking in persons?

The trade in, and exploitation of, human beings by criminals to make money.

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Human Trafficking threatens women, men & children. 

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"Throughout our evolutionary story the universe constantly generates new life. Anything which degrades that life violates the sacredness of all life."

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Prof. Mary Grey

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"Human trafficking is an open wound on the body of contemporary society, 

a scourge upon the body of Christ. It is a crime against humanity.”

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Pope Francis (2014)

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Different forms of human trafficking

• Forced labour
• Sale of human organs
• Sexual exploitation

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People are bought and sold as commodities

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Smuggling vs Trafficking

Smuggled persons are left to their own devices on arrival

Trafficked persons are under the control of others

Smuggling of migrants and human trafficking both involve moving human persons for profit

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Roots of trafficking

Push

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• Poverty
• Inequality
• Violence
• Prior sexual exploitation
• Lack of awareness about this crime

Pull

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• Job opportunities
• Promise of freedom/independence
• Chance of a better quality life
• Demand

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HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Poverty

Gender attitudes

Pornography

Weak Legislation

Denial

Debts

GLOBALISATION

DEMAND

Prostitution

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Key Facts

• Human Trafficking is one of the top 3 most profitable illegal trades 
• Fastest growing illegal trade.
• 20.9 million people per year globally – 4.5 million of these in sex trafficking.
• $150 billion per year globally – $100 billion from sex trafficking.
• Average annual profit per victim is $80,000.
• Ireland has been identified as a source, transit and destination country for trafficking.

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Who is trafficked?

Particularly vulnerable are:

• Women and children.
• People lacking money/opportunities.
• People wishing to improve their lives, from all backgrounds, races, and classes.
• Unskilled labourers.
• Undocumented migrants.
• Oppressed ethnic/cultural groups.

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Who are the traffickers?

Traffickers can have many faces:

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• Male & Female.

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• Members of organised gangs.

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• Boyfriends.

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• Family & Friends.

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How are people trafficked?

Traffickers recruit through:

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• Fake job ads: care work, modelling, dancing, hotel/bar work/study/travel.

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• Casual acquaintance/ “friends”.

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• Grooming – often online.

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Extracts from profiles…

Julia aged 17, was given clothes and boots and a bag of condoms and told to do anything that clients wanted. Forced to have sex with a minimum of four men per night. 

Kiky from Nigeria, was held in total captivity in a house in Ireland for two years. 

Lydia from Poland, was chaperoned daily to a brothel in Italy and her movements were controlled. When she returned each day, her trafficker raped her in the apartment. She was subsequently brought to Ireland and forced into prostitution. 

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Why don’t trafficked persons escape?

• Violence: Rape and beatings force them to comply

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• Threats/blackmail against their families back home.

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• Debt servitude: Held in bondage and responsible to trafficker.

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Some statistics…

75% of all trafficking victims globally are women and girls 

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76% of victims in Europe are trafficked for sexual

exploitation (this figure is roughly the same for Ireland)

Up to 97% of women in indoor prostitution in Ireland are

migrant women

(3-13% are Irish)

There are at least 1,000 women (and girls) in indoor

prostitution at any one time in Ireland. 

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Effects on trafficked persons

• Lack of trust/Anger/Fear

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• Insecurity/Confusion

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• Shame/Guilt

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• Depression/Helplessness

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• Post-traumatic stress disorder – e.g. flashbacks

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Why should we care?

Trafficking:

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• Is the most shocking form of human rights abuse and modern slavery.

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• It can happen anywhere, even in our own communities.

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• It could happen to someone you know.

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Trafficking Worldwide

Approximately 20.9 million per year

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UN Palermo Protocol

(2000)

ACTION

‘the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons’

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MEANS

‘threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power, or of giving or receiving payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person’

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PURPOSE

Exploitation –including prostitution or other forms of sexual exploitation

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Council of Europe

Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings (2005) 

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• A 'reflection period' of at least 30 days

• Safe and secure housing

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• Psychological and emergency medical assistance

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• Information in a language the trafficked person can understand

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• Renewable residence permits to trafficked persons 

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• Compensation for the abuses suffered

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Ireland: Current legal stance

The Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) Act 2008:

• PREVENT Trafficking
• PROSECUTE Traffickers
• PROTECT Victims

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• It is a criminal offence to solicit or importune, in any place, for the purpose of prostitution, a person whom one knows to have been trafficked. 
• The victim is allowed 60 days of recovery. 
• Administrative procedures in place for protection of victim.
• Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) of Dept. of Justice models best practice for protection of victim. 

www.justice.ie

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Sexual Offences Bill

(2014)

• Criminalisation of the purchase of “sexual services” and decriminalisation of the selling of “sexual services” (the Nordic Model)

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• New criminal offences to protect children from grooming, including online, and to tackle child pornography

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Trafficking in persons:

What can we do?

• Become informed of human trafficking

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• Report any suspicious events, happenings in your local area to local police

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• Encourage people to talk to each other about this modern day slavery

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• Promote non-violence in all situations

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• Respect the dignity of each person

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• Organise a speaker to your relevant groups

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• Promote fair trade and check retailers supply chain

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Trafficking in persons:

What can we do?

• Become informed of human trafficking

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• Report any suspicious events, happenings in your local area to local police

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• Encourage people to talk to each other about this modern day slavery

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• Promote non-violence in all situations

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• Respect the dignity of each person

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• Organise a speaker to your relevant groups

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• Promote fair trade and check retailers supply chain

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List of Resources

Websites

• www.aptireland.org
• www.ruhama.ie
• www.blueblindfold.ie
• www.immigrantcouncil.ie
• www.turnofftheredlight.ie
• www.tirzah.ie

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International Organisations

• COATNET - Christian Organisations Against Trafficking in Human Beings 
• Anti Slavery International 
• Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW)
• The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW) International 
• Religious in Europe Networking Against Trafficking and Exploitation

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Reflection

By Lucy Berry

Dear God

No one is owned except by you

Who made us, loves us, owns us too.

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And no one is made less than pure

By what the world makes them endure.

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And no one is loved less by you

Through what they have been forced to do.

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For no one is no one to you.

What ever life has brought them to.

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And when they’re freed to run to you,

They’ll know, no one’s no one to you.

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“I exhort the international community to adopt an even more unanimous and effective strategy against human trafficking, so that in every part of the world, men and women may no longer be used as a means to an end, and that their inviolable dignity may always be respected.”

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Pope Francis, 10^th April 2014, Rome 

Addressing an international conference in Rome on the issue of human trafficking.

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Pope Francis is calling for people to see anti human trafficking efforts as prophetic ministry.

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“I have come that they might have life and have it to the full…” 

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Jn 10:10

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