There have been at least two suspected cases of human trafficking of Ukrainians in Ireland following the war with Russia, which saw an exodus of millions of refugees from Ukraine, a Department of Justice official has said.
Department officials and An Garda Síochána were “very much aware of the risk” of Ukrainian refugees being exploited by human traffickers, a conference organised by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (Ihrec) heard on Tuesday.
Deaglán Ó Briain, principal officer in the Department of Justice, said he was aware of at least two suspected cases of Ukrainians being trafficked into Ireland for the purposes of being exploited since the Russian invasion.
Mr Ó Briain said the “changing profile” of new arrivals fleeing Ukraine in recent weeks were likely more at risk of being trafficked. “The first wave would have been those with an education and financial and other resources to move very quickly,” he said.
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The anti-trafficking conference heard officials were now seeing Ukrainians arriving into the State who were “less well off”, which he said might leave them at greater risk of being exploited.
A Ihrec report found 44 victims of trafficking were identified in the State last year, 25 of whom were trafficked for sexual exploitation such as prostitution and 19 who were trafficked for labour exploitation.
Diane Schmitt, an anti-trafficking coordinator at the European Commission, said the number of trafficking victims in the EU from Ukraine was “already extremely high” prior to the war.
Ms Schmitt said there had been a concerted effort by authorities in different EU countries to guard against Ukrainians fleeing the war becoming victims of human trafficking.
There were “not a lot” of confirmed cases of Ukrainians being trafficked, however a number of investigations into suspected trafficking were ongoing, she said. The low number of cases to date was likely in part due to the “quick reaction” from authorities and civil society groups to be wary of the issue at the outbreak of the war.
There were concerns that as public attention ebbed as time passed people might be more exposed to risks of trafficking, particularly if Ukrainians’ financial resources began to run out. “Refugees might be ready to accept job offers with poor conditions and fall into the hands of traffickers,” she said.
Dr Val Richey, an anti-trafficking official working in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), said there had been “huge spikes” in online searches for explicit content and sexual services from Ukrainian women.
Global search engine traffic for “Ukrainian porn” had increased sixfold, while searches for Ukrainian escorts had increased by 200 per cent in some countries, he said. This increase in demand was serving as a “strong incentive” for human traffickers to try recruit and exploit Ukrainian women, he told the conference.
Dr Richey noted that a large escort website in Ireland had “gleefully announced they had documented a 250 per cent increase in interest in Ukrainian women”.
The lack of regulation of online escort websites which feature sex workers was a big problem, he said. Escort websites were operating with “complete impunity” in the absence of regulations requiring them to ensure sex workers on their sites were not underage or exploited adults trafficked into prostitution, he said.
