THE PRESENCE in prisons of at least two suspected victims of trafficking shows the need for the Government to make a late amendment to the Immigration Bill to ensure such people are not treated as criminals, a support group has said.
Ruhama, an organisation that works with women involved in prostitution, said women and girls believed to have been trafficked to Ireland to work in the sex trade were routinely being arrested and detained.
This happened despite the Government introducing a scheme in June which gave people in their situation a "reflection and recovery" period of 60 days to escape their trafficker and recover from their experience.
"It's a sad reflection on Ireland if the only place we can send victims of trafficking is to prison," spokeswoman Gerardine Rowley said.
It is understood that two possible trafficking victims are currently in prison in Dublin. The first woman - a 22-year-old - was found in a private residence in Castlebar, Co Mayo, three weeks ago and was arrested for failing to produce a passport or immigration papers.
She told the authorities she had travelled from Nigeria in late September in the company of a man and a woman introduced to her by her aunt. She claimed to have been given a passport with her picture on it, and to have travelled to Ireland via Amsterdam.
In Ireland, her documents were taken from her and she spent a number of weeks in the house in Castlebar before she was found by gardaí.
The second foreign woman was arrested for a prostitution-related offence when she was discovered in a house in Co Monaghan about six weeks ago and has been in prison since.
Ms Rowley said proper accommodation and medical and psychological support should be provided for suspected victims.
"Women should not be criminalised, we're re-victimising them," she said. "The Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill is still making its way through the houses of the Oireachtas. We still have an opportunity to put in a non-punishment provision for victims of trafficking."
Ms Rowley also said there must be more clarity on how the "reflection and recovery" period introduced in June was to operate. The Department of Justice granted this 60-day immunity from deportation to a victim for the first time last week, but it is unclear what supports the State will make available to such people once they are recognised as suspected victims.
"We're now six months down the line since the administrative measures were introduced," Ms Rowley added. "There is great difficulty for the victims still and we have evidence that women are being criminalised and that women are not being given the support that is needed.
"A lot of our work is basically advocacy for the women, because their rights are not being respected and protection is certainly not being guaranteed."
