THE GIRL sat on a bench to one side of the crowded public gallery, fidgeting with the coat on her lap and distractedly taking in the procession of speeding and petty theft cases as they wound their way through the court. Every so often a few words or a smile would pass between her and the two prison officers sitting on either side, their bulk making her look even smaller than she was. Most of the time, she stared inscrutably ahead.
When the time came for her to stand, Judge William Harnett heard that, since gardaí had found the girl alone in a suspected brothel in Kilkenny a few weeks earlier, they had managed to identify her as a 17-year-old from Edo State in south-central Nigeria who was brought to Ireland, as the judge put it, "most likely for the purposes of putting her into slavery".
Beyond that, the picture grew hazy. There was no record of her having entered the State and the story of her journey to Ireland remained largely opaque to the Garda. The British authorities had records of an individual by the same name and age on their systems, but photographs of the two girls did not match. The girl told gardaí she had three younger siblings in Nigeria, and "she was put under appalling moral pressure to look after them", her solicitor, Michael Lanigan, told the court. "There could be no better definition of 'at risk' than this young lady."
Following her arrest in Kilkenny for not having valid identification, the girl was sent first to Mountjoy Women's Prison before spending time in two separate care centres for young people, including a custodial facility for young offenders. Then, just two months after the hearing at Kilkenny District Court, where it was confirmed the child was a suspected trafficking victim in need of care and security, she disappeared.
THE AUTHORITIES HAVE found no trace of her since, and the circumstances of her journey to Ireland are as mystifying as they were that July morning in Kilkenny. If gardaí are right in believing that she and the five women found in suspected brothels across the State this week were brought here by traffickers, their names can be added to the list of some 800,000 others estimated to be trafficked across national borders each year - 80 per cent of them women or girls. In Ireland, their names can be added to those of about 30 other women helped by Ruhama - a group that works with women involved in prostitution - this year alone.
Trends in the sex industry make it difficult to find victims such as these. The universal use of the internet and mobile phones has made the business paradoxically more accessible and less overt, and most foreign women are put to work indoors and not on the streets, making it more difficult for support groups to reach them. For those who run the business, this remains a high-yield, low-risk crime - fewer than 10 people have been given custodial sentences for running brothels in the Republic. With increasing evidence of its prevalence in recent years, and as the international focus on people-trafficking intensified, the Government took criticism at home and abroad for deficiencies in its response to the crime. Last June, a report by the US State Department claimed the Government was not complying with minimum standards for the elimination of the practice, although it acknowledged that significant efforts were being made.
Stung by such criticism, the Government has introduced a series of major initiatives this year to help punish traffickers and protect their victims. A new law, in operation since June, for the first time created the offence of trafficking in adults or children for the purpose of their sexual or labour exploitation. In February, an Anti Human Trafficking Unit was set up in the Department of Justice to ensure better co-ordination of the State's response, while a national action plan to prevent trafficking is also being drafted. To improve detection rates and understanding of the problem, a large-scale training programme is under way for gardaí, health professionals and other relevant staff across State bodies.
But confusion remains over what happens to victims once they are found. The timing of the Nigerian girl's discovery in Kilkenny meant that many viewed hers as a test case of the State's new protection measures for trafficking victims, which were introduced just three weeks before she was discovered.
Under the scheme - introduced by special regulation so that it could take immediate effect, but which will be made law when the Immigration Bill is enacted early next year - anyone from outside the European Economic Area who has been identified as a suspected victim of human trafficking may be allowed to stay in Ireland for up to 60 days. This "recovery and reflection" period is aimed at giving victims the time to recover from their experiences, to escape from their traffickers and to decide whether to assist with any Garda investigation. After the initial 60 days, if the victim wishes to help with the investigation, she may be granted a renewable six-month residence permit.
The recovery period was never extended to the Nigerian girl in the Kilkenny case, says one social worker. Instead, she was arrested and was technically on bail when she went missing in September. Above all, Gerardine Rowley of Ruhama stresses, the women found in this week's raids must be given some form of protection and medical assistance.
"When we encounter women who have been victims of trafficking, usually they are extremely traumatised, and sometimes that trauma could last for months. We need to create services that help women to feel safe and secure," Rowley says.
"One of the difficulties we are finding is that women are left in this insecure state for so long. We have women who are in the asylum system for over a year, maybe up to two years, and they are constantly under threat of being deported. This is adding to the anxiety in their lives. Already they have gone through a huge trauma of rape and violence and abuse, and then the system leaves them in this very insecure state."
Of some 30 suspected trafficking victims Ruhama has helped so far this year, about half have been referred to the group since the "recovery and reflection" scheme was introduced in June, but until this week it was not aware of any woman who had been granted the 60-day permit. "We have a number of women and we're finding it difficult to get the reflection period for them. There's a lot of uncertainty and a lot of confusion. There isn't clarity around how to access it, and this confusion again adds to the stress for the women," Rowley says.
AS IT HAPPENS, the first woman was granted this victim status on Thursday, just hours after The Irish Times and other media had sought confirmation that the "recovery and reflection" period had not been granted to anyone since it came into operation. It is understood this woman is not one of those found this week, but another suspected victim discovered three weeks earlier.
As for what will happen to the five women found by gardaí this week, the Department of Justice says they will be provided with temporary accommodation, medical and other services through State bodies, which house asylum seekers. Some non-governmental groups will also assist in the provision of services.
Not everyone feels the Government has gone far enough on victim protection, however, and Amnesty International has been loudly critical of the decision to make extension of the 60-day recovery period dependent on co-operation with the Garda.
"The Bill fails to take into account the personal circumstances of the victim," according to Fiona Crowley, research and legal manager of Amnesty's Irish section. "Many of these people will have been beaten, abused and raped while being held in deplorable conditions. Their recovery should be an essential part of deciding whether to grant temporary residence. It should not be dependent on co-operation with the gardaí."
Moreover, rights groups argue, it is not clear precisely what supports are going to be offered to the victims by the State. The Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings, which Ireland has signed but not yet ratified, lays down minimum standards including a right to legal assistance, to appropriate and secure accommodation and to counselling and medical care. "The Government must clarify how and where it will provide for these measures," says Crowley.
Measures to protect victims also serve the same end as laws that punish the trafficker. International experience shows that those who are given time and support after being freed from their traffickers are more likely to testify against them, and groups such as Ruhama believe the promise of security for victims will bring many more cases to the authorities' attention. "These women are so fearful," Rowley says. "They need to feel safe and secure. It's just fundamental."
• Ruhama: www.ruhama.ie
A Trafficked Teenager: Christina's Journey
The support group Ruhama reports being aware of more than 200 victims of trafficking in Ireland since 2000. Gardaí believe there are three principal sources for those trafficked to Ireland: west Africa, eastern Europe and South America, and research shows that the two most common transit points for non-European victims found here are Italy and the UK.
Trafficking victims often come to Ireland through ports and airports using valid papers. In the case of Cristina, who was trafficked to Ireland aged 17, and who was interviewed by this paper last year, the journey to Ireland was taken willingly after she was duped by a trusted friend into believing that a good job would await her here. She was raped by 10-12 men a day until gardaí raided her trafficker's flat after two months and she was sent to Mountjoy prison. Her journey is outlined below:
1. Recruited in her home in north-eastern Romania by a friend who told her she could find a well-paid restaurant job in Ireland.
2. A month later, Cristina, along with her friend and another acquaintance, were driven "like normal people" to northern Italy, where the two girls were given false papers and introduced to the man who would take them the rest of the way.
3. In another car, the man drove the two girls from northern Italy to Paris, where they boarded a flight to Cork.
4. In Cork, the girls were met by Cristina's friend's sister and her Romanian boyfriend, Radu. Radu drove them to Arbour Hill in north Dublin, where he was renting an apartment. Three days later she was introduced to an Irish brothel-owner and told she would be working for him. The day after this meeting, Cristina was brought from Arbour Hill to an apartment in Ballsbridge, south Dublin. There were several other girls there when she arrived.