We can and must do better for people exploited by human traffickers, argues Sr Stanislaus Kennedy
Trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation is a modern form of slavery and forced migration that has increased significantly over the past 10 years.
Only a small number of cases have come to the attention of law enforcement officials in this country and no data is gathered. However, that doesn't give us a true picture of the scale of the problem in Ireland. The reality is that we just don't know the extent of the problem, due to the underground nature of traffickers' activities.
We know that trafficking is a growing problem around the world and it would be naive to think that somehow Ireland is immune.
A US state department report into people trafficking, released earlier this year, identified Ireland as a potential destination country for women and children trafficked from eastern Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia.
NGOs working with victims paint a bleaker picture, which indicates that trafficking of women and children into this country is a real and significant problem now.
The Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI) is commissioning a major research project into the extent, causes and best ways to respond to trafficking of women and children into Ireland for the purpose of sexual exploitation. The ICI has called for tenders for the research project, which is expected to take 12 months to complete.
The Religious Sisters of Charity have agreed to fund the project because we, along with the ICI, believe it is no longer good enough to not know what is happening to vulnerable women and children living in Irish towns and cities. The Religious Sisters of Charity have always supported marginalised women whose issues are invisible.
What we do know is that an extraordinary number of migrant children in the care of the State go missing each year. It has been suggested that a number of these children are the victims of trafficking and it is a matter of great shame that we don' t know what is happening to them.
I have seen it suggested that if these children were Irish, their disappearance from care would be a scandal. Make no mistake, it is a scandal. We need to ensure these children are adequately protected.
We also know that NGOs such as Ruhama, the ICI, the International Organisation for Migration and the Women's Health Project are dealing with people who have been brought to this country and forced into the commercial sex trade.
Ruhama has been reported as saying that they believe the 200 victims they have dealt with are just a fraction of the number of women involved.
When we talk about victims of trafficking, we are talking about victims of rape.
So, what we are saying is that a significant, but unknown, number of women and children in Ireland are being regularly sexually exploited for profit and are victims of heinous crimes.
The first aspect to the ICI research project will be to ascertain how many women and children are being trafficked into Ireland for the purposes of sexual exploitation, where they are coming from and which countries they travel through to get here.
To do this, we must turn the spotlight onto a side of Ireland we'd rather not see and many of us are more comfortable pretending doesn't exist. That is, the brothels, flats and parlours used for prostitution, saunas, the escort industry, chatlines, lap dancing clubs and other venues of exploitation.
Throughout the world, there is a growing awareness of trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation and a range of national and international responses have been put in place to deal with it.
However, Ireland has been slow to recognise this crime and provides inadequate protection and limited services to victims.
Through the ICI's research project, we aim to examine the responses from agencies such as NGOs, the Garda and immigration officials, and practices in place overseas, to develop the best model for approaches in Ireland.
It is also expected to include the experiences of women who have been victims of trafficking so that we can understand more about how they became involved.
Currently, women who have been trafficked into the Irish sex trade are often treated as illegal immigrants, rather than victims of repeated rape who will require protection and a range of services including health care.
We can and must do better.
The previous government ratified international treaties on trafficking but these must now be incorporated into domestic law. The new Government has an opportunity to ensure that those who traffic people are prosecuted and punished.
However, the Government must also ensure that legislation provides greater protections for victims and that more services are made available. The ICI has called on the Government to ensure measures for dealing with trafficking of people for the purposes of sexual or labour exploitation are contained in the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill, which is due to be reintroduced in the Dáil this autumn.
In 2005, when preparing the draft legislation, the Government indicated that this would be the case and the ICI hopes that the Government fulfils its promise.
• Sr Stanislaus Kennedyis a member of the Religious Sisters of Charity and is the founder and board member of the Immigrant Council of Ireland