Council of Europe to hear Ireland failing to protect trafficking victims

IHREC is meeting with rapporteurs from the Council of Europe Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) tomorrow.

The meeting will see IHREC raise key concerns over how victims of trafficking are identified, protected and supported.

IHREC believes that the system for early and proactive identification of victims of human trafficking is in urgent need of reform, and any delays to reform could result in further human rights violations.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Emily Logan, IHREC chief commissioner (pictured), said: “Trafficking in human beings is an insidious form of exploitation, which goes on behind closed doors with forced labour and other exploitation imposed on victims, who are often vulnerable women and children, drawn by the promise of a better life.

“It is critically important that the State take steps to ensure an appropriate system is in place to identify and protect victims of trafficking both during investigations, and in any subsequent criminal proceedings, and that the proper support, advice and protection for victims is in place.

“The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has taken a leading role in using our legal powers to shine a spotlight on the clandestine practice of trafficking in human beings in Ireland, and we will continue to ensure Ireland operates in line with international best practice in protecting victims and seeking to prosecute those who perpetrate trafficking.”

IHREC has set out 35 individual recommendations, including proposals to put assistance and protection for trafficking victims on a statutory basis with early legal support and information, and criminalise the use of services which are the object of labour exploitation.

It will also tell GRETA that special measures should be taken to identify and appropriately assess child trafficking victims and to introduce a specialist legal network to provide advice to victims of child trafficking.