Human rights commission joins human trafficking case

The case centres on the request from the International Transport Worker’s Federation (ITF) for an immediate moratorium on the grant or renewal of work permits under the atypical work permit scheme for non-EU fishermen, pending a review of conditions attaching to the scheme.

The ITF seeks the moratorium after it identified a number of individuals who arrived in Ireland on foot of permits granted under the scheme, and who it says were subsequently subjected to human trafficking and other severe forms of labour exploitation on Irish fishing vessels.

The Commission’s involvement in the case represents its latest intervention in the area of human trafficking.

The Commission previously appeared as amicus curiae in the “P” case, which concerned a Vietnamese woman whom gardaí discovered locked in a cannabis “grow house”. Having considered the Commission’s legal submissions, the High Court found that the State’s administrative scheme for the recognition and protection of victims of human trafficking was inadequate to meet its obligations under EU law aimed at combatting trafficking in human beings.

Following the ‘P’ case, in December 2016 the Commission met with the Council of Europe Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking (GRETA) in Dublin to raise concerns about how victims of trafficking are identified, protected and supported. The Commission’s input was reflected in the Council of Europe report dated October 2017, which highlighted crucial gaps in Ireland’s protections for victims of trafficking in human beings.