This month the Pope asks us to pray ‘that the shameful and monstrous commerce in human beings, which sadly involves millions of women and children, may be ended.’
Human trafficking – the buying and selling of human beings – is the fastest growing crime of the 21st century. Nobody really knows the full extent of the crime but we do know that it is a global phenomenon with almost every country in the world involved – either as a source of or receiver of trafficked persons.
The ILO (International Labour Organization) estimates that there are about 12.3 million adults and children in forced labour, bonded labour and commercial sexual servitude at any one time, with up to 4 million people being trafficked annually both inside countries and across international borders (though some think this estimate is much too low). The ILO further estimates that 56% of all forced labour are women and girls, the vast majority trafficked to meet the demands of the thriving sex markets across the world.
Vulnerable people from the poorer countries in the South – primarily Africa, Asia and Latin America – are the raw material of this pernicious trade, and their labour exploited for the profit of those who purchase and so own them. This is slavery under another name, operating clandestinely in the murky criminal underworld under the radar of the law, but within a ruthlessly efficient network that spans the world.
When we speak of human trafficking what exactly are we talking about?
We are talking about the exploitation of people for others’ financial gain, and doing so under duress and fraudulent means, and without their consent. People are trafficked throughout the world for cheap labour in factories, farms, restaurants, sweat shops, as domestic help and probably most common of all as sex slaves. The sex market accounts for the huge numbers of women and children involved. Where the potential for enormous profit exists – as it does within the sex trade – pimps and criminals will exploit that potential, transporting young women and children across the world to provide services that can’t be sourced locally.
Recruitment is carried out through fraudulent means, e.g targeting a young girl, offering her a job or study opportunity abroad, luring her with the promise of a bright future and an escape from poverty. Passports, false identities and travel documents are organised for her, tickets and travel costs paid to bring her to the targeted destination. There, criminal contacts are already in place to facilitate the placement of the unsuspecting woman in a brothel, apartment or club, where she will be forced to work. Her passport will be confiscated and she will be required to provide sexual services to any men sent to her (a dozen a day is common). If she refuses she will be beaten, raped and intimidated into submission.
Ruhama works with women involved in prostitution and with women trafficked into the sex trade in Ireland. To date we have worked directly with about 300 suspected victims. These are mainly young women in their early twenties, who have gone through terrible experiences, and when they come to us are severely traumatized. They tell us stories of abuse, violence, threats made on their lives and on their families if they refuse to cooperate. Sadly, we have met cases where the family was complicit with the trafficker, having effectively sold their daughters into slavery for a financial return – which the young women must now pay back. Invariably the sums involved are extortionate (usually around E50,000 - E60,000) – costs supposedly incurred in ‘buying’ them, and organising their documentation and transportation.
It is sad to hear a young woman tell of her initial delight on being
offered the chance to come to Ireland to earn money and send some back to her struggling family. She was the one who ‘got the break’, the chance to make it good and escape a future of poverty. But very quickly the dream of success in the wealthy west turned into a nightmare when on arrival a very different future was outlined for her, and she realised that she was just another commodity to be bought and sold.
The details of their stories vary, (they may have been offered a training course, a modeling contract or seduced by a boyfriend into starting a new life together in a new country) but a background of poverty is common; so too are instances of violence and intimidation, and the control which their traffickers have over them. Their movements are restricted; they may live with the trafficker under constant surveillance, or are put up in apartments which function as brothels. They are given a mobile phone to receive calls and organise appointments for men to call – the sex industry in Ireland relies heavily on modern technology to organise business and to preserve secrecy. Often their photos are taken and advertised on websites.
The money so bitterly earned is collected weekly – they are left enough for the purchase of food. Even this minimal freedom is initially monitored, but the trafficker relies primarily on intimidation and the young woman’s fears to prevent her running away. In any event, she is in a foreign country, speaks the language poorly, and has nowhere to go. Moreover, she knows she is here illegally, forged papers, no visa, maybe even a false name. These facts alone are sufficient to maintain control over her as she fears she will be imprisoned if caught by the Gardai.
But eventually something happens, a door is left unlocked, a minder is careless, a punter takes pity and helps her, or she reaches a point where prison would be better ... and she runs. Or the Gardai may raid the apartment and rescue her. And so she is introduced to Ruhama and our work with her begins.
We provide her with safe accommodation, feed and clothe her, organise a health and sexual screening check. We give her a chance to rest and recover and begin the slow process of learning to trust again. We offer counselling but that usually comes a little later – it’s just too painful to talk about the experience and face the trauma involved.
We have trained counsellors who provide a free service to help women cope with their situation. Our case workers support her through the recovery process, developing a programme of supports tailored to individual needs and assisting her through the legal and investigative processes.
We also provide educational and skills training opportunities, and engage the women in education as early as possible as it helps to provide a focus for their minds and a new rhythm and structure to the week, and this too is therapeutic.
Ruhama has over thirty volunteers who help with training, outreach work, ‘befriend’ the women bringing them to appointments, meeting them for a coffee etc. We also source training and work experience opportunities (the latter very limited unfortunately) with other organisations.
Ruhama advocates strongly for trafficked victims to be granted leave to remain in Ireland on humanitarian grounds. International statistics indicate that women are repeatedly trafficked within the sex trade, passed from one ‘owner’ to another to fill the demand for variety and to maximise profits. Sadly for them, once they have been prostituted in this way, they may be rejected by their families if returned home. Deportation further exposes them to another cycle of trafficking and its accompanying despair. Failure to treat them with compassion and as victims of a crime is a further human rights abuse, and one which Ireland should not countenance.