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Ireland's political and cultural magazine
— November - December
sex trafficking into Ireland hit
home very recently when women who have
been fooled, cajoled or beaten and raped to pro-
vide sex to men in Ireland were made visible.
The Immigrant Council of Ireland Report
“Globalisation, Sex Trafficking and Prostitution
– The experiences of Migrant Women in Ireland”
is a shocking read, revealing that a grow-
ing demand by men to buy sex has led to the
increase in the numbers of women being trans-
ported to Ireland from countries within the EU
and as far afield as Africa and Asia. There can
be no mistake: the money to be made from this
flourishing business is second only to the mil-
lions being made by sale of arms and drugs.
The researchers uncovered a shocking level
of exploitation and abuse of migrant women in
Ireland’s indoor sex industry. It revealed that
women and girls, using the internationally
accepted definition of ‘victims of trafficking’
were trafficked into or through Ireland for the
purposes of sexual exploitation. International
research and the experience of the Dignity
Project, also conducted by the Immigrant
Council of Ireland, which is seeking to con-
struct an inter-agency model of services for
these victims, show that we can also say very
confidently that these victims are only a
small proportion of the real number of victims
of sex trafficking in Ireland.
The researchers estimate that up to ,
women are involved in indoor prostitution on
any given day in Ireland, with between per
cent and per cent being migrant women.
These women have been trafficked into Ireland
and are being sexually exploited for profit and
gratification on Irish soil, in cities, towns and
villages right around the country. The research
has shone a light on a sex industry that severely
harms women, and it places a responsibility
on all of us to accept this reality and to develop
effective and appropriate responses.
Any implication that women who are involved
in prostitution in this country have made a free
choice and are engaging in, and benefiting from
harmless commercial transactions, has been
dispelled by the research. The Government has
recently launched its national action plan to pre-
vent and combat trafficking in human beings and,
while we welcome this, it still associates traffick-
ing with illegal migration and that leads to many
of the problems we are experiencing in relation
to how victims of trafficking are perceived and
treated in this country.
It is very clear that if we are serious about
stopping sex trafficking, which is a tangible
form of human rights’ abuse, we must tackle
the central cause – the demand from men who
buy sex.
t h e r e s e a r c h t e l l s u s t h a t :
The men tend to be professionals, well-paid
and highly educated – this is borne out by
the fact that they paid, on average, €
for half an hour and € for an hour.
A significant number of the men bought sex
in their lunch hours or on their way home
from work.
per cent of the men who buy sex are
married or in relationships
Nine out of of the men are Irish.
One in four of men who buy sex believed
they had met a woman who had been forced
into prostitution.
Men who buy sex might think that they are
indulging in a harmless commercial transaction
but that is very far from the truth. The research
reveals clearly the physical and emotional harm
women involved in prostitution experience –
including beatings, sexually transmitted dis-
eases. Severe emotional distress and fear-based
trauma. The men who buy sex are a crucial link
in a chain of exploitation that results in serious
harm to women. Without them, the sex industry
would not exist. Trafficking for sexual exploita-
tion would not be the booming business it is.
The Dignity Project calls on the Irish
Government to follow the lead of Sweden,
Norway and Iceland and to criminalise the pur-
chase of sex.
If Ireland doesn’t toughen up its laws, then
we may well become a sex tourism destination
for men from the UK and that would further
exacerbate the very conditions that lead to traf-
ficking into this country. Tackling demand must
be the central plank of our response to tackling
sex trafficking.
Gráinne Healy is Project Co-ordinator of the Dignity Project:
www.dublinpact.ie/dignity
The problem is male demand
which should now be criminalised.
,
“…up to 1,000
women are
involved in indoor
prostitution on
any given day
in Ireland, with
between 87 per
cent and 97
per cent being
migrant women”
Gráinne Healy
village_oct_09.indd 14 27/10/2009 15:37:42
