Press Release

Thursday April 16, 2009

Research reveals widespread exploitation of migrant women in extensive Irish sex industry

Research commissioned by the Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI) has identified more than 100 women and girls who have been trafficked into or through this country for the purposes of sexual exploitation over a period of less than two years.

And many hundreds more women, the overwhelming majority of whom are migrant women, are being sexually exploited for profit in an illicit Irish sex industry worth an estimated €180 million a year, the research found.

The ICI today released its report, “Globalisation, Sex Trafficking and Prostitution – The Experiences of Migrant Women in Ireland”, authored by Patricia and Carmel Kelleher of kellerherassociates, Monica O’Connor and Dr Jane Pillinger. The research was undertaken in collaboration with the Women’s Health Project (HSE) and Ruhama and was funded by the Religious Sisters of Charity.

ICI founder Sr Stan Kennedy said the shocking level of exploitation of migrant women within the Irish indoor sex industry demanded an urgent and comprehensive response from the Government.

“This report uncovers a heartbreaking and sickening litany of rape, abuse and exploitation for profit of migrant women on Irish soil yet, often, our first official response is to look for breaches of immigration law, rather than addressing the urgent need to provide appropriate services and assistance,” Sr Stan said.

“We must put the needs of these women at the heart of our response to tackling trafficking. We have not been doing that appropriately so far.”

Sr Stan said the report also examined the indoor prostitution industry in Ireland. It is estimated that 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.

“The terms of reference for the research included the indoor sex industry because there is no clear delineation between where sex trafficking ends and so-called consent begins,” Sr Stan said.

“Many of the women involved in indoor prostitution do not fit the official definition of victims of trafficking, yet there is ample evidence that poverty, life circumstances and exploitation have led them to their current situation.

“The physical and emotional harm these women experience, their real concerns about the health impacts of prostitution and the stories they tell of their unhappiness and abhorrence of their situation, the violence and the threat of violence, should dispel any notion that these women are involved in harmless commercial transactions.”

ICI chief executive Denise Charlton said the research identified 102 women and girls who, using the internationally agreed definition, are considered victims of trafficking. Essentially, this definition contains three elements – coercion or deceptive recruitment, transport within or across borders and exploitation. These women and girls presented at 10 different services over a 21-month period in 2007-08 and are believed to be a fraction of the number of victims of sex trafficking in Ireland.

“Despite the evidence that sex trafficking is a very real and significant problem in Ireland, the State has granted a ‘reflection and recovery’ period to very few women, during which time they can receive crucial services on that basis,” Ms Charlton said.

“Central to our first response to the needs of trafficked women and girls and all migrant women involved in the sex industry must be caring for their health, providing safe accommodation and access to independent legal advice and residency permits, if required.”

Ms Charlton said another fundamental plank of the Government’s response to trafficking and the exploitation of women and girls in Ireland’s sex industry must be a concerted effort to end demand.

“Men who buy sex might think they are involved in a consensual commercial transaction but the research findings give the lie to that,” Ms Charlton said.

“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.

“We call on the Government to criminalise the buying of sex in Ireland and to put in place effective programmes which examine the legal and human rights implications and the realities of prostitution.”

For further information, please contact Ruth Evans on 087 067 3676

Research reveals widespread exploitation of migrant women in extensive Irish sex industry (PDF)