Immigrant Council of Ireland welcomes Ireland’s removal from US State Department’s Tier Two watch list
Immigrant Council of Ireland welcomes Ireland’s removal from US State Department’s Tier Two watch list, but urgent need for effective anti- trafficking measures remains
The Immigrant Council of Ireland has extended a cautious welcome to the removal of Ireland from the US State Department’s Tier Two country watch list for inadequate response to human trafficking, as it published in its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report.
The TIP report identifies those countries which fail to demonstrate effective actions to eliminate human trafficking. Ireland was one of just two EU countries to appear on the Tier Two watchlist in the last two annual reports.
Commenting on the report, Brian Killoran, CEO of the Immigrant Council of Ireland said: “While we welcome the news that Ireland no longer appears on the TIP report’s Tier Two watch list, as clearly set out in the report there is still significant focus required to make the country safer for immigrants.
“We recognise that over the past year, Ireland has made some progress in managing its response to human trafficking, through the appointment of a national rapporteur on human trafficking by IHREC (Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission) and the conviction of two human traffickers. In addition, the government released a new national strategy on domestic gender-based violence in June 2022, which recognises human trafficking as a form of gender-based violence. The Immigrant Council of Ireland has lobbied for this recognition for several years and its success will now depend on implementation and sufficient resourcing by government.
“We would take this opportunity to note, however that there has still been no change in the provision of accommodation for victims of human trafficking which has been referenced in the report as one of the reasons Ireland remains on Tier 2. Victims are still part of the Direct Provision system which has been repeatedly condemned and called out as being woefully inadequate by ourselves and several other civil society organisations working in this space.
“We also call on the government to expediate its new National Referral Mechanism, (NRM) a system to identify victims of human trafficking which has been promised by the end of the year and the publication and implementation of its new Action Plan to combat human trafficking in the country. The report highlights the lack of access to compensation for victims of human trafficking and additional deficiencies in the efforts to recognise and protect victims.”
Link to full TIP report: https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/337308-2022-TIP-REPORT-inaccessible.pdf