Vol. 534 No. 5
26 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the investigation which has been held into claims by an adviser to the UN working group on slavery (details supplied) that women from the Baltic countries have been brought here to work as prostitutes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10993/01]
I understand from the Garda that there is no evidence of trafficking in women from the Baltic countries to this jurisdiction for the purpose of sexual exploitation. There is, of course, no room for complacency on an issue of this gravity and members of the Garda liaise with Interpol and Europol to keep abreast of current trends in the modus operandi of traffickers. The Garda National Immigration Bureau, which was established in May 2000, has as one of its primary objectives the co-ordination and direction of strategies to combat trafficking in illegal immigrants and the Government has also approved the strengthening of Garda international liaison arrangements by placing of Garda liaison officers in London and Paris for the purpose of interacting with local law enforcement authorities on immigration and trafficking matters. The Deputy will also be aware that the Illegal Immigrations (Trafficking) Act, 2000, came into effect on 5 September 2000. The purpose of this Act is to target the profiteer or professional traffickers in human beings by creating an offence of trafficking in illegal immigrants and asylum seekers and providing a framework by which those engaging in such trafficking can be dealt with under the law. The Deputy will also be interested to note that the United Nations Convention on Transnational Organised Crime, and the protocol to this convention to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children, were signed by Ireland in December of last year. In addition, my Department is currently involved in negotiations on a draft EU framework decision on combating trafficking in human beings. This decision will be a comprehensive one and will take full account of current activities and developments in this unscrupulous practice. When the negotiations have successfully concluded, I will introduce any legislation that is necessary to update our current law to ensure that the framework decisions and the UN Protocol are fully implemented.
