Human Trafficking

Tuesday, 11 December 2012

Questions (351)

Bernard Durkan

Question:

351. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of instances of trafficking in women or children reported or identified in each of the past five years and to date in 2012; the extent to which punitive and preventative action has been taken in such instances; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55690/12]

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Written answers

Minister for Justice and Equality

As the Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) Act 2008 came into effect on 7 June 2008, there are no recorded figures of human trafficking prior to that date. Between 7 June and 31 December 2008, 36 alleged victims of human trafficking were encountered by An Garda Síochána. No further breakdown of the 2008 figures is available.

On 1 January 2009, the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of my Department initiated a data collection strategy for the purpose of gaining a more in-depth understanding of the nature and extent of human trafficking in Ireland. To date, annual reports for 2009, 2010 and 2011 have been published and are available from Ireland’s dedicated anti-human trafficking website, www.blueblindfold.gov.ie, in addition to my Department’s website. The information regarding reported human trafficking of women and children for the years 2009, 2010 and 2011 is set out as follows.

	2009	2010	2011
Number of Women	46	48	39
Number of Children	17	13	7

To date in 2012 (up to end November 2012) there have been 22 investigations initiated involving 27 suspected victims; 20 adults and 7 children. 21 of the suspected victims are females. 19 of the 22 investigations initiated in 2012 are on-going with 3 investigations initiated in 2012 now closed.

In addition to the above, there are currently 7 prosecutions going through the courts for offences under the Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) Act 2008. These cases involve a total of 14 children as victims; 10 males and 4 females; all of these children are Irish Nationals.

The number of convictions in respect of offences under the Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) Act 2008 and in respect of other offences related to human trafficking are set out in the annual reports for 2009, 2010 and 2011. It should be noted that convictions occurring in any calendar year may be the result of prosecutions initiated in previous calendar years. For the purpose of clarity the convictions recorded for the period 2009 to 2012 are set out in the table.

Year	Act	Accused	Charges	Sentence
2009	Child Trafficking and Pornography Act, 1998 and Common Law Offences	Adult male	Possession of Child Pornography. Soliciting another to commit an offence contrary to Section 3 of the Child Trafficking Act 1998 (Child Trafficking and taking etc. child for sexual exploitation)	6 years imprisonment.
2009/10	Child Trafficking and Pornography Act, 1998	Adult male	Incitement to traffick a minor for sexual exploitation and incitement to the possession of child pornography.	6 years imprisonment and Post Release Supervision Order for 20 years.
2010	Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) Act, 2008	Adult male	Recruitment and trafficking of a minor.	3 years imprisonment (suspended). Placed on the Sex Offenders Register for 5 years and entered into a bond to be of good behaviour for a period of 3 years.
2010	Child Trafficking and Pornography Act, 1998	Adult male	Sexual exploitation of a child.	Eight month imprisonment (suspended).
	Child Trafficking and Pornography Act, 1998
2010	Criminal Law (Rape)(Amendment) Act, 1990	Adult male	Recruitment and trafficking of a minor for sexual exploitation and production of child pornography.	10 years imprisonment. Placed on Sex Offenders Register for life. Post Release Supervision Order for 15 years.
2011	Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) Act, 2008	Adult male	Recruitment and trafficking of a minor for sexual exploitation.	3 years imprisonment
2011	Child Trafficking and Pornography Act, 1998 [see end note}	Adult female	Controlling and sexually exploiting a minor for the purposes of prostitution.	4 years imprisonment (final two years suspended).
2011	Child Trafficking & Pornography Act, 1998	Adult male	Controlling and sexually exploiting of a minor for the purposes of creating child pornography.	Fine of €100.
2011	Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act, 1993	Adult male	Controlling/organising prostitution (female adult victim)	2½ years imprisonment (final fifteen months suspended).
2012	Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) Act, 2008	Adult female	Controlling and sexually exploiting a minor for the purpose of creating child pornography.	3 years imprisonment
2012	Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking) Act, 2000 Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act, 1993	Adult Female	Trafficking of a female minor illegal immigrant and controlling/directing prostitution	3 years imprisonment

Note: As amended by Section 6 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Amendment Act 2007 as substituted by Section 3(2) of the Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) Act 2008.

In An Garda Síochána Policing Plan for 2012, one of the eight stated priorities is to prevent and detect Human Trafficking. The Anti-Human Trafficking Unit in my Department and An Garda Síochána are continually vigilant for any emerging trends relating to human trafficking and they maintain regular dialogue on this matter with the relevant State agencies and non-governmental organisations working in this area.