Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 19 Apr 2023

Vol. 1036 No. 6

European Union Directive: Motion

Minister of State at the Department of Justice (Deputy James Browne)

I move:

That Dáil Éireann approves the exercise by the State of the option or discretion under Protocol No. 21 on the position of the United Kingdom and Ireland in respect of the area of freedom, security and justice annexed to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, to take part in the adoption and application of the following proposed measure:

Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2011/36/EU on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims,

a copy of which was laid before Dáil Éireann on 10th January, 2023.

I thank the House for facilitating this motion this afternoon. On 5 April, the Government approved my Department’s request to seek the approval of both Houses of the Oireachtas to opt in to this European Commission proposal to amend the 2011 EU anti-trafficking directive. This proposal builds on the original anti-trafficking directive from 2011 and will help to strengthen the EU’s ability to counter crimes related to human trafficking. Ireland has always viewed combating human trafficking as a priority and I am pleased to have the opportunity to present this important motion today.

Human trafficking is happening in countries right across the world, including in Ireland. It is an exploitative crime that preys on the most vulnerable in our society and involves the recruitment, transportation and exploitation of its victims. It is a criminal activity which should have no place whatsoever in our modern society and which destroys individuals’ lives by depriving people of their dignity, freedom and fundamental rights. It is distinct from people smuggling, a crime that was recently addressed through the enactment of the Criminal Justice (Smuggling of Persons) Act 2021.

The EU currently faces unprecedented challenges in its fight against human trafficking. Recent major crises, including the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, have further exacerbated people’s vulnerability to being exploited. In 2021, there were 7,155 victims of trafficking in Europe. The actual figure is likely to be considerably higher as this is a crime where many victims remain undetected.

Over the past few years, Ireland has progressed a number of important measures in relation to combating human trafficking. Legislation to establish a new national referral mechanism to allow more victims of human trafficking to be identified and protected will also be enacted this year. More must be done if we are to really tackle this complex crime.

The modernisation of the EU anti-trafficking directive is key to ensuring we can combat human trafficking and protect its victims. In particular, the updated rules will include forced marriage and illegal adoption. This will require member states to criminalise such conduct in their national criminal law as human trafficking. In that regard, I note that officials in my Department will continue to liaise with officials in the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth on the definition of illegal adoption and any potential interactions between proposed new national criminal laws and the Adoption Acts.

Also included in the amended directive will be an explicit reference to human trafficking offences committed or facilitated through information and communication technologies, including Internet and social media, and mandatory sanctions for legal persons held accountable for trafficking offences. This covers excluding them from public benefits or by temporarily or permanently closing the establishments where the trafficking offence occurred. It will also include a formal national referral mechanism to improve early identification and assistance and support referral for victims, which will create the basis for a European referral mechanism; stepping up demand reduction by making it a criminal offence for people who knowingly use services provided by victims of trafficking; and EU-wide annual data collection on trafficking in human beings to be published by EUROSTAT.

My Department has carefully considered the advices of the Attorney General, who raised concerns about the proposed Article 7, which cross-references another proposal for an asset recovery and confiscation directive, also currently under negotiation in Brussels. My officials advise me that the strong indications are that there should be sufficient room to negotiate Article 7 being deleted from this amending directive, or at least amended sufficiently such that it will not pose a concern for Ireland.

This proposal amends the 2011 anti-trafficking directive and it is similarly legally based on Articles 82(2) and 83(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. As it is subject to a Title V legal basis, in line with Articles 1 to 3 of protocol 21 of the treaty on the position of Ireland, Ireland must notify the President of the Council in writing within three months if it wishes to take part in the adoption and application of any such proposed measure. The deadline for opting in is 25 April 2023. By opting into this proposal, Ireland will ensure it can continue to build on the significant progress we have already made in combating human trafficking. An opt-in to this proposal will mean we are at the table with our European partners, fully involved in the detailed discussions on the negotiation of the directive. Furthermore, it will also demonstrate our continuing commitment to the European Union and its wider ambitions where tackling human trafficking is concerned. The Government has no hesitation in commending the motion to the House.

Deputy Patrick Costello

I welcome this initiative. Anything we can do about the horrendous crime of human trafficking is welcome, particularly because the simple reality is that in Ireland, for a long time, we have not been doing enough on human trafficking. Most victims of human trafficking remain unidentified and unknown. Even when victims come forward there is a gap between people claiming to be victims and those who are formally identified as victims. Then there is a further gap between people who are identified as victims and prosecution of those responsible for the trafficking that victimised them. We simply are not doing enough. That is highlighted every year by the Trafficking in Persons, TIP, report and by NGOs that say we are not doing enough.

While I welcome that we are trying to upgrade and improve the EU anti-trafficking directive, I point out the judgment in the case of P v. Chief Superintendent of the Garda National Immigration Bureau & Ors. Ms Justice O'Malley was very clear in 2015 that the State had failed at that point to properly enact the directive as it stood at the time and that the State was not vindicating the rights of victims under the directive. Improving the directive is very welcome but we need to do more in this area. I welcome the work the Minister of State has been doing and the commitment to a new national referral mechanism, the proposal for which is currently going through pre-legislative scrutiny at the Joint Committee on Justice. We need to focus on victims. While the legislation updating the national referral mechanism is very important and this directive will be very important, if we do not support victims once they are identified, we will again be failing to vindicate the basic rights of people who have already had their rights trampled on or stolen from them.

We are also creating a situation where people are less likely to come forward. If we want to identify victims and, through that, identify perpetrators of human trafficking, we need to do all we can to support that. While I commend the motion and the upgrading of the anti-trafficking directive, that remains a bit of a lacuna and something on which we need to step up.

I am heartened that EU-wide collection of data is contained in the directive. It is worth pointing out that this is essential for a variety of reasons, the first of which is to enable us to fully understand this problem. Through fully understanding it, we can fully identify it. EU-wide data collection will also be useful in providing a proper benchmark to show whether we are succeeding and how Ireland is addressing the issue. As I said, Government after Government have consistently failed to address this topic. It is highlighted every year by the US State Department in its TIP reports, but having European Union figures to show our success or otherwise will be essential in highlighting where we are doing enough or, unfortunately, not doing enough.

This upgraded directive is a very important step for us to take. However, given our history in this area since the previous directive, if we do not properly implement the directive in our legislation, we will, as Ms Justice O'Malley pointed out in 2015, continue to deny the basic rights of victims of trafficking, who have already had their rights stolen. I commend this initiative but I also hope we will not rest on our laurels and we will do more than simply support this directive.

Deputy Pa Daly

As was stated, this proposal builds on the original anti-trafficking directive from 2011. It will hopefully help to strengthen the ability of the EU to combat human trafficking-related crimes and give stronger tools for law enforcement to investigate and prosecute. On that basis, Sinn Féin will support the passage of this proposal and we look forward to further progress in implementation. I acknowledge what the Minister of State said about Article 7 and the cross-referencing and tweaks that may have to be made to it.

Trafficking is ultimately a criminal economic market and, as the Minister of State said, it is an exploitative crime which destroys lives. With demand in Europe for immigration and asylum from the global south higher than ever, we cannot ignore these realities. It is notable, as was outlined in a recent article in the Associated Press, the traditional route from north Africa across to Europe has now been securitised so much that alternative routes are now being used. We saw with the Frontex issue that this has not always been done in accordance with international and domestic law. We agree that while the official figures may indicate there are 7,000 trafficked persons, there are probably many more than that.

The net effect of all the trafficking is that, according to the Associated Press article, the crossing routes are even more dangerous. Routes around the western coast of Morocco and towards the Canary Islands are being attempted. This has meant, as Deputies will know, that boats are washing up as far away as the Caribbean, with all aboard having been killed at sea. Desperate for work or to be united with family, many are falling into the hands of unscrupulous traffickers who often abandon or let down the vulnerable migrants. Along with the legal solutions contained in this proposal, Europe needs to recognise the economic and social routes of migration and deal with them accordingly. Until this is done, and Ireland is well-placed to provide moral leadership on this, we will keep seeing tragedies unfold.

With regard to Ireland's policies, the US State Department produced an excellent report on trafficking in 2022 which placed Ireland in the group of tier B nations with respect to anti-trafficking. According to the report, the prevalence of human trafficking in Ireland is likely to be higher than official statistics report. A comprehensive 2021 study found that from 2014 to 2019, the true number of trafficking victims was likely to have been 38% higher than official national statistics. This is extremely worrying. Both detection and enforcement also seem to be lacking. According to the findings of the US report, Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, inspectors reportedly found several violations of employment and labour law in the fishing sector and referred several employers for prosecution but it did not report law enforcement actions against any companies for labour trafficking in 2021. My county has one of the longest coastlines in the country and is a prime site for potential trafficking. When laws were debated in this area previously, the House was informed of a HSE team working with trafficking victims. I would be interested to hear more about this team and its work around the State, particularly on the western coast.

I note that some negotiations are ongoing on this proposal. Will the Minister of State explain how much of this is connected with the Border, the common travel area and Brexit? I ask him to get back to me on that after the debate.

The State has some way to go and perhaps the harmonisation proposals contained here will assist. It is notable that the EU is seeking, as the Minister of State said, to harmonise co-operation more and more because crime is increasingly transnational. By definition, trafficking is international in nature and is, therefore, a good candidate for such proposals. Some social networks have been used for trafficking and Europe needs to stand up to the tech companies enabling this trade.

We welcome the ideas included in the amended directive which specifically refer to offences committed or facilitated through information and communication technologies, including the Internet and social media, as well as the other proposals in relation to mandatory sanctions for legal persons and a formal national referral mechanism which will improve early identification and referral for assistance and support of victims. That will create the basis for a European referral mechanism. We also welcome the stepping up of demand reduction by making it a criminal offence for people who knowingly use the services provided by victims of trafficking and the EU-wide data collection which helps in so many other ways.

The proposal is welcome insofar as it addresses the wide range of trafficking offences. We have spoken about the covert crossings but also many victims of trafficking enter through commercial air and sea routes. They often do so with the assistance of traffickers and, as noted in the US State Department report, this is done with the promise of legitimate employment and visas, or through some other types of scams. Once people arrive here, they are forced into what is basically indentured work or slavery in beauty salons or maybe in sex work. The Journal reported this week on a Garda investigation which discovered the large-scale rental of properties for use as brothels by criminal gangs. The gangs then charge sex workers large sums to use these apartments with only a fraction of the income going to the workers and an always-present threat of constant violence.

As I mentioned, the proposals refer to possible criminalisation of those knowingly using the services provided by the victims. With industries such as sex work, as well as forced marriages and illegal adoptions, to which the Minister of State also referred, involved, An Garda Síochána will have to recruit from, and work with, diverse communities of migrants. It may be that the Garda is having difficulties increasing its numbers but there is potential to increase them by doing more recruiting from those communities. More emphasis needs to be placed on this and credit must go to the Garda Commissioner, Drew Harris, who is personally very conscious of this need.

Overall, Sinn Féin supports the passing of the motion and we look forward to further progress in implementing the proposal.

Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin

I do not have much to add to what has been said. The Labour Party welcomes this proposal with regard to this particularly troubling type of crime and area. The lives of those who are at the rough end of this criminal endeavour are often destroyed and it is disproportionately women and children who are affected. As Deputy Costello said, to raise public consciousness of this issue we need to raise the voices of those who are directly affected by issues such as human trafficking. As has been stated, the sex trade is heavily involved in this area for cheap labour. It is important to ensure all agencies are on board when we try to root this out.

I agree with the point made by Deputy Daly regarding the Internet and those using such platforms to do the business they do. It is far too convenient for social media companies to pretend that what happens on their platforms is not their responsibility. This stuff only breeds and lives because of connectivity, communication and people's ability to speak to one another. The misery in which they are trading is profound. It is the responsibility of the Government and the EU to clamp down on those social media platforms that are being utilised for this endeavour. Again, I refer to the criminalisation of those who will use trafficked labour to undertake work cheaply in our economy. We already have a low-wage economy. Some 23% of Irish workers are on low pay. They are also often undercut by those who find themselves trafficked here. Employers will know the background but will turn a blind eye. We must be absolutely ruthless in rooting out this type of disgraceful behaviour by employers who have a sheen of respectability but may still have people working in their industry, most notably in the tourism and hospitality trade, who might have been trafficked here.

With all that said, though, we welcome the motion that has been brought forward. We will work with the Minister of State to ensure we can beef this measure up and make it more robust. Having said that, a great deal of money is being made by people who pretend to be respectable. We mentioned the social media companies and the hospitality sector. Indeed, this is sometimes also an issue in the sex work sector as well, where those who are profiting need this to continue what they are doing. Hopefully, then, collectively, we can find a path to root out this trafficking.

Deputy Paul Murphy

Obviously, any measure which tackles human trafficking is welcome. We must, however, look behind the lofty rhetoric of the EU to see the reality of the more complicated situation and the responsibility of the EU for its fortress Europe policies, supported by governments right across the Continent. We must look not only at that broader EU migration policy but also to wider geopolitical conflicts, to climate chaos, to war and to the ongoing dehumanisation of refugees and others seeking shelter and asylum. I refer to the ongoing collusion of this State and other EU states with brutal, totalitarian regimes, like that in Libya, which have established human camps and clearance centres at the fringes of EU borders as part of a conscious policy of the so-called externalisation of EU borders. These are the kinds of policies that lead to desperate people seeking to come here and facilitate the operation of horrific criminal gangs, human traffickers and so on.

Turning to a few points on the specifics of the directive itself, one of the key things to do, if we are tackling the roots of human trafficking, is to afford real protection and immunity to those who are victims of this human trafficking. According to a report from the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, this year, between 2015 and 2020 some 356 people were identified by the Garda as victims of trafficking and almost 60% of them were non-EU citizens. Of course, the true figures are likely to be significantly higher. According to the report from the ESRI:

... victims who are also applicants for international protection have reduced access to social welfare and the labour market. The temporary nature of the residence permission was identified as a source of uncertainty and insecurity. IPAS centres were also seen as inappropriate places for victims of human trafficking.

We need, therefore, supports that are not conditional for non-EU nationals but are unconditional and not dependent on their co-operation with prosecutions. We need to change this situation and ensure we have unconditional assistance and residence permits for all victims. The non-punishment provision in Article 8 is mostly not implemented. The directive needs to be stronger and Irish law needs to be explicit in stating that victims will not be prosecuted or punished for crimes they have been compelled to commit as a consequence of their being trafficked. The reality now across the EU is that existing non-punishment provisions are weak and rarely fully implemented. The supports available to victims need to be extended beyond the period during which legal proceedings may be taking place. The trauma and difficulty victims face do not end, obviously, when courts or legal processes finish.

To look at the broader picture, we must examine the policy of fortress Europe, of pulling up the drawbridge and punishing those fleeing war, persecution and climate chaos, which has had the consequence that tens of thousands of people have drowned in the Mediterranean in the last decade. We can look aghast at our neighbour in the UK and the policies pursued in that country, but the reality is that the entire EU policy on migration and refugees feeds the human trafficking business. The UN produced a report at the end of March 2023 which represented a condemnation of the EU and every government in it. It showed that governments are guilty of knowingly casting aside thousands of human beings fleeing war. In Libya, for example, it was found that "there are grounds to believe a wide array of war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed by State security forces and armed militia groups". The report went on to state that numerous cases of arbitrary detention, murder, rape, enslavement, extrajudicial killing and enforced disappearances have been documented.

These are the state forces and militias that the EU and this State support and collude with. We pay for them. The EU funds these camps and they have been found in this UN report to be conducting wholesale torture, rape, slavery, executions and overseeing a system of internment and torture of more than 600,000 migrants seeking our help. It was estimated that last year more than 82,000 refugees and migrants were returned to Libya by the EU under these co-operation deals. There are co-operation deals between the EU and Libya, but also between the Libyan authorities and militias. This is an historic crime and a crime against humanity on a grand scale. It reveals the truth behind the fantasy of the EU as some liberal, democratic place of human rights. One migrant who was interviewed stated their concern is not drowning in the water but going back to the camp where they will be tortured by the guards. This is what feeds human trafficking and until we deal with the reasons causing people to flee, we will continue to be feeding human traffickers.

Deputy Mattie McGrath

Every year, more than 7,000 people become victims of human trafficking in the EU and this figure can be expected to be much higher as many victims remain undetected. This is sad. The yearly cost of trafficking in human beings in the EU reaches, and I hate to put a monetary figure on this, a figure of €2.7 billion. We should, I suppose, not be mentioning the cost in money but the cost to people themselves and the damage and depravity of this trafficking. The majority of victims are women and girls, as we know. The share of male victims, though, is also on the rise, particularly for labour exploitation. Forms of exploitation have evolved in recent years, with the crime increasingly taking an online dimension. This calls for new action at the EU level as traffickers benefit from opportunities to recruit, control, transport and exploit victims, as well as moving profits and reaching out to users in the EU and beyond. It is a high-tech operation, as we know, and we must try to keep abreast of it. Traffickers also benefit from weak or poor immigration laws, as observed with Ireland's open-door immigration rules and policies. The updated rules are supposed to provide stronger tools for law enforcement and judicial authorities to investigate and prosecute new forms of exploitation. An important example concerns ensuring that knowingly using the services provided by victims of trafficking constitutes a criminal offence. The European Commission's proposal put forward mandatory sanctions against companies for trafficking offences and not only individuals. It also aims to improve procedures for early identification and support for victims in member states, particularly through the creation of a European referral mechanism.

The first step for Ireland, however, would be to implement a stringent immigration control mechanism that would at least question the people arriving here without documentation.

In particular, the new rules will include forced marriage and illegal adoption among the types of exploitation in the definition the directive covers. This will require member states to criminalise such conduct in their national criminal law as human trafficking. The rules will also include explicit reference to human trafficking offences committed or facilitated through information and communication technologies, including the Internet and social media. The rules will provide for mandatory sanctions for legal persons held accountable for trafficking offences. This covers excluding them from public benefits or temporarily or permanently closing down the establishments where the trafficking offence occurred. This is very important. We must have teeth in this regard and have proper sanctions that will hurt those people who are hell-bent on circumventing any rules and regulations, and who continue with this heinous behaviour.

The rules will include formal national referral mechanisms to improve early identification and referral for assistance and support for victims, which will create the basis for a European referral mechanism by the appointment of national focal points. The rules will provide for the stepping up of demand reduction by making it a criminal offence for people knowingly to use the services provided by victims of trafficking. This is also very welcome and important. There will also be EU-wide annual data collection on trafficking in human beings, to be published by EUROSTAT.

Like everyone else, I welcome this legislation. The context of the directive provides for the criminalisation, investigation and prosecution of trafficking in human beings, including the definition of offences, penalties and sanctions. It also provides for the provision of assistance and support to, and protection of, victims of trafficking of human beings and the prevention of trafficking in human beings.

Each and every one of us in government in each jurisdiction must play our part in this and must step up the measures to stamp out this heinous, distasteful and desperate trading of human beings. It is shocking.

Deputy Thomas Pringle

I thank the Acting Chairman for the opportunity to speak on this very important issue. There has been a significant rise in human trafficking in Ireland and across the European Union. I welcome the attempt to address this. I particularly welcome the directive's intention of protecting victims but I hope it will not only be an intention. We need to be very careful in how we address trafficking in human beings. It is absolutely essential that any updating of the rules within the proposal is focused on victims.

Human trafficking offences in Ireland have risen by 110% since 2019. While the numbers reported are relatively low, we know that the actual numbers are significantly higher because many victims remain undetected and the statistics only reflect victims who become known to the Garda. It is also natural that many of the victims do not want to be known to the Garda because if they are identified as being trafficked or as illegal immigrants, they are traditionally sent back to their country of origin when the offences have been dealt with. That is a problem. We need to find a way to protect victims so that they can expose the wrongdoing that has been going on in the country.

In 2021 the number of registered victims of trafficking in the EU was 7,155 but we have no idea of the actual number. I welcome the directive's proposal to ensure the EU-wide annual data collection on trafficking in human beings to be established by EUROSTAT. This still will not reflect the actual number affected but it will go a long way to ensuring that we have some sort of idea of the numbers who are affected, which will allow us to better and more effectively address the issues and trends in human trafficking.

The directive is well intentioned in the proposals to temporarily or permanently close the establishments where trafficking offences occur. An Garda Síochána has spoken recently about the clear relationship between international criminal gangs involved in the exploitation of migrants, and some landlords who are acting as facilitators. However, I would be cautious of any move that does not protect the victims first and foremost. I wonder whether taking away these spaces would have the unintended consequence of making the situation more unsafe for victims. This is something that should be considered and researched before we implement such changes.

As I have said, it is important that any changes are focused on victims. It is for this reason that I am cautious of this directive's intention to make it a criminal offence for people to knowingly use a service provided by victims of trafficking. Has there been any significant research on whether the introduction of such a criminal offence has worked in Ireland or is likely to work? Again, this is something I feel requires further research before changes are made at a European level. It is something that should definitely be reviewed and researched at a national level. There is no doubt about that.

I agree also with some of the points made by previous speakers. We must look at dealing with the causes of immigration, which are wrong too. This involves not using the likes of Libya and so on. Politics does not have a very good reputation in how it deals with asylum seekers and refugees who arrive at the shores. This is something we all have a responsibility for. We must make sure that it functions properly, in the way that it should, and that it treats people with respect. It does not matter who people are - they need to be treated with respect. We have heard stories about people who were returned back to sea and who actually drowned. It is just shocking. To think that this is being done in our name is even more shocking. It is something that we need to be very proactive on to make sure it is done properly and that people are respected.

Minister of State at the Department of Justice (Deputy James Browne)

I thank the Deputies for their contributions. I thank the House for facilitating this motion today. Over the years Ireland has implemented strong measures to ensure we can fight this complex crime. More must be done if we are to reduce the demand that fosters trafficking; to create a criminal model to halt victims' exploitation; to protect, support and empower the victims, especially women and children; and to address the international dimension of this complex crime.

As outlined earlier, this proposal will enhance Ireland's ability to work more effectively where human trafficking is concerned. Ireland recognises the importance of international co-operation with our European partners, particularly in the context of combating human trafficking. The modernisation of the anti-trafficking directive includes targeted amendments, which in practical terms will enhance the capability of member states to work together to target this damaging crime. Despite significant efforts at a global level to counter this crime, the demand that fosters human trafficking has not decreased. This proposal provides a robust policy response to combat trafficking in human beings, from prevention through protection of its victims, to prosecution and conviction of traffickers. As a country, we are committed to tackling serious organised cross-border and transnational crime, and our continued engagement and commitment to counter human trafficking is central to that.

This proposal addresses the developments that have occurred since 2011 and the newest trends observed in combating trafficking in human beings. It provides a framework that will allow the national legal systems of member states to be up to date and better equipped to respond to and face the significant challenges in this area. The Government has no hesitation in commending the motion to the House that we opt into this proposal.

The national referral mechanism will be put on a statutory basis through the criminal justice (sexual offences and human trafficking) Bill, which is at an advanced stage of drafting. We expect to publish the general scheme this summer.

The planned new national referral mechanism will significantly enhance Ireland's ability to identify, support and protect the victims of human trafficking across a range of Departments and agencies. The new referral mechanism will allow victims across through a number of routes, including certain NGOs, in order to be referred. Currently a referral can be made only through An Garda Síochána, but this will be significantly expanded.

An opt-in to this proposal under Article 3 will mean that Ireland can be fully involved in the detailed discussions on the negotiations for this important directive. Furthermore, it will demonstrate our continuing commitment to the European Union and ensure Ireland can meet its responsibilities to the EU, and globally, where combating human trafficking is concerned. I commend the motion to the House.

Question put and agreed to.