Direct Provision Placing Sex Trafficking Victims in Danger

TPQ carries an Immigrant Council of Ireland Press Release.


Direct Provision placing sex trafficking victims in danger
Frontline agencies outline alternatives in submission to Minister
Warning that women are in 'immediate danger' of abuse, threats and violence
 

Statement by the Immigrant Council of Ireland

 
 The placing of detected victims of sex-trafficking in Direct Provision Centres puts them in immediate danger of abuse, threats and a return to prostitution, according to four frontline agencies in a submission to the Minister for Justice, Frances Fitzgerald TD.
 
The submission, published today (Monday, 22nd Sept 2014), highlights international criticism of Ireland for failing to protect those who have been sexually exploited and outlines alternative accommodation arrangements to address those concerns.
 
It argues that within the centres victims are denied privacy, can be further abused and contacted and intimidated by pimps and traffickers to withdraw evidence to Gardaí.
The proposals are supported of the Immigrant Council of Ireland, NASC, Focus Ireland and Sonas Housing.
 
Failings of the existing system highlighted in the submission include:
 
· Victims have very little privacy to recover from often hugely traumatic experience such as multiple rapes; they have to share bedrooms with at least one and often two other strangers on rotation.
· The centres are mixed gender and can leave already vulnerable young women open to further grooming and exploitation.
· There is evidence that the centres are targeted by men looking to buy sexual services, and these men have propositioned women outside the hostels.
· Accounts given by victims indicate traffickers have actually used the asylum system for residency and accommodation while simultaneously trafficking victims.
· The Direct Provision Centres are well known to the public and the victims could be easily traced and intimidated by their traffickers.
The submission outlines detailed proposals to address these failings including:
· The provision of secure short term emergency accommodation in Dublin, Cork and Limerick with highly trained personnel.
· The use of apartments and houses with outreach support from Gardaí, the Child and Family Agency and other experts for stays of 3-months
· The provision of 3-5 units for longer term care of extremely vulnerable victims
 
Denise Charlton Chief Executive of the Immigrant Council of Ireland publishing the submission said:
"For too long detected victims of sex-trafficking have been subjected to sub-standard accommodation and supports - which not only place them in continued danger but are below the European norm.

Ireland's failure to protect victims has been highlighted not only by those of us in the frontline but also by the Council of Europe, the OSCE, the US State Department and others internationally.

The proposals we have outlined were developed using the expertise of four agencies experienced in responding to the needs in victims, and are in line with those in Northern Ireland, Britain, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Romania and elsewhere.

We believe they are urgently needed and can be delivered in the short term to protect one of the most vulnerable group of people in the country.

Many have survived years of daily rapes after being tricked into coming to Ireland with false promises of a dream life, a new job or even marriage, only for a nightmare to start unfolding the moment they step into the car park of Dublin Airport.

Together with our partners we are asking Minister Frances Fitzgerald to prioritise this issue and remove these women from immediate danger.

4 comments:

  1. That smacks of what Liam Clarke reported in the Belfast Telegraph on the 6th Sept..

    'A group of women have come forward with allegations they were abused by members of the security forces while staying at several Northern Ireland care homes in the early days of the Troubles.

    The Home Office in London has been asked to investigate claims that figures from the police and Army were involved in abusing the young people while they were residents in Lissue Children's Hospital in Lisburn and a second one in east Antrim. East Belfast MP Naomi Long raised the issue with the Home Office after hearing the claims of the abuse against "young and vulnerable girls" while at the homes in the 1970s.

    She continued: "This reiterates the seriousness of all these allegations and the need to fully investigate all allegations in order to uncover the truth for survivors of abuse, and also to safeguard against potential future abuse."

    A second group of women who claimed to have been abused when staying at three other homes in Northern Ireland were brought to see Ms Long by retired solicitor Pádraigín Drinan.

    "They told me that when they escaped from the homes they were staying in, it would be reported and they were often sexually assaulted by the Army or police if they found them.

    "One woman said a nun had told her, 'That is what you can expect if you run away'. One assault took place in Liverpool. This happened in the early 70s," Ms Drinan told the Belfast Telegraph...'

    Last few line read as....

    She stated: "My fear with Kincora is that if we don't include it in the inquiry now, we will never know, because sadly many of the people who were victims of the abuse have died already and others are in ill-health.

    "We are already reaching the point where the people who perpetrated the abuse are also much older and dying too. There will never be any justice unless we get it now."......

    I'm convinced more and more each day the child abuse scandal is bigger than people think and it's being covered up at the highest levels both sides of the border and Irish sea..

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  2. We have something really horrible happening to vulnerable, female immigrants here in U.K

    http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/video/2014/may/24/yarls-wood-sex-abuse-claims-serco-whistleblower-speaks-out-video

    A lot of emphasis is now being put on 'historical abuse' cases, but that implies that it's a thing of the past. Maybe a better expression would be 'never ending' or 'on-going' abuse.

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  3. Also, they try so hard to hide it

    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/15/un-special-rapporteur-manjoo-yarls-wood-home-office

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  4. Second link from the Guardian Sarah put up...

    'Manjoo, who travelled across the UK during a 16-day fact-finding mission into violence against women, said she was barred at the gates of Yarl's Wood immigration detention centre on Monday, on instructions "from the highest levels of the Home Office".

    She told reporters she was deeply concerned at her exclusion "because if there was nothing to hide, I should have been given access".'


    Say's it all...


    A lot of emphasis is now being put on 'historical abuse' cases, but that implies that it's a thing of the past. Maybe a better expression would be 'never ending' or 'on-going' abuse

    Sarah it's just not the UK or Ireland. France has it's own cover ups..

    'Luc Ferry, a former French education minister, ignited the affair – and probably inadvertently – on May 30 during a television debate on the reluctance of French media to report on the private lives of politicians. Wanting to give an example, he cited reports about a fellow minister participating in an orgy with Moroccan children but said he wouldn’t reveal the minister's name for fear of being sued for libel. '...


    I'd go as far to say is probably organized on a world wide scale, and the spooks know exactly who is involved and are blackmailing the perpetrators..

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