The majority of prostitution in Ireland is controlled by organised crime groups, a charity that supports victims of sex trafficking in the republic has warned.
Ruhama, which helped 304 women of 37 different nationalities from across the world last year, has used the release of its latest annual report to call on the Irish government to make proper use of new legislation designed to clamp down on the criminal gangs that run prostitution, and take action again sex buyers.
The charity said laws designed to provide greater protection to victims of sex trafficking introduced in March as part of the Sexual Offences Act 2017 must be enforced in order to minimise harm caused to women forced into prostitution.
Penalties for those found guilty of organising or controlling sex workers were increased when the act came into force five months ago.
The new laws also made it illegal to purchase sexual services in Ireland as part of a concerted bid to target the demand for prostitution as well as the supply.
Sarah Benson, CEO of Ruhama, said: “The bulk of prostitution in Ireland is run by organised crime gangs who profit from the sexual exploitation of women and girls, particularly in off-street locations.
“These unscrupulous individuals make money from human misery – moving often vulnerable migrant women in a co-ordinated fashion from brothel to brothel across Ireland, with a view to satisfying local sex buyers’ demands.”
Benson also said it is vital that Irish police do not target sex workers after the Sexual Offences Act 2017 decriminalised the selling of sex outdoors.
Noting that many of the women who work as prostitutes are often vulnerable, Benson called on law enforcement officers to focus their effort on targeting the organised crime groups that profit from sex trafficking, and those who buy sexual services.
“Ruhama is calling on the government to use all the tools at its disposal to effectively tackle this dangerous trade,” she said.
Ruhama campaigned for the buying of sex to be made illegal in Ireland before the Sexual Offences Act 2017 came into force, a move that attracted criticism from human rights groups, which argued that doing so could place prostitutes in greater danger by pushing the sex trade further underground.
The charity’s report revealed that African women brought into Ireland mainly from Nigeria accounted for two-thirds of all the victims it assisted in 2016.
Europol last week revealed that Spanish and Finnish police had broken up a gang involved in smuggling mostly Nigerian women into Europe for the purposes of prostitution.
After being trafficked into Spain, the women were forced into sex work, mostly in the cities of Benidorm and Malaga, but also in Madrid, Barcelona, Soria and Gandía.
