“Sex trade victims treated like criminals says TD”

This is a short, unpublished story which I wrote for an in-class exercise about human trafficking and the sex trade in Ireland.  This is written in tabloid style.

VICTIMS of the sex trade are modern-day slaves but are treated like criminals in Ireland, says Fine Gael TD Denis Naughten.

The Immigration & Integration spokesman is appalled that human trafficking victims do not receive adequate legal protection or support from the State.

“The statutory rights of these victims are almost zero.  There is a very real danger that that in some circumstances the victims themselves will be treated as criminals,” Naughten said on Wednesday.

And while Naughten welcomes a recent Gardai crackdown on brothels, he is appalled that support services for people trapped in the net of prostitution are entirely inadequate.

He is hopeful, though, that a new Human Trafficking law will finally help to put a stop to the needless suffering.

“The new Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) Act which was passed in the Dail earlier this year will make it easier for Gardai to prosecute criminals engaged in trafficking people to and from Ireland,” said Naughten

“Included in this new law is a provision to criminalise a person who knowingly avails of sexual services from a person who has been trafficked into the country.”

“Unless victims feel confident enough to talk to the authorities, it will be very hard to secure convictions against those directly involved in this modern-day slave-trade” he says.

The recent disgraceful imprisoning of two Latvian women for refusing to marry two Asian men in a passport scam will be exactly the sort of repulsive crime this new law is designed to discourage.

Unfortunately, some of the available statistics highlight what an enormous problem the authorities are battling.

On 28 October the Irish Central Statistics Office published figures showing a 235% increase in prostitution offences over the same time last year.

The US Department of State reported in 2005 that between 600,000-800,000 men, women and children are trafficked across international borders each year – of which approximately 80% are women and girls.