Lenihan gets tough on people trafficking
JUSTICE Minister Brian Lenihan is planning a crackdown on human trafficking amid concerns that the country risks becoming a hot-spot for people smugglers.
The minister said there was no evidence to indicate that it was a major issue at the moment but warned that human trafficking could spiral out of control unless action was taken.
Mr Lenihan outlined his plans in the Dail to tackle trafficking as Dutch authorities confirmed a Nigerian arrested in this country was suspected of involvement in an international child trafficking ring.
Investigators believe the group forced young girls to work as prostitutes in several European countries, including France, Italy and Spain.
The suspect appeared in the High Court last week on a European arrest warrant. He denied in court that he was either Peter Kwame Sarfo or Jackson Smith, the names used on the warrant, but his claims were rejected by Mr Justice Michael Peart, who remanded him in custody until next week at Cloverhill Prison.
The court heard the suspect had been detained here in connection with a domestic issue.
The investigation into the disappearance of Nigerian children in the Netherlands has been under way for more than a year but there is no evidence that any of the children had been trafficked into Ireland.
Some 19 suspected traffickers were arrested by police in the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, Britain, the US and Ireland.
Dutch police say Nigerian children were controlled through Voodoo threats, trafficked into Amsterdam with false documents and then told to apply for asylum.
They were accommodated in care centres but were then forced out by the trafficking ring and sent as prostitutes to the other countries.
Police estimated that more than 130 girls went missing and some were later found on the streets of European capitals.
In Lanzarote yesterday, Ireland was one of 24 European member states to sign the Council of Europe convention on the protection of children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse.
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The convention is aimed at preventing and combating the exploitation and abuse, protecting the rights of child victims and promoting national and international co-operation.
In the Dail, Mr Lenihan noted that recent research suggested that at least 76 women had been trafficked into Ireland over the past seven years.
He said this was 76 too many and was indicative of a small but growing problem.
International experts estimated that some 2.5 million people throughout the world were at any given time recruited, entrapped, transported and exploited, he said.
Piloting the Criminal Law (human trafficking) Bill 2007 through the Dail, Mr Lenihan disclosed that he also intended to introduce new laws to bring the sex offenders register more into line with the regulations in neighbouring jurisdictions and also strengthen the law on sexual grooming.
Fine Gael's Simon Coveney said up to 100,000 people were trafficked across EU borders yearly and to suggest Ireland was immune to the problem was misleading.
He claimed the new legislation did nothing to guarantee protection for victims of trafficking. Meanwhile, Ireland's children's charity Barnardos said that in Ireland some 328 children had disappeared from State care in the past five years and there was little information on where they were now.
It recommended that separated children should be fostered rather than being housed in open hostels.
- Tom Brady Security Editor
