Rural hell of Ireland's sex slaves
THE majority of women trafficked into Ireland for sexual exploitation are forced to work as sex slaves in large provincial towns, new figures show.
According to Ruhama, the support group for women who are sexually exploited for commercial purposes, the group of 44 victims whom they have helped were forced to work in the sex trade in various locations, including Kilkenny, Waterford, Sligo, Athlone, Dundalk, Drogheda, Monaghan and Donegal. The women were brought here from countries such as Nigeria, Cameroon, Kenya, Burundi, Malawi, Congo, Zimbabwe, Thailand, Brazil, Romania and Lithuania.
Ruhama's Gerardine Rowley said the trend of taking women to more rural locations has grown over the past few years.
"We would have had contact with very few of the overall population of trafficked women," she said, as the organisation was Dublin-based and relatively small.
"It must also be accepted that women who have been trafficked are strictly controlled, very afraid and live in fear -- so they are unlikely to make or have contact with organisations such as Ruhama."
However, the group which helps people to escape prostitution, aided 44 victims of trafficking last year -- including 33 who contacted them for the first time.
Smuggled
Out of the 33 new cases of trafficking, one had been smuggled into the country while five others had been brought to other countries but escaped to Ireland to seek help.
Around 18 of the remaining 27 women believed to have been deliberately taken to Ireland for sexual purposes were located outside of the capital.
Around 44pc of the victims, were unable to identify the exact location to which they had been taken and some victims were moved around Ireland. And one victim in Sligo said she had previously worked in Athlone.
"Traffickers often groom the women by saying, 'Don't go to the authorities you'll be thrown in jail and deported'," she said.
"Women were usually recruited by people they knew," she added. "They thought they were coming to Ireland to go to school or to get a job.
"They were brought to houses, raped and beaten, and men brought to have sex with them. Sometimes they were only given food and no money."
Most of the women aided by the support group were aged between 20 and 30, while three were aged around 17.
Ruhama has now called for a specialised national garda unit to work to tackle the problem.
- Louise Hogan
