RUHAMA PRESS RELEASE

EU Anti-Human Trafficking Day – 18th October, 2010

Ruhama calls on the Government to enshrine the human rights of victims of sex trafficking in Irish legislation

The leading charity, Ruhama, that works with victims of sex trafficking expressessurprise, disappointment and deep concernthat the human rights of victims of trafficking are not to be enshrined in Irish law.

Sarah Benson, CEO, Ruhama said today “When the Irish Government redrafted the Immigration, Residency and Protection bill earlier this year, we hopedit would contain a human rights approach in it’sgranting protection to victims of trafficking. Sadly, this is not the case and the recently published bill continues to place protectionto victims of trafficking on the condition that the victims co operate with the criminal investigationrather than on the basis that they have been the victims of an unspeakable crime and are entitled to humanitarian aid.”

“We are deeply concerned at Ireland’s lack of a human rights approach and the consequences it has on the women we work with. This conditional clause means that victims find themselves once again coerced into a situation which further traumatizesthem and obstructs their recovery from the horrendous abusethey are escaping.”

For the past decade Ruhama has assisted over 200 victims of sex trafficking. In 2009, it assisted 26 new victims, this however remains only the tip of the iceberg when it come to theoverall scale of the crime in Ireland.

Ruhama believes that one of the most effective ways to tackle the growth in sex trafficking is to focus more on the demand in the sex trade.

Sarah Benson went on tosay that“Without the men who are buying sexual services there would be no market for traffickers to ply their trade. We believe Ireland needs to follow the example of other European countries, such asSweden, Norway and Iceland who havehalted the growth of sex trafficking in their countries by criminalizing the purchase of sexual services.Sweden recently published its evaluation on 10 years of this legislation and they have deemed it a success in terms of the fight against sex trafficking and helping women exit prostitution by offering them real alternatives.”

ENDS

For Contact: Sarah Benson, CEO, 086-6003115

Gerardine Rowley, Policy and Communications Manager 086-2591247

Young Communications, 087-2471520

Notes to Editor:

The Immigration, Residency and Protection Bill 2010 was published on the 1st July 2010. This Bill contains measures to protect victims of human trafficking, including; a 60 day Recovery & Refection Period and a 6 month Temporary Residency Permit.

Protection to Victims of Human Trafficking is in Section 8, Part 139, Pages 169, 170, 171

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