3. SITUACIÓN ACTUAL
3.3. PORTAFOLIO DE PRODUCTOS ULTRASERFINCO S.A.
The Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) published its second evaluation report on Ireland in September 2017. This report followed the Irish Government’s response to GRETA’s second list of questions in July 2016, and an evaluation visit conducted by GRETA experts to Ireland in December 2016, where they met a wide range of State and civil society actors.430 As reported for 2016, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission
425 Ibid., p. 235. 426 Ibid. 427 Ibid., p. 236 428 Ibid.
429 Anti-Human Trafficking Unit, 18th Newsletter, July 2018, received by email. 430 Sheridan (2017) (print version), p. 145.
Countering trafficking in human beings | 121
(IHREC) and Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI) made submissions to GRETA for the second evaluation.431
The GRETA report acknowledged the progress made by Ireland in a number of areas. These included improvements to the legal framework in line with GRETA recommendations including the extension of the definition of trafficking to include forced criminality and forced begging via the Criminal Justice (Human Trafficking) Act 2013, the criminalisation of the purchase of sexual services including from victims of trafficking in the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017, and the single application procedure in the International Protection Act 2015. The Committee also commended the adoption of the Second National Action Plan to Prevent and Combat Human Trafficking, and efforts in relation to awareness raising, international cooperation, increased funding for and partnership with civil society, and training of relevant professionals often carried out in partnership with NGOs. The Committee welcomed the inclusion of the Garda Human Trafficking Investigation and Coordination Unit (HTICU) in the new Garda National Protective Services Bureau (GNPSB), in line with its previous recommendation that victim identification be separated from immigration control.
However, the report also contained several recommendations for Ireland, including some highlighted for immediate action. These recommendations included:
• an urgent review of the victim identification procedure including in light of the High Court judgment in the case P v Chief Superintendent of the Garda National Immigration Bureau and Ors, which looked at the victim identification procedure from the point of view where the alleged victim of trafficking was also involved in criminal activity. The Committee also called for Ireland to put in place a specific legal provision on the non-punishment of victims of trafficking in situations where they are compelled to participate in unlawful activities. The Committee recommended that the reviewed identification procedure should cover all victims, including EEA and Irish citizens as well as asylum seekers; • a review of the practice of accommodating suspected victims of trafficking in
accommodation centres intended for asylum seekers and to set up a specialised shelter on a pilot basis as a first step;
• to take steps to ensure that avenues for compensation are easily accessible for trafficked people;
• to take more measures to ensure that trafficking offences are investigated and prosecuted effectively.432 GRETA expressed concern about what it considered
431 Ibid., p. 146.
to be ‘the inadequate criminal justice response to human trafficking in Ireland and noted that failure to convict traffickers and the absence of effective sentences engenders a feeling of impunity and undermines efforts to support victims to testify’.433
The Government’s initial response, by the AHTU, to the immediate recommendations was also included in the report. These comments addressed a number of issues, including the comparability of statistics with other jurisdictions, the victim identification mechanism, the accommodation of victims in accommodation run by the Reception and Integration Agency (RIA) and the number of prosecutions. With regard to victim identification, the AHTU noted that a comprehensive review was ongoing. It also clarified its view that the Administrative Immigration Arrangements for Victims of Trafficking were only one aspect of victim identification and the identification of other categories of victims was not precluded.434
8.4 LEGISLATION
The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017 was signed into law on 22 February 2017. The Act was partially commenced (including provisions in relation to sexual exploitation of children and the purchase of sexual services) on 27 March 2017. As reported for previous years, the passage of this legislation was a priority for the Irish Government. According to the Department of Justice and Equality, the Act strengthens existing law to combat child pornography, the sexual grooming of children, incest, exposure and other offensive conduct of a sexual nature. It is an offence for a person to pay to engage in sexual activity with a prostitute or a trafficked person, regardless of nationality. The person providing the sexual service – the prostitute – will not be subject to an offence. The purpose of introducing these provisions is primarily to target the trafficking and sexual exploitation of persons through prostitution.
Part 4 (section 27) of the Act contains a specific reporting requirement on the implementation of the Act within three years, including in respect of the number of arrests and convictions and an assessment of the impact of the legislation on the safety and well-being of persons who engage in sexual activity for payment.435
433 Ibid., paragraph 226. 434 Ibid., pp. 69–72.
435 ‘(2) The report shall include— (a) information as to the number of arrests and convictions in respect of offences under
section 7A of the Act of 1993 during the period from the commencement of that section, and (b) an assessment of the impact of the operation of that section on the safety and well-being of persons who engage in sexual activity for payment.’
Countering trafficking in human beings | 123
The AHTU attends the meetings of an NGO-led High Level Working Group to support implementation of the Act.436,437
As reported for 2016, the Sex Workers Alliance Ireland (SWAI) expressed reservations about this legislation, arguing that criminalising the purchase of sex would marginalise sex workers and force them into unsafe situations.438 After the Bill was signed into law in 2017, four organisations – Amnesty International Ireland, HIV Ireland, the Migrant Rights Centre of Ireland (MRCI) and Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI) – expressed great reservations about Part IV of the Act, which criminalises the purchase of sexual services. The organisations generally felt that it would not protect vulnerable sex workers and would expose them to further dangers by forcing sex work underground. The groups welcomed the three-year review built into the Act. The MRCI said: We came out against this law after long consideration, and it is deeply disappointing that it passed today. It will not protect the most vulnerable – migrants, asylum seekers, refugees doing survival sex work. Furthermore, it promotes harmful stigmatisation and obstructs access to justice. We know from our decade of work on human trafficking and forced labour that this approach will not help victims of trafficking.439
In September 2017, the Irish Times reported that the SWAI had said there had been a marked increase in abuse and violent attacks since the passage of the new law earlier in the year.440
In response to a parliamentary question in October 2018, the Minister for Justice and Equality said: ‘The part of the Act dealing with the purchase of sex is due to be reviewed in 2020, which review will include an assessment of the impact on the welfare of those who engage in sexual activity for payment, as well as statistics on prosecutions and convictions’.441
The Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Act 2017 came into law in November 2017.442 An Garda Síochána noted that this law put protection for all victims of crime, including human trafficking victims, on a statutory basis.443 Section 15 of the Act provides for an assessment of the victim for the purpose of identifying any
436 Correspondence with Anti-Human Trafficking Unit, Department of Justice and Equality, February 2018.
437 The organisations included are: Sexual Exploitation Research Project UCD; Space International; Ruhama; Immigrant
Council of Ireland; Children’s Rights Alliance; National Women’s Council of Ireland; Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation; One in Four; Sexual Violence Centre Cork; and Doras Luimni.
438 Sheridan (2017) (print version), p. 147. 439 Migrant Rights Centre of Ireland (2017b). 440 Irish Times (2017d).
441 Department of Justice and Equality (2 October 2018) Response to Parliamentary Question 39752/18. Available at
www.justice.ie
442 Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Act 2017 (S.I. No. 28 of 2017); Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Act 2017
(Commencement) Order 2017 (S.I. No. 530 of 2017).
protection needs or any special measures needed during the investigation or criminal proceedings. Section 15(2)(f) sets out a list of victims whose particular vulnerabilities should be considered when making this assessment, including victims of human trafficking.