The Irish NGO Ruhama in co-operation with Stop the Traffik has launched a campaign in Ireland against human trafficking. Ruhama, which provides outreach services to sex workers in Dublin, said that it had made contact with 100 women who had come to Ireland to work, but found themselves trafficked into sex slavery.
Geraldine Rowley of Ruhama said;
“Our aim is to unlock the sex slavery that’s happening in the country today. This year marks the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and incredibly we still have millions of women from poorer countries enslaved in the sex trade of wealthier countries. Little is being done to highlight this issue and unravel the massive injustice which is all around us,”
Ms Rowley continued;
“There is no deterrent out there for the traffickers. It is a low risk high profit crime with no legislation. We are the only country in the EU without trafficking legislation and the Bill that was produced totally excluded the victims of trafficking.
Any new law must support the women, otherwise they will be deported and will end up being trafficked again.”
For more on this and related subjects, please visit Ireland.com by clicking here.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has reported that more people have been trafficked from Ukraine than from any other Eastern European country, since the fall of the Soviet Union. The report states that 117,000 women, children and men have been trafficked since 1991 into forced labour, begging and prostitution. Destinations have included Russia, EU countries and the Middle East. Many of the victims were promised jobs abroad, but on arrival their travel documents were removed and they found themselves in a situation of slavery.

The EU recently announced funding of 2 million Euros for an IOM project supporting and re-integrating victims of human trafficking in Ukraine and Moldova. For more on this and related subjects, please visit the International Herald Tribune by clicking here.

A conference in Kolkata, India, held by the National Commission for Women this week, voiced concerns over the failure of the legal system to ensure that human traffickers were punished. This, it was claimed, was significantly hindering the fight against human trafficking.
Mr Justice Samaresh Banerjee said “The delay in granting justice to the victim results in destruction of the identity of the victim. In most cases, the victims are convicted instead of the traffickers. There is no proper home where the victims are treated with respect when their families refuse to take them back,”
There was also concern at the rising tide of human trafficking in the country. “In spite of the existent laws and Sections in the Indian Penal Code and CrPC, women and child trafficking is increasing at an alarming rate because of increasing migration of human beings due to poverty, unemployment and enforced displacement.” said Prof. Malini Bhattacharya, member of National Commission for Women. To read more about this and related subjects, please visit The Statesman by clicking here.

Two Albanian men have been jailed in Wales for trafficking four Lithuanian women into sexual exploitation in brothels in Cardiff and Birmingham. The women were forced to give Erjon Javori, 32,  Arjan Kanani, 22 the £400 they made each day, out of fear. The women were picked up directly from London’s Gatwick airport and forced into the brothels. The men were also recommended for deportation. To read more on this and related subjects, please visit icWales by clicking here.