http://www.independent.ie/unsorted/features/
trafficking-of-children-is-replacing-drugs-as-gangland-crime-of-choice-690660.html
Trafficking of children is replacing drugs as gangland crime of choice
"IRISH INDEPENDENT"
By Shane Dunphy
Sunday June 03 2007
THE room was always full of smoke, a noxious cloud so thick I had to take deep breaths before going in. Most of those inside were middle-aged or elderly, people sent to this psychiatric facility due to depression, schizophrenia or the myriad other disorders that remain one of the final taboos in our society.
Yet among them was Paul, a short, slim 12-year-old with a mop of curly hair and a cheery, mischievous expression that belied the turmoil inside. Paul had attempted suicide three times, tried to drink drain cleaner and suffered from bouts of anorexia.
An adult psychiatric facility was not the place for Paul. He should have been with his peers, treated by specialists in child and adolescent psychiatry. However, in modern, boom economy Ireland, there are only 10 child and adolescent beds available for an ever-growing population of psychiatrically ill young people (a recent study from Trinity College said that as many as 82 per cent of all teens in juvenile detention centres had at least one diagnosed psychiatric disorder, and gave a figure of 10 per cent across mainstream education).
This utter neglect of a core need of our young people is just one of the items commented upon by Amnesty International's 2007 report, which highlights the deficits in every country in the UN.
The other, equally serious, point upon which Ireland is justly berated is the complete lack of safeguards against the movement and trafficking of children in and out of the State, for use in the sex industry or in sweatshops across the globe.
Ireland it, seems, is a dropping off place, a waiting room, if you like, for children who will later be moved on 'Ireland it, seems, is a dropping off place, a waiting room, if you like, for children who will later be moved to other jurisdictions. It is believed that, due to the ease with which anyone can access the country, children are often smuggled here first, while they are equipped with counterfeit passports and paperwork. It is then easy to move them on.
I spoke to Marie (not her real name) who runs a brothel in the south of the country. She ensures all her workers are above the age of consent, and she will not deal with pimps. She is aware, however, of people in the sex industry who cynically utilise underage girls and boys forced into the work by adults.
"You do hear of children and teenagers being brought into the country under false papers. Ireland is known as a place with very poorly guarded borders, where few questions are asked. Kids are smuggled in, supposedly the nephew or cousin of such and such a person, and they just disappear into the industry, or are given better false papers here, and then shipped out under different names to work in sweat shops or in the child sex trade in eastern Europe or South America. I've heard that some gangs have very high-tech systems for creating passports and birth certificates for these kids. It's big business."
Magda, an ex-prostitute who now runs a support group for newly-arrived sex workers, told me that the problem is widespread and rapidly growing.
"There is a stream of people moving through the State, and no one is making any effort to stop the flow, or even to monitor it," she told me. "The number of children we hear about that come into the country unsupervised is really frightening. They arrive as part of larger groups, in the company of adults who are supposed to be relatives but usually are simply supervising the movement of migrant workers. These kids arrive, and then promptly disappear. We see them showing up on the Missing Persons Lists several months later. The vast majority are never found. No one knows what becomes of them. But we can guess."
Fiona Crowley, from the Irish Office of Amnesty International says people trafficking is rapidly replacing drugs as the most profitable black market industry internationally.
"There's huge money to be earned. The slave trade is alive and well, and women children are, of course, the most vulnerable group.
"Many of the countries of origin have a gender bias. It's also about demand. Girls are a more popular choice in the sex trade, and for domestic labour. They are easily controlled," she said.
Magda told me that most of the children who are trafficked in and out of Ireland are taken from the streets and alleyways of eastern Europe and Africa. However, some do come from within the borders of the European Community.
"They have fled violence, sexual abuse, poverty and fear, hoping to find something better in the big cities - friendship, camaraderie, enough money earned from begging to scrape a living. What they do not realise is that this ever-growing crowd of young faces has become a cash crop, to be harvested by gangs."
Fiona is clear on what needs to be done. "There is no way that trafficking will be stopped. It is a huge business, and the traffickers will develop better and more sophisticated means of getting around safeguards. What we can do is create incentives for victims to come forward. It is a crime to traffick children under the age of 16 into Ireland for sexual exploitation, but if a child were to come forward they would, at present, have no legal rights. Trafficking of people under 16 is still in a legal no-man's-land, and that is one of our greatest concerns.
"We want victims to know that, should they make themselves known to the State, they will not be prosecuted for any related crimes (such as solicitation), will be given safe accommodation, and will be treated with dignity and respect. An international, independent monitoring group would also be beneficial, to review Ireland's process in dealing with the problem."
Amnesty International says Ireland is ignoring its responsibilities towards children - those that were born here, and those who slip over our borders, either to toil in the murky corners of the domestic sex industry, or to be exported to points unknown, never to be heard from again.
Shane Dunphy is a child protection worker and lecturer. He is the author of 'Last Ditch House'.
- Shane Dunphy
And just in the nick of time...