Sexual Exploitation
Human trafficking for sexual exploitation is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons who under threat, force, coercion or deception and are sexually exploited for the financial gain of another.
Human trafficking for sexual exploitation…
is a crime where mainly women and girls, but also men and boys are forcefully involved in commercial sex acts. Places where someone can be sexually exploited include forced prostitution, brothels, massage parlours, escort agencies/websites, lap dancing clubs, phone sex lines, internet chat rooms or live streaming and pornography.
Sex trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons who under threat, force, coercion, fraud, deception or abuse of power are sexually exploited for the financial gain of another.
Scale of the problem in Ireland
In 2019, there were 36 victims of trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation detected in Ireland. During a five year period (2015 - 2019) there were 159 victims of human trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation detected and this constitutes 50% of all trafficking victims. It must be noted, however, that due to the clandestine nature of human trafficking that it is difficult to estimate potential numbers and these figures represent victims who have been detected.
The very nature of the sex trade in Ireland has also changed moving from the outdoors to indoors in brothels, apartments, hotels and massage parlours. An indoor sex trade means less visibility and prostitution has now moved behind closed doors making it more difficult to identify victims of trafficking. As recounted by some of the survivors of sex trafficking under the case studies section, victims of trafficking are also often moved every few days or weeks never staying very long in one place. Globally, 99% of sex trafficking victims are women and girls meaning that this is a very gendered crime. Victims may find it difficult to speak out about their experiences because of fear, lack of trust or shame.
People trafficked for sexual exploitation may:
*Indicators sourced from BlueBlindfold.ie & UNODC
Be of any age
Move from one brothel to the next or work in various locations
Be escorted whenever they go to and return from work and other activities
Have tattoos or other marks indicating “ownership” by their exploiters
Work long hours or have few, if any, days off
Sleep where they work
Live or travel in a group, sometimes with other women who do not speak the same language
Have very few items of clothing
Have clothes that are the kind typically worn for doing sex work
Only know how to say sex-related words in the local language or in the language of the client group
Have no cash of their own
Be unable to show an identity document
It is important to note that not all indicators may be present and, in reality, many victims of trafficking do not explicitly display these indicators and so it it not always obvious that a person is a victim of sex trafficking. It is, therefore, always important to pay close attention.