Sex Trafficking Submissions

national | crime and justice | opinion/analysis Tuesday January 29, 2008 13:40 by C Murray

NGO's submissions often relegated behind Justice PR.

In the wake of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences Bill) 2006; as amended in 2007,
two expert committees were set up to look at :- The issue of consent , to which interest groups
were invited to make submission; and in the wake of that a committee was set up under the
chairmanship of Mary O Rourke (Senator) to look at amending the Constitution.

Latest news on the issue of Protection is that the State may postpone the Referendum
now until 2009, because they do not (nor do the opposition) want the two Referenda
to coincide and create confusion for the voter. The Government had discussed holding
a referendum on Protection on the same day as the Lisbon Treaty Vote.

The Perameters of the First Committee;-

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/77462

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The Constitutional referendum:-

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/76923
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At the time of the first Emergency Law (June 2nd 2006), mostly the political parties of
the opposition signed up to the bill, with stated reservations not quite making it to
secure any amendments until early 2007; when an amendment to the 2006 law was
introduced in the wake of arrests at an official address which led to the State
realising that there was a huge hole in the law and the offence of solicitation was
added.

On Monday of this week, the advocacy Group Ruhama made a submission on
the trafficking of women and children into this state:-

http://www.ruhama.ie/page.php?intPageID=134
http://www.ruhama.ie

The submission on purchase of sexual services following the Swedish model
is at the first link, interestingly Ruhama who do excellent work in outreach and
counselling to women victims of sex trafficking also submitted on the
Criminal Law (Sexual Offences Bill) 2006+2007:-

http://www.ruhama.ie/page.php?intPageID=145

(Agneta Bucknell)

In which they overall welcomed the Bill on protection aspects, but urged expansion
on the heads to do with rights and safety of child and women victims of sex crime.
The issues did not seem to get either adequate funding or interest at Justice, where
it has been impossible to see if there are specially trained trauma/rape counsellors
available , but the advocacy groups and NGO's say that the volunteer services of the
DRCC and regional rape centres are made available to women from other cultures.

It appears then, that the ongoing difficulties with the Emergency Law of 2006
are to be shelved until possibly 2009, with their attendant re-institution of the
witness cross- examination of victims, the retention of the Honest mistake mechanism
and the unconstitutional Section 5.

The NGO submission on the issue of adequate response to the issue of
protection for children and women trafficking makes interesting reading in the
light of how the offices of the State dealt with and have again neglected this very
serious issue.