A new report has found that most homeless agencies in Ireland believe they are coming into contact with people who have been trafficked but have insufficient knowledge to identify victims.
“An Overview of Homelessness and Human Trafficking in Dublin”, the results of research by the homeless charity Depaul with the UK-based charity, The Passage, shows that agencies believe there are many missed opportunities to identify victims and provide them with the support they are entitled to under the EU Directive for Human Trafficking.
Thirteen respondents from eleven homelessness organisations completed the survey. Of these, 54 per cent said that they thought they had worked with people who had been trafficked. One respondent said that they felt they had worked with probably around eight to 10 potential victims but said this could be higher.
The report calls on decision-makers to involve homeless organisations in the introduction of the National Action Plan to Prevent and Combat Human Trafficking.
In 2022, 42 survivors of human trafficking were officially identified by the Gardaí of which five were minors and 37 were adults. The majority were women and girls, victims of sexual exploitation while 15 cases involved labour exploitation, two cases involved criminal exploitation and one case involved organ harvesting. The predominant country of origin of the survivors was Nigeria.
Six recommendations aimed at improving the multi-agency response to human trafficking include enhancing the intelligence picture and developing specialist accommodation for trafficking victims that is safe, suitable and trauma informed.
According to Mick Clarke, chief executive of The Passage, the research will help in identification and support of trafficked victims in Ireland’s homeless sector.
“The Irish Government has recently launched a new national action plan on human trafficking, and it is believed our recommendations contribute to achieve the objectives of the strategy,” he said.
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