A TOTAL OF 53 victims of trafficking were identified in Ireland in 2023 – an increase of 20% from 2021. 

Over the three years spanning 2021 to 2023, there were 139 victims officially identified, 53 of which were accepted into the current National Referral Mechanism in 2023.

This is according to the findings of the Third National Anti-Human trafficking report of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC), as Ireland’s National Rapporteur on Human Traffic, which has been published today. 

The increase, which has been described by the IHREC as “a significant rise that has occurred within a relatively short  period of time”, shows that the state is “making advancements in how we tackle the problems of human trafficking” and improving its capacity to identify victims, the commission said. 

Children represent 8% of all victims in trafficking in Ireland over the last 11 years. 44 children have been officially recognised as victims of trafficking in Ireland since 2013, among a total of 566 victims. 

Although this is significantly less than the EU average of 15%, the percentage does not necessarily mean that Ireland has less child trafficking victims, with the IHREC saying: “we believe this is due to the fact that we do not have robust enough systems to identify child trafficking victims.” 

New legislation, enacted in July, will better protect the rights of victims and survivors, it added – though the legislation contains gaps relating to child trafficking, the equal application for all victims regardless of nationality, immigration status, or pending international protection application, and statutory protection from prosecution for victims. 

The IHREC Commissioner, Noeline Blackwell said: “The trafficking of human beings is a horrific crime with trafficking for sexual exploitation being the most frequent form of trafficking in Ireland. It is a crime that most impacts women and girls, and people from ethnic minorities.

She added that Ireland has a “political and moral responsibility” to ensure new legislation delivers to defend, protect and support victims and survivors of human trafficking.” 

The report contains recommendations on various areas of human trafficking, including criminal exploitation, labour exploitation, technology-facilitated-sex-trafficking, and exploitative surrogacy.