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A VICTIM OF human trafficking – who was forced to work in prostitution in Ireland by a criminal gang – has spoken out about her ordeal, asking the men who use prostitutes to think of the women involved.
“Mary” – not her real name – will speak tonight on RTÉ’s Crimecall about what happened her when she first arrived in Ireland. Mary had been led to believe that she was going to be working in a hospital, but instead the men who met her at Dublin Airport brought her to a brothel.
“They took everything, our passports and our bags,” Mary told the attackers.
She said that while she was there she tried to resist her traffickers, but was unable to escape.
“I tried to fight so hard. I was chained and I had bruises, but they said ‘it ‘doesn’t matter’,” she said.
Mary spoke about her ordeal, and what she had to do while she was kept by her traffickers.
“I remember they brought us… bikinis and there was some other sex toys,” she said.
You’re just in your room and different men come in they knock on your door and you can’t say no.
She talked about how her abuse continued for nearly a year, before she managed to escape. Speaking tonight, she will appeal for people to think about the lives of the women involved in prostitution.
“To the men they don’t know the people they are using… Let them imagine it was their daughters or their sisters… we are all human beings with the same blood,” she said.
Under laws brought into Ireland in 2017, it is illegal to purchase sex.
Gardaí said earlier that they had stopped and questioned 36 people over the weekend as part of an intelligence-led operation targeting the demand for prostitution and the purchasing of sexual services.
Commenting on Mary’s story, Sarah Benson – CEO of Ruhama, a charity set up to work with women affected by prostitution – said that men buying sex was not “a benign act without consequence”.
“It has fundamentally dehumanising effects for the most vulnerable members of our community. And since 2017 it has been a crime,” she said.
Pimps and traffickers have no market if men are not buying sex.
Other groups - like the Sex Workers Alliance Ireland (SWAI) – have claimed that the new laws have made life more dangerous for sex workers by pushing them further underground.
There should be people at all airports (and ferry ports) who are trained to spot this situation taking place. Asking relevant questions, and carrying out checks, can uncover the truth.
@Ted Murray: customs and immigration are already carrying out checks. but can you check every single traveller? it’s even more difficult if their behaviour is relaxed or excited as they believe they are here to start a new live. How would they stand out?
@sue: __ You have to have an imagination to concoct methods of checking people. During the troubles, for example, anyone boarding a flight from the UK to Ireland had to fill in details on a card before departure. Something similar could be done to filter passengers entering Ireland for the first time, and in particular those with jobs lined up. I’m pretty sure that other devious methods can be dreamed up. Whatever checks are being carried out now, aren’t anywhere near foolproof, or this article and many like it, wouldn’t be in the news.
This shouldn’t be going on under people’s noses in a country the size of Ireland. Whether the result of oblivion or tolerance, it’s a disgrace. Human trafficking deserves nothing less than the death penalty.
This could be easily stopped if the Will was there to do so
@Dan public: don’t forget the very lenient justice system. No fear
legalise prostitution. protect the women working there. provide health checks ensuring they are both save and healthy. their clients could then avail of those services without hiding, meaning they would be less likely to use human trafficking victims. pushing it underground doesn’t work, it will only create a black market with victims.
@sue: does that mean it’s ok to use those poor women with poor self self esteem or have an addiction or whatever reason they are in that situation I do no think it is right to ‘use’ anyone
@sue: would you like one of your family members working in this industry?
@John Murray: Unfortunately “poor self self esteem or have an addiction or whatever” doesn’t get you waved through the checkout at Tesco without paying.
The most common factor among sex workers is self reliance, we find begging from anyone, especially agenda driven NGOs a lot more disgusting and degrading than selling sex honestly.
I am disabled – here is how:
https://mymythbuster.wordpress.com/i-am-bethany/
If it wasn’t for sex work I would not still be here.
@John Murray: why do you think I said medical checks? there are men and women who choose this work. use and abuse, no, definitely not. A consensual transaction between two adults, why not? who am I to judge.
@Seamus Mac: there are many jobs I do not want a family member to work as
@sue: but this job specifically?
@sue: What a pile of lies! Germany did just this and now has an astronomical number of trafficked women in the country. I hope people are not deluded by these ‘solutions’
@Nusha Yonkova: can you provide a link to that?
@Nusha Yonkova: No they don’t, that is just propaganda hype.
@sue: Here is a link to interviews with prostutited women, some of whom have experience of the German mega brothels.
https://www.feministcurrent.com/2019/04/26/interview-women-of-colour-speak-out-against-prostitution/
Ruhama are not a credible organisation, linked to magdalene laundries and the fact Ruhama is funded by the same organisation.
“Other groups – like the Sex Workers Alliance Ireland (SWAI) – have claimed that the new laws have made life more dangerous for sex workers by pushing them further underground.”
The article should have focused on this organisation with a small mention of Ruhama at the end, rather than the other way around.
@BreadBasketCase: I think, over the years Ruhama have done me more damage than any other situation I can think of – and I am not talking about petty little life tweaks here, I mean serious, life threatening damage. The latest episode even shocks me. I can’t talk about it right now but I will ask you, and anyone else who is concerned to get on to your TD, the Minister for Health or the Minister for Justice and DEMAND Ruhama by subject to a full, independent value for money audit including totally confidential identification of service users.
Whatever you believe about sex work I think we can all agree that sex workers deserve politically neutral support services that care about them rather than oppose, silence and exploit them to agenda. I also believe there should be a tribunal of public enquiry into Ruhama and affiliates. People have made a lot of money out other the Nordic Model and set up consultancy businesses on the back of it.
You may recognize a name in the article I posted Prostitution and trafficking – the anatomy of a moral panic ,Ruth Breslin, research and development manager for Eaves in the u.k 2009 ,Yes she went on to work at Ruhama
The prostitution laws in new Zealand have had the best results in regards to trafficking this is why it is supported by Lancet ,Amnesty international ,Numerous anti trafficking organizations to name but a few .
It would be a lot easier to stop all abuses in the sex industry if it was not constantly misrepresented as a counter in a nasty, self serving political game that helps nobody who isn’t getting a salary out of it.
@Gaye D: The sex industry istelf is abusive. It presents women as commodities to be used. It perpetuates the myth that men have ‘needs’ that must be satisified. Oh my god! imagine if men’s ‘needs’ were not met!
The sex industry is a billion dollar global entity that is pouring money into trying to silence the feminist who are arguing agaisnt prostution and porn. They set up ‘collectives’ and ‘unions’ of prostuites to push the ‘what about choice?’ or the ‘It’s empowering’ narrative, or, my personal favourite, ‘I know a plucky student who got herself through colledge’.
This industry destroys women and girls. It is dehumanizing and brutal and any man using a woman like this should be ashamed. Its very existence furthers the oppression of all women.
@Jean Cross: well said
@Jean Cross: Rubbish…the sex industry is mostly about women meeting their financial needs…some in utter desperation with no other recourse. The clients are just the crop they harvest. Nobody cares what they think, or don’t think as long as their money and behaviour is good, and most, usually are. I have no idea how anyone ever convinces themselves that these same resourceful and self reliant women would be better off without an income…or living under the control of morally bankrupt feminist extremists.
Prostitution and trafficking – the anatomy of a moral panic from 2009 but also worth a read .
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/oct/20/trafficking-numbers-women-exaggerated
The carry on of beings is hardly human
here is a question to anyone who thinks outlawing prostitution is the way to go to protect sex workers. can anyone please provide one example when outlawing has actually worked and not resulted in pushing it underground and increasing crime as a result?
You only have to follow https://twitter.com/irish_jezebel to see the kind of danger these workers are exposed to. The Guards do nothing to protect them. They don’t even show up when called upon. Look at the guy she’s had to deal with for the last 2 weeks..
@Flood Official: More people should follow the accounts of actual sex workers and see the reality for themselves. The biggest danger to sex workers in Ireland today is Ruama and the Noric Model
@Gaye D: if I had a daughter, it wouldn’t be a life I’d want for her but some people end up in situations because they have to do what they have to do. We’re not all fortunate in life.
Whether it’s drugs or prostitution, the law makers have to realise that it will keep happening no matter what they do, so why not regulate it and make it safe for everyone?
@Flood Official: A Romanian Lady summed it up and put it in it’s place years ago:
“Life is full of things we have to do that we don’t like, most of them don’t pay this well so get over it”.
That is all there is to it.
I wonder what percentage of sex workers are trafficked like this?
Likely quite low.
I hope so, it’s a terrible story. That poor girl
@john doe: I wouldn’t be so naive, it’s probably 95%. Hardly a profession that anyone wants to be in.
@Stevie Doran: Definitely much less than 95%. But an increasing percentage due to it being pushed underground. And I know a previous prostitute who’s now in a relationship so has changed to a ‘normal’ career, but misses the job and lifestyle of working as a prostitute.
Some of the judges are big into their hookers themselves, thinking of one guy that’s very high up
How about young fellas that can’t get girlfriend or don’t have Instagram face. They must be sexual frustrated this could cause them with despression or suicide. Some these young fellas could be small town or village where ratio of women very smal and maybe l don’t have confidence talk to women. I know sex trafficking is wrong and destroy women life’s and family. Government need change the law and go after theses pimps.
@Ao: paying for sex is not likely to do much for your self esteem.
@Ao: It is just this kind of attitude, ‘but men need sex, all the time, every day, whenever they want it’ that fuels the sex industry. Just becasue men and boys want something it doesn’t mean that women have to be provided for them. Should the women and girls of these rural villages have to put up with prostution going on under their noses so the them men and the boys can be sexually satisified when ever they feel the need (aka self indulgence)?
@Jean Cross: As long as there are women who need the money, than heavens “men need sex” – survival and quality of life are more important that whether you sell sex and how unconcerned and ill-informed third parties feel about that.
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