Turn Off the Red Light Campaign - Briefing Paper

Published: Sunday, April 10, 2011

Briefing Paper: Turn off the Red Light
Campaign to criminalise the purchase of sex and stop the demand for trafficked and prostituted women and girls in Ireland
February 2, 2011
The Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI) is an independent human rights organisation. We advocate for the rights of migrants and their families and act as a catalyst for public debate. Our Information and Referral Service responds to more than 10,000 enquiries each year. We are also an Independent Law Centre, which allows us to provide legal representation to clients. In 2009, the ICI published groundbreaking research exploring the trafficking of migrant women into the Irish sex industry. The
research, "Globalisation, Sex Trafficking and Prostitution: The Experiences of Migrant Women in Ireland", was funded by the Religious Sisters of Charity and carried out in collaboration with the Health Service Executive (through the Women's Health Project, Baggot St) and Ruhama.
Trafficking in human beings has increasingly been recognised as a global human rights violation. The US State Department estimates that approximately 800,000 people are trafficked across national borders, which does not include the millions trafficked in their own country. Approximately 80 per cent of transnational victims of trafficking and forced labour are women and girls, up to 50 per cent of which are minors (US State Department 2006). The majority of transnational victims are females trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. International concern about trafficking is welcome and has been reflected in a number of human rights instruments and conventions that underpin the fundamental rights of those exploited through trafficking.

Click here to read the entire briefing paper

Click here to see the Turn Off the Red Light flyer