'Sex workers' adding to human trafficking burden
Northern Ireland Minister Paul Goggins warned today of a growing problem of people-trafficking there.
He said a new immigration unit was being set up in Belfast to tackle the crime, which was not yet as bad as in mainland Britain but becoming “more pressing”.
Mr Goggins also suggested that the problem was related to a growing population of foreign sex trade workers in Northern Ireland.
“The issue of immigration crime – human trafficking – is certainly not at the level it is elsewhere in the UK, but it certainly is a more pressing issue than it was,” he told the Commons Northern Ireland Affairs Committee.
He said the introduction of the new immigration enforcement team later this year – thought to consist initially of six permanent officers – was “encouraging”.
“What’s also got back to me is that there has been an increase in the number of female foreign nationals working in prostitution, and that there are now a greater number of brothels operating in Belfast,” he said.
“One of the things that’s said to me is that, from the work police have done, none of the women who have been found have said they’ve been forced into that position – they’ve claimed that they are doing it on a voluntary basis.
“My response to that is to be at least cautious, if not sceptical, because many of the women who are trafficked for the reason of sex exploitation are bullied by the people who bring them here and therefore many of them are not ready to say straight away that they are victims of human trafficking.”
He said he would be monitoring the issue “very carefully”, adding: “In short this is not the problem on the scale of elsewhere in the UK, but it is a potential problem in the very least.
“We will be looking for any signs of clear evidence and I will bring the full force of law enforcement to bear on this issue.”
In written evidence to the committee, which is currently investigating organised crime in the North, the Northern Ireland Office said the new immigration office would open by late 2006.
It added: “Until recently there have been insufficient detainees, at any one time, to make such a facility cost effective.”
