The 49th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council
28 February to 1 April 2022
Statement of Meezaan Center for Human Rights
Item 6: Universal Periodic Review Outcomes - Ireland
24 March 2022
By Isabelle Despicht
Thank you, President.
We welcome the report of the Working group, and we thank Ireland for participating in the Universal Periodic Review. While we commend all measures taken to respect international human rights standards in the country, we would like to address the issue of human trafficking.
Today, still, many countries are affected by modern slavery and Ireland is no exception. Victims include women, young girls and children as well as migrant workers, who are trafficked to be exploited in numerous ways.
The decreasing victim identification, as well as the low prosecution and convictions rates in trafficking cases, foster a climate of impunity, which should not be maintained.
This is particularly worrying, as the results of an independent study suggested that from 2014 to 2019 victims' identification statistics were 38% higher than the cases officially reported by the authorities.
This is why investing in critical infrastructure helping with the identification of victims is so important.
While we welcome the recommendation to develop and implement a national action plan to prevent and combat all forms of modern slavery, we call Ireland to assist victims of human trafficking without discrimination based on their immigration status.
Lastly, Meezaan Centre and Geneva International Centre for Justice strongly encourage Ireland to make progress in the development and implementation of programmes to protect victims of Human Trafficking.
This should also include the ratification of other important human rights instruments which are inherently linked to human trafficking.
These instruments include
- The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances,
- The Optional Protocol to the CRC on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography and
- The Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
We are confident that taking additional measures to identify victims and ratifying these conventions will provide stronger protection to affected individuals.
I Thank you.
