Children trafficked into criminality face ‘horrific’ level of victim blaming, report says

Children being forced into criminality by drug gangs is the “top concern” among groups working with vulnerable young people in the area of child trafficking, a new report says.The level of “victim blaming” of children caught up in crime is “horrific”, according to the report published by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, which warns of “a high risk” of children being misidentified as suspects and offenders rather than as child trafficking victims. The United Nations defines child trafficking as the “recruitment, transportation, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purposes of exploitation”. It differs from adult trafficking in which movement of the victim is an element. The report, conducted this year, draws on desktop research and interviews with 22 stakeholders from public bodies and European, international and civil society organisations. READ MOREEighteen child victims of trafficking were identified in Ireland last year. While no detailed breakdown is available of their gender or nationality, or whether they were trafficked for sexual, labour or criminal exploitation, the majority were identified by staff at the International Protection Office, where asylum applications are made. None was Irish, which the report says points to a “failure” by authorities to identify victims born and/or raised in the State. “The lack of identification of Irish children as victims of [trafficking] does not align with UK statistics where 78 per cent of child victims are UK nationals, nor with EU statistics where 81 per cent of child victims were EU citizens, with 88 per cent suffering exploitation within their own country.”Children are trafficked mainly for sexual and criminal exploitation, but also for forced labour, begging, organ removal and marriage, the report says. Migrant children, those in care, in families experiencing poverty with little support and in families linked to criminal networks are regarded as being most vulnerable to trafficking. It says young people are particularly vulnerable to being sourced and having their trafficking organised through social media and information and communications technology platforms, including Snapchat, TikTok and Roblox. The report says further research is required into this area given the pace of technological development and fast responses of organised crime groups to these. Forced criminality among children “is probably the biggest area that we’re going to see children ... exploited,” says a stakeholder in the report. “A key concern was that child victims of criminal exploitation were being blamed for their behaviour in a way ... child victims [of other forms of exploitation] may not be,” says the author.Children as young as eight were being trafficked into drugs-gang-related activity, sometimes by older children, it says. The report notes “how difficult it is for children to withstand pressure to become involved in criminality and the difficulties in escaping from the networks, for example, due to fear, the social status membership of the network provided, and a lack of family support”.Some contributors felt “agencies of the State were still unwilling to accept grooming and recruiting children into criminal exploitation [was] child abuse and ... a child trafficking offence”.The report’s 43 recommendations are around legislative reform, identification, protection, prosecution, prevention, partnerships and data collection.These include a new referral mechanism “rooted in child protection and providing access to a full range of appropriate support services”. There is also a need to “ensure consistent application of the legal definition of child trafficking, and investment in training, awareness raising, and digital literacy to address emerging risks in the online environment”, it says.