As many as 40 children a year are being trafficked to the Republic for either economic or sexual exploitation, a report to be published tomorrow states.
The report, Trafficking in Unaccompanied Minors, to be published by the Brussels-based International Organisation for Migration (IOM), suggests the figure of more than three children a month being smuggled into the State may be an underestimation. It calls on the authorities to record how many children are being trafficked to the Republic.
Dr Pauline Conroy, author of the report and a social affairs analyst with the independent research body Ralaheen, states that it is "extremely difficult to obtain evidence on the scale and extent of trafficking due to the lack of data collection and the hidden nature of the phenomenon."
"However, the experience of frontline professionals clearly indicates the existence of child trafficking in Ireland".
She says children aged between three and 17 are being trafficked for a variety of reasons, including as child brides, to work in the sex industry, and to beg or work in the black economy.
She notes the presence of unaccompanied minors within the asylum process more than doubled between 2000 and 2001, from 300 to 603. In 2002 the figure was 852 and last year, when the report was compiled, it was 918. About 60 per cent of these were reunited with families, but Dr Conroy's research indicates that at least one tenth of the remaining 367 have been smuggled into the State illegally.
The report cites 16 examples of trafficked children. The highest proportion of unaccompanied minors came from Nigeria (52 per cent), followed by Romania (9 per cent) and Sierra Leone (7 per cent).
The full report will be available at www.iomdublin.org
