An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir April 2014 www.dfmagazine.ie 22 | H uman trafficking has existed for centuries. While it is a worldwide phenomenon, it is believed that in Europe it is most common in the balkans. The Unit- ed Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) says that Kosovo, a place familiar to many Irish soldiers as we have being serv- ing there as peacekeepers since 1999, is a major destina- tion for the trafficking of young women for prostitution. According to Amnesty International, most of those traf- ficked are from Moldova, Romania, bulgaria and Ukraine. Kosovo was also identified in a 2010 US government report as a source, transit, and destination country for female and child victims of human trafficking. All this is not to say that human trafficking is confined to the balkans. It happens almost everywhere, including Ireland. Many of our readers would be most familiar with this topic through films such as Liam Neeson's 'Taken' (2008), in which a retired CIA agent pursues an Albanian gang of hu- man traffickers who have his daughter. 'Taken' is the film that spawned the now infamous phrase: "I don't know who you are, but if you don't let my daughter go, I will find you and I will kill you." Unfortunately, in reality tackling human trafficking is a lot more complicated than Liam's method of shooting anyone he comes across wearing a leather jacket and slicked-back hair. People smuggling and human trafficking are not the same, in that the first must take place across international borders, whereas the latter, although it may be cross-bor- der, can also take place within countries. Another differ- ence is that trafficking must involve the exploitation of the person being trafficked. To be defined as human trafficking, three distinct ele- ments must be fulfilled: 'act', 'means', and 'purpose'. The act of recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons must be done by a means such as the threat or use of force, abduction, fraud, deception, or abuse of power, and it must be for the purpose of some form of exploitation, such as sexual exploitation, labour exploi- tation or organ removal. However, in the case of anyone under 18 only the act and purpose are required for it to be deemed trafficking. Surprisingly, it was only in 2000, almost 200 years after the British Slave Trade Act of 1807 banned the transatlantic slave trade, that a legal definition was agreed internationally in a protocol to the UN Convention against Transnational Organ- ised Crime, commonly known as the Palermo Protocol. The same definition is also used in the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings 2005, which also provides for a number of rights and sup- ports for victims of human trafficking. In Ireland, trafficking was made a crime punishable by up to life imprisonment by the Criminal Law (Human Traf- ficking) Act 2008. An amended Act in 2013 expanded the definition of trafficking to include exploitation of a person for the purpose of forced begging or forced participation in criminal activities. In December 2013 Minister Shatter published the 'Annual Report of Trafficking in Human Beings in Ireland for 2012', the fourth such report to be produced by the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit, which was established in 2008 in the by SGT WAYNE FITzGERALD The Balkans is an region that Irish troops are very familiar with. It is also a focal point for human trafficking in Europe. Irish peacekeepers being briefed on the range in Kosovo. Also included in the system of briefs is the Soldiers Card, which details obligations under human rights and humanitarian law.

• Cover