Identifying victims of human trafficking across the island of Ireland: Who counts? Who’s counting? Who wants to be counted?

Abstract

This article presents qualitative findings from a mixed-methods research study examining the extent and nature of human trafficking across the island of Ireland from January 2014 to September 2019. Specifically, this article focuses on information gathered from interviews with service-providers for victims of human trafficking. Participants were asked if they had information regarding victims of trafficking who had not been identified as victims of human trafficking by either An Garda Síochána in the Republic of Ireland or designated ‘first responders’ in Northern Ireland. If so, they were asked why the victims were not identified. Reasons included failure to identify victims by members of the police services and unwillingness of victims to work with the police services for a variety of reasons. To improve the accuracy of human trafficking statistics and provide services to more victims, we recommend that victim identification processes are broadened to include all relevant service-providers.