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The UN GIFT Box is a unique piece of public art touring Ireland throughout the month of March to raise awareness of human trafficking and modern day slavery. It is a walk-in installation where members of the public can learn more about the deception involved in human trafficking and the suffering of the victims drawn in by traffickers.
Trafficking in human beings is a gross violation of human rights – it’s a modern form of slavery and an extremely profitable business for organised crime.
The UN GIFT Box awareness event is set for Wednesday, March 29th at the Redemptorist Church, Dundalk and will run from 9:00 until 21:00. This is a unique opportunity for schools, businesses and community groups to support this initiative to demonstrate their commitment to taking a stand against this terrible crime.
This event is brought about by the Justice and Peace Committee of the Loreto Sisters (Ireland), Act to Prevent Trafficking (APT), St. Mary’s College, An Garda Síochána, Fr. Michael Cusack (Redemptorist Fathers), Louth Leader Partnership, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and other religious groups and community organisations along with the Department of Justice.
The UN GIFT box is a unique project launched by STOP THE TRAFFIK and the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UN.GIFT). GIFT box successfully delivered large-scale awareness raising; introducing people to the issue of human trafficking; and inspiring them to take further action.
Each GIFT box is a walk-in piece of public art, symbolising the way in which traffickers entice their victims with false promises. The outside of the box offers the “gift” of a brighter new life. Once inside they realise the deception. They are confronted with a three dimensional, thought-provoking and interactive experience, which introduces the grim reality that victims of human trafficking are forced into.
True stories of human trafficking are recounted inside the GIFT Box. To protect the identity of victim’s names are changed and the artwork is nonrepresentational.
The Gift Box will display the Irish National Free Phone Number: 1800 25 00 25 which is part of Blue Blindfold, Ireland’s response to Human Trafficking developed in conjunction with the Department of Justice and Equality. Please be aware that many people affected by human trafficking are in precarious immigration situations.
Human trafficking is to deceived or taken against your will, bought or sold and transported into exploitation; whether forced labour or sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, forced marriage, forced begging or the removal of organs.
Men, women and children are trafficked within their own countries and across international borders. Trafficking affects every continent and every country; whether it’s an origin country where people are trafficked from; a transit country where people are trafficked through; or a destination country where people are trafficked to. Often a country will be all three.
| Article 3, paragraph (a) of the UN Protocol to Prevent Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons defines Trafficking in Persons as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force of other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. |
People trafficking is the fasting growing means by which people are enslaved, the fasted growing international crime, and one of the largest sources of income for organised crime. A total of 63,251 victims were detected in 106 countries and territories between 2012 and 2014. Based on the 17,752 victims detected in 85 countries in 2014 for which sex and age were reported, a clear majority were females – adult women and girls – comprising some 70 percent of the total number of detected victims. Females have made up the majority of detected victims since data collecting of trafficking in persons began in 2003. – 2016 Global Report on Human Trafficking (UN Office on Drugs and Crime)
It is very difficult to assess the real size of human trafficking because of widespread under-reporting of the crime. A victim of sexual exploitation who reports the crime, for example, may be classified in official statistics as a victim of rape, but not of human trafficking. However, a conservative estimate of the crime puts the number of victims at any one time at 2.5 million. We also know that it affects every region of the world, ranks as the third largest source of income for organised crime and generates tens of billions of dollars in profits each year. – UN GIFT Questions and Answers Briefing
Children remain the second most commonly detected group of victims of trafficking globally after women, ranging from 25% to 30% of the total over the period 2012-2014 period.
In 2012 it was estimated that at least 20.9 million people were victims of forced labour worldwide. The research estimated that victims of trafficking comprised some 44 percent of this figure. International Labour Organisation 2012 Global Estimate of Forced Labour.
The most widespread form of human trafficking in Europe is trafficking for sexual exploitation - 67% of registered victims. Labour exploitation accounts for 21% of victims, while 12% of victims are trafficked for other reasons. 76% off victims are women and 15% are children. 65% are EU citizens and figures for 2010-14 show registered victims coming from Romania, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Hungary and Poland. Non-EU victims come from Nigeria, China, Albania, Vietnam and Morocco. – Report from the European Commission to the European Parliament and Council on the progress made in the fight against trafficking in human beings (2016)
Ireland is a destination and source country for women, men and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labour – including forced criminal activity. Foreign trafficking victims identified in Ireland are from Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe. During the reporting period, law enforcement reported an increase in suspected victims of sex trafficking and forced labour, forced criminal activity, and forced begging. Authorities reported an increase in suspected victims from Nigeria and Romania. Irish children are subjected to sex trafficking within the country. Victims of forced labour have been identified in domestic service, the restaurant industry, and car washing services. Undocumented migrant workers are at higher risk of being subjected to labour trafficking. – June 2016 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons (Department of State, USA)
Stop the Traffik www.stopthetraffik.org
No More Traffik www.nomoretraffik.com
United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Trafficking (UN.GIFT) www.ungift.org/
Loreto Sisters www.ibvm.org / www.loreto.ie
Act to Prevent Trafficking (APT) www.aptireland.org / www.blueblindfold.gov.ie
