LIBERTIES COLLEGE

Social Research Project

Favio Mendez

Social Studies
Gavan Sheridan
03/02/2019
Discrimination and attitudes towards
foreigners in the labour market, with a human
trafficking background in Ireland.

ABSTRACT
U s i n g “ Y o u r E m p l o ym e n t E q u a l i t y R i g h t s E x p l a i n e d G u i d e t o t h e
E m p l o ym e n t E q u a l i t y A c t s 1 9 9 8 - 2 0 1 1 ” a n d “ U n i t e d N a t i o n s H u m a n
R i g h t s a n d H u m a n T r a f f i c k i n g F a c t S h e e t N o . 3 6 ” t h e e m p l o ym e n t
discrimination experiences of non-Irish with a trafficking
background in the labour market is documented. The researcher
compares the key dimensi ons of discrimination involving non-Irish
nationals in the labour market with a Human Trafficking background.
Conducting a social survey to examine the extent to which non -Irish
workers report discrimination in the workplace. Taking a deep look
at the nature of discrimination towards non-Irish trafficking
survivors alleged to occur; and the legal outcome or in other cases
the resolution of these allegations. A study published b y the Irish
Human Rights and Equality Commission and the Economic and
Social Research Institute rebelled that Non-Irish people are five
times more likely to experience discrimination when seeking
e m p l o ym e n t i n I r e l a n d w h e n c o m p a r e d t o w h i t e I r i s h p e o p l e . I r e l a n d
is one of only five EU countries where an increase in racist crimes
w a s r e p o r t e d , a c c o r d i n g t o t h e E U F u n d a m e n t a l R i g h t s A g e n c y.

INTRODUCTION
Ireland is becoming a multicultural country due to the massive
i m m i g r a t i o n a n d r e f u g e e c r i s i s o v e r t h e l a s t 5 ye a r s w i t h r a p i d
growth in its economy and the labour market . This has risen
concerns about discrimination in the workplace. According to the
e m p l o ym e n t e q u a l i t y a c t s 1 9 9 8 - 2 0 1 5 “ d i s c r i m i n a t i o n i s w h e n a
worker is treated less well than another worker in the same situation
or circumstances under any of the nine grounds covered in the acts”.
It is important to stud y the extent of discrimination and view it from
a subjective point of view, despite the evident cultural shock that
nationals and non -Irish people experience in Ireland, discrimination
against human trafficking survivors might have been hidden and in
s o m e c a s e s a v o i d e d a t a l l , b u t w h a t i s t h e r e a l i t y? I t i s i m p o r t a n t t o
put in discussion the language barrier when understanding
discrimination against survivors, the human rights addresses
reintegration as a major matter, survivors have to face many issues
when going through rehabilitation and reintegration. Trafficking
c a s e s a r e c o n f i d e n t i a l a n d a n o n ym o u s l y, t h e l a c k o f a w a r e n e s s
regarding discrimination against trafficked survivors in the labour
market remains unknown.

AIM
Despite the recent studies on discrimination in Ireland none of them
had addressed the specific discrimination towards non -nationals
with human trafficking backgrounds, the main purpose of this
investigation which can be realized by providing answers to th e
following five research questions:
1. W h a t i s t h e t yp e o f d i s c r i m i n a t i o n t h a t n o n - I r i s h
survivors experience in the labour market? How is it
related to their Human trafficking background?
2. Have Survivors experienced discrimination on the
g r o u n d s o f t h e i r t r a f f i c k i n g h i s t o r y? W h a t a r e t h e
outcomes of such discriminatory allegations?
3. What are the emotions involved in discrimination events
towards a non-national victims of human trafficking?

4. What are the difficulties when conducting an

investigation involving human trafficking victims in
Ireland?
5. Is there a Language barrier in a discriminatory event?

LITERATURE REVIEW
According to a report b y the “Irish E xaminer”, Ireland has been
downgraded in a US ranking of countries that are meeting minimum
standards for the elimination of human trafficking. Even though the
level of human trafficking cases in Ireland almost doubles in four
years (2017) according to a report by Council Europe. The
Procedures for human trafficking victims that are outside from the
European in Ireland grant survivors a leave to remain status in the
c o u n t r y, t h a t m e a n s t h a t a v i c t i m h a s t h e p e r m i s s i o n o f t h e M i n i s t e r
for Justice and Equality to be in the State. Human trafficking victims
that do not leave the country in Ireland , survivors remain in the state
with temporary work permi t which is renewed every 6 months for 5
years. With all previously mentioned victims get into the labour
market at some stage. Discrimination against non -nationals is
evident, for example we can mention a case where a French woman
awarded €10k for discrimination on the grounds of nationality in
2017 and a new research by The Irish Human Rights and Equality
Commission and the Economic and Social Research Institute found
that Black Non-Irish people are five times more likely to ex perience
d i s c r i m i n a t i o n w h e n s e e k i n g e m p l o ym e n t i n I r e l a n d w h e n c o m p a r e d
to white Irish people.
For human trafficking survivor’s reintegration is challenging due to
the social stigma. One of the major reasons for discrimination and
stigmatization is that 55% of cases are sexual exploitation where
prostitution is also involved , the in the annual report trafficking in
human beings in Ireland 2016 has shown.
DATA GATHERING
A qualitative descriptive methodology was used due to the emotions
involved, 2 in-depth interviews with trafficking survivors, based on
an open-ended questionnaire to trigger a discussion and further
questions. This methodology allowed us to develop a compressive
summary of the event experienced by the survivors. A secondary
researched has been carried out getting data from governmental
websites, online newspapers, guide of procedures and statistics from
official annual reports in Ireland. A local nongovernmental
organization working with trafficking survivors supp orted the
research to be able to contact informants, one of the two survivors
interviewed was an acquaintance of the researcher. Language
translator was needed for one of the individuals interviewed.
SAMPLE
Quota sampling method has been used to select pe ople who fit into
the category of non-Irish national with a human trafficking survivor
background. For this research survivors, male and female, above 18
years old with a human trafficking history were interviewed to
obtain a representative sample.
WHEN & WHERE
Two interviews were conducted, both interviews were conducted
privatel y, in the morning at a private survivor’s home. The
researched let the survivors decide time and place to meet to adjust
the interview to the survivor’s time and comfort.
ETHICS
The research followed a strict focus on privacy and confidentiality
when conducting the interview and questionnaire. Participants were
informed about the aims and methods of this research, both
i n d i v i d u a l s h a d t h e r i g h t t o r e f u s e o r w i t h d r a w t h e s t u d y. P r i o r
verbal consent was obtained from the participants stablishing an
understanding of the boundaries related to the anonymity and
confidentiality of the information and the identities. The researcher
followed as a guidance the WMA declaration of Helsinki – ethical
principles for medical research involving human objects.
LIMITATIONS OF THE APPROACH TAKEN/ OF THE STUDY
The research only focuses on discrimination from the survivor’s
point of view and experiences, the inclusion of opinions of
communities, colleagues, managers, institutions , and governmental
o f f i c e r s w e r e b e yo n d t h e s c o p e o f t h e r e s e a r c h . W h e n c o n d u c t i n g
interviews emotions had an important effect on data collection,
confidentiality of the cases that involve a current investigation by
the Garda Siochana may have affected the validity of data provided
by informants, getting voluntary survivors become difficult due to
the confidentiality of their cases. When getting qualitative data from
survivors using different methods , an understanding of PSTD
Posttraumatic stress disorder and medication is a key element which
may be changeling for the reliability, the different experiences and
individual circumstances have to be evaluated . It is important to
e m p h a s i z e t h e l a n g u a g e i s s u e s , w h e n s t u d yi n g n o n E n g l i s h s p e a k e r s
the language barrier is evident when getting data, experiences are
hugely affected by the filter of language interpretation. Emotions
are actually an important difficulty when interviewing survivors,
talking about their experiences and how those affect their actual life
may trigger breakdowns that affect data gathering, most of the
survivors rather not to remember thus those interviewed may decide
n o t t o p r o v i d e i n f o r m a t i o n r e l a t e d t o t h e i r t r a f f i c k i n g h i s t o r y.

FINDINGS
H u m a n t r a f f i c k i n g s u r v i v o r s , o v e r 1 8 ye a r s o l d h a v e f o u n d
difficulties when finding a job, especially when having interviews ,
d e s p i t e t h e i n t e r v i e w t h e y h a v e f o u n d d i f f i c u l t i e s w h e n i d e n t i f yi n g
discrimination related to their status. We have been told by the
informant: “job interviews were so difficult, especially when talking
about me, every single interviewer has asked me, how did you get
the stamp 4? I have found difficult to explain why I have been grated
the leave to remain. I didn’t get respo nse from most of job I have
applied for and I dint know if it was because of my trafficking
history”.
On the other hand, survivor who has worked experienced a different
behaviour towards them when told their past experiences to
c o l l e a g u e s , w h e n w o r k i n g a n a t t e n d i n g t o w o r k r e g u l a r l y, a s u r v i v o r
told “I used to work in the children -care area, I felt treated
differently when I told my experiences, I felt obligated to talk about
my past due to insistence by my supervisor and the manager, they
told me that they needed to know my past because we work with
children. After that the staff ignored me and isolated me, my English
wasn’t good to do something about it”.
Another important finding is how leave to remain is greeted to
survivors and how it affects to their reintegration to the labour
market. Survivors stated that their stamp 4 card hasn’t had a “valid”
address and it affected them when finding a job. “My stamp 4 showed
the immigration address, 13/14 Burgh Quay, Dublin 2, most of the
time employers asked me why my stamp didn’t show my current
address, tried to explain that it is how it works but I felt that they
did trust me. I didn’t get back from them afterwards”
Human trafficking victims are entitled a leave to remain in the state
which has to be renewed every 6 months for 5 times until be entitled
t o a 3 ye a r l e a v e t o r e m a i n , i t i s a n o t h e r i s s u e t h a t s u r v i v o r s h a v e t o
face, an informant states “ It is almost impossible to find a job with
that amount of time, most of my employees told me that 6 months is
too short time and they do not feel secure even if I am entitled to get
the stamp renewed every six months, but it is how it works for human
trafficking victims, that is not my fault”
One of the most discriminatory experiences that survivors h ave to
face is the prostitution stigma, as all of interviewed survivors stated
“I don’t know how many people that had been trafficked were
involved in prostitution before making a statement, but it seems that
all people look at us as people that were working in prostitution, I
remember when I used to work there, colleagues treated like I was a
prostitute and I have never been involved in that, I have heard
commentaries that were offensive”
Nevertheless, outcomes were different, language represent s a
problem when addressing discrimination and getting an
interpretation of the events. Survivors found language as an issue
when sorting discrimination against them. “ I found difficult to
defend myself when hearing commentaries about me, writing a
complain letter was a nightmare so I just decided to leave the job”.
Another language related issue that the interviewer been told by
survivors in the interview was “Nobody believed me because I do
not speak English well, the manager and the staff argued that I
misunderstood everything.
The main Human trafficking victim’s reintegration service is the
Anti-Human Trafficking Team, Employment/ Vocational Training is
available for survivors “ While victims requiring immigration
permission cannot work during the initial 60 days Recovery and
Reflection Period, they are entitled to work and enter training
programmes once granted a Temporary Residence Permission, as
outlined in the aforementioned Administrative Immigration
Arrangements. In order to support the victim through the process of
their recovery and integration back into the community, the Health
Service Executive Care Plan includes a category on
education/training. This category is there to help to ensure that
suspected victims are 'job ready' and that any issues which might
hinder successful completion of a course are resolved” Survivors
confirmed such of support but, al so revealed that discrimination is
not on the table when getting work related support.
the percentage of woman who has been sexually trafficked, more
than half of sexually trafficked reports are woman and 55% of cases
of trafficking is sexual exploitation, prostitution is related to it,
when addressing stigma towards survivors, prostitution comes up in
most of women cases of discriminatory Antilocution and Avoidance
allegations against women survivors which means that most of the
women survivors find offensive to assume that they were involved
in prostitution even though they were not, in other words, According
to women survivors, there is s discriminatory treat against them by
e m p l o ye r s a n d c o l l e a g u e s t h a t o f t e n a s s u m e t h a t s u r v i v o r s w e r e
involved in prostitution.
Findings on outcomes of discriminatory allegations were not
encouraging, neither of cases was formally reported to the
authorities, most of the survivors rather leave jobs and ignore such
of discriminatory experiences due to the pressure that surviv ors are
u n d e r w h e n t r yi n g t o r e i n t e g r a t e , s o m e o f t h e r e a s o n s o f d i f f i c u l t i e s
t h a t s u r v i v o r s f a c e a r e : p r o v i d i n g s t a t e m e n t s t o t h e G a r d a r e g u l a r l y,
reintegration issues, economic circumstances, language barrier,
c o n f i d e n t i a l i t y, p r i v a c y, P T S D , a n y o t h e r m e d i c a l i s s u e s a n d
medication. All of these reasons make survivors to decide to avoid
get into legal matters and court against institutions when they
experience discrimination in the labour market.

ANALYSIS
The successful reintegration of trafficking survivors is challenging.
the stigma associated with prostitution leaves them in isolation and
it increases the probability to be discriminated against
Rehabilitation and reintegration involves get ting into the labour
market, as human trafficking survivors do not receive an extra
economic support, Reintegration efforts must address also
discrimination and stigma issues encountered by the trafficking
survivors. After going through the traumatic experiences of sexual
exploitation and slavery, the survivors must face different
difficulties to rehabilitate and reintegrate, which means that they
can’t even face discrimination events due to the huge issues and
pressure that they are under such as health issues, mental health
issues, PTSD, medication, language barrier, housing etc .
Non-Irish Human t rafficking survivors ex perience discrimination in
d i f f e r e n t w a ys b u t i t i s d i f f i c u l t t o a d d r e s s s u c h a l l e g a t i o n s d u e t o
the language barrier. The government and state services seem not to
address discrimination towards survivors in the labour market, one
of the reasons for it, is that there are not sources and data that allow
us to have an overview of the magnitude of the discrimination
towards survivors, even survivors are not able to identify
discrimination on the ground of their human trafficking victim status
o r h i s t o r y. I t i s a f a c t t h a t n o n - I r i s h a r e m o r e l i k e l y t o e x p e r i e n c e
discrimination, in fact, the overall pattern in relation to both
objective and subjective indicators of discrimination in access to
e m p l o ym e n t i s f a i r l y c o n s i s t e n t . M o r e s p e c i f i c s u r v e y s a n d
researches may need to be done to have an overview of
discrimination ag ainst non -Irish trafficking survivors, in fact
discrimination against survivors is out of the scope of researchers
d u e t o t h e a n o n ym o u s l y o f v i c t i m s a n d c o n f i d e n t i a l i t y o f t h e c a s e s .
Another concerning when conducting this research is that there is no
data in relation to that matter. This lack of data just confirms the
low interest and the unawareness of an actual problem that survivors
have to face. The annual report of hu man trafficking 2016 and 2017
did not address those issues, which is concerning.
Confidentiality and anonymously becomes a difficulty for survivors
when finding jobs, interviews involve a depth conversation of the
applicant past experiences, even current visa-status comes up.
According to the CSO QNHS Equality modules, 2004, 2010 and 2 014.
Most the people that experience of discrimination when seeking
work in Ireland are 13% white non -Irish 20% black non -Irish 8%
Asian non Irish and 16% other non -Irish. It is disappointing that n o
data was found related to human trafficking survivors and
discrimination.
It is actually important to quantify discrimination in the market
labour against human trafficking survivors in Ireland , the
Recommended Principles on Human Rights and Human Trafficking
states “Antitrafficking measures should not ad versely affect the
human rights and dignity of persons and, in particular, the rights of
those who have been trafficked, migrants, internally displaced
persons, refugees and asylum seekers” according to the United
Nations Convention against Transnational O rganized Crime and the
Protocols Thereto, one of the human right most relevant to
trafficking is: The right to just favourable conditions of work.
In terms of reintegration the united nations on human rights and
human trafficking, argue that Victims of trafficking who are
provided with reintegration assistance are much less likely to be
retrafficked. It raises our concerns from our findings in this research
because reintegration becomes difficult for survivor s in Ireland
specially when getting into the labour market even if Supported
reintegration is a right owed to trafficked persons by virtue of their
status as victims of crime and of human rights violations.
F i n a l l y, t h e U n i t e d N a t i o n s H u m a n r i g h t s , o f f i c e o f t h e h i g h
commissioner address this matter emphasizing the importance of
p r i v a c y, s u p p o r t e d r e i n t e g r a t i o n a n d d i s c r i m i n a t i o n a g a i n s t
survivors: “Supported reintegration is a right owed to trafficked
persons by virtue of their status as victims of crime and of human
rights violations. It must be accompanied by respect for the
repatriated individuals’ rights, including their right to privacy and
their right not to be discriminated against”

CONCLUSION
Discrimination against non -Irish trafficking survivors is an
“ u n k n o w n r e a l i t y” , b u t i s w h a t s u r v i v o r s f a c e i n a r e i n t e g r a t i o n
process. Language barrier and cultural shock is evident when
probing discriminatory allegations. Data is needed to address those
matters. Human trafficking victims in Ireland has increase over the
years and a better understanding is key. Sources and data is needed
to get an overview of the problem, even though for survivors the
stigma and discrimination is something that they have to live with
forever. The massive immigration, the refugee crisis and the amount
of English language students is becoming an important part of the
Irish society and economy but along with that , discrimination will
come up in different way and discrimination towards victims of
human trafficking will be included.
REFLECTION
I have found the assignment really exiting, I have never done a
research of this kind. I have learned so much and I know that I need
to learn even more to achieve my goals. Language was a problem but
I think that at some point I will be able to overcome t he difficulties
related to language and my mistakes. I coming from a Third-Worldist
country and I have face many the differences in the educational
s ys t e m .
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