the central government nor the KRG identified trafficking victims among vulnerable groups, such as undocumented foreign migrants and women and children arrested for prostitution violations, or provided victims with protection services. The government relied on victims to identify themselves to authorities and—in theory—only referred to protection services victims initiating legal proceedings against their traffickers.Victims, therefore, remained unidentified and vulnerable to arrest, incarceration, and deportation for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being subjected to human trafficking. Sentences for prostitution violations—including for children as young as 9 years old who experienced sexual exploitation—were excessively harsh, ranging from 15 years’ to life imprisonment. In addition, Iraqi authorities continued to detain or convict foreign workers for immigration violations with sentences of three to five years’ imprisonment. In 2014, the KRG detained and charged 28 child trafficking victims; four victims were charged with prostitution and 24 were charged with begging.
The government did not provide adequate protection services, nor did it provide funding or in-kind assistance to NGOs providing victim assistance. NGOs were not legally able to operate shelters, though some continued to do so without official approval in order to accommodate victims’ needs; however, these facilities remained vulnerable to prosecution and unprotected from threats of violence by extremist groups. The government completed construction of a permanent trafficking shelter in Baghdad, with a capacity of 50 male and female victims, but it was not operational at the end of the reporting period. The government operated some temporary shelters or holding facilities for foreign workers awaiting repatriation, victims of violence, and trafficking victims; however, these facilities did not provide appropriate services for trafficking victims and may have operated like detention centers. Sixteen family protection units, which operated in police stations around the country and were responsible for assisting women and child victims of abuse and trafficking, failed to refer trafficking victims to adequate protective services.The government did not encourage victims to assist in investigations and prosecutions.The government did not provide foreign victims relief from deportation or offer legal alternatives to their removal to countries in which they may face hardship or retribution.While the KRG continued to operate three women’s shelters in the IKR that offered some assistance for trafficking victims—where space was limited, service delivery was poor, and access was denied to Syrians—most victims at the shelters were victims of domestic violence.The KRG provided direct financial assistance to former captives, including Yezidis, who were released or rescued, as well as limited other essential services to these victims, including shelter, rehabilitation, and psycho-social assistance in IDP camps in the IKR.

PREVENTION
The government made limited efforts to prevent human trafficking. Though the government’s inter-ministerial anti-trafficking committee met eight times in 2014, the government’s lack of a 2014 budget limited financial resources available for ministries responsible for addressing trafficking throughout the country and in the IKR. Despite budget shortfalls, the government distributed a limited number of anti-trafficking flyers to the public, while the committee provided anti-trafficking and shelter management training to committee members and lobbied to pass bylaws to improve implementation of the anti-trafficking law.The government continued to operate an anti-trafficking hotline, which received 41 calls in 2014, but it was unclear if any victims were identified through the hotline.The government took some efforts to reduce

the demand for commercial sex acts, but it also inappropriately prosecuted and convicted women and child sex trafficking victims. The government did not take efforts to reduce the demand for forced labor, nor did it take measures to address the participation of Iraqi nationals in child sex tourism.The government reportedly provided training to military officers on child soldier issues; nevertheless, the government’s efforts to prevent child soldiering was severely limited. The government did not provide anti- trafficking training or guidance for its diplomatic personnel. The KRG continued to operate a hotline for workers to report labor violations and abuse; it received five to 10 calls per day, but it did not report if any potential trafficking victims were identified through this hotline.The KRG reported it temporarily suspended the operations of 12 companies, which employed foreign workers, for labor violations and blacklisted two labor recruitment agencies. The KRG claimed it continued to enforce a June 2013 decision to ban the issuance of work permits to foreign workers from Bangladesh and Ethiopia to prevent labor abuses and exploitation among these groups.

IRELAND: Tier 1 
Ireland is a destination and source country for women, men, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor—including forced criminal activity. Foreign trafficking victims identified in Ireland are from Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. During the reporting period, Irish law enforcement reported an increase in suspected victims of forced labor, forced criminal activity, and forced begging from Eastern Europe, particularly Romania, as well as an increase in potential sex trafficking victims from Brazil. Authorities reported a decrease in suspected victims from Nigeria. Irish children are subjected to sex trafficking within the country. Victims of forced labor have been identified in domestic service, the restaurant industry, and car washing services. NGOs and press reports indicate Vietnamese and Chinese men prosecuted and sentenced for cannabis cultivation report indicators of forced labor, such as document retention, restriction of movement, and nonpayment of wages. Some domestic workers, primarily women, employed by foreign diplomats on assignment in Ireland work under poor conditions and are at risk of labor trafficking.
The Government of Ireland fully complies with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. During the reporting period, the government increased investigations of trafficking crimes and issued new guidelines aimed at preventing the exploitation of domestic workers of foreign diplomats. Authorities maintained victim identification and protection efforts and identified an increased number of suspected victims of forced criminal activity. The government, however, continued to prosecute a high number of non-trafficking crimes as trafficking cases, including child molestation cases, and convicted no sex or labor traffickers in 2014. Potential victims of forced labor in cannabis production were prosecuted and imprisoned for crimes that they may have been forced to commit.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IRELAND:
Implement the trafficking law to ensure sex and labor traffickers are held accountable through convictions and dissuasive sentences; increase efforts to identify and protect victims of labor trafficking and forced criminality, ensuring victims are not penalized for crimes committed as a result of being subjected to trafficking; establish multi-stakeholder case reviews during the victim identification process, involving service providers and anti-trafficking law enforcement units; increase funding for and provision of specialized victim services in partnership with NGOs; offer specialized emergency accommodation and use of apartments and houses with outreach support to victims; publish the second national action plan; enable and encourage all trafficking victims to access available legal services; and amend the law to authorize asylum seekers who are also identified victims to obtain work permits.