The Human Trafficking Amendment Act amends the Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) Act 2008 (available here) and the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998 (available here). The Act of 2008 defined human trafficking and exploitation for the purposes of trafficking. It also contains specific provisions for the trafficking of children.
The 2008 Act, which amends the 1998 Child Trafficking and Pornography Act (available here) among other legislation, defines trafficking as when a person, in relation to another person, “(a) procures, recruits, transports or harbours the person, or (i) transfers the person to, (ii) places the person in the custody, care or charge, or under the control, of, or (iii) otherwise delivers the person to, another person, (b) causes a person to enter or leave the State or to travel within the State, (c) takes custody of a person or takes a person— (i) into one’s care or charge, or (ii) under one’s c
Marital rape is a crime under the 1990 Act. The 1990 Act deletes the word “unlawful” from the statutory definition of rape (‘unlawful sexual intercourse’ without consent, as set forth in the Criminal Law (Rape) Act 1981).
In addition to abolishing the offence of buggery (sodomy) between adults, this Act codifies the law relating to sex work (referred to as ‘prostitution’), with the starting point being that it does not make prostitution itself illegal. However, the Act does not define ‘prostitute’. Section 1(2) defines ‘prostitution’ as occurring where “a person solicits or importunes another person for the purpose of obtaining that other person’s services as a prostitute,” or where they solicit or importune another person on behalf of a third person for the purposes of prostitution.
The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017 gave effect to European Council Directive No. 2011/93/EU of 13 December 2011 on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography.
The plaintiffs were two female criminal defendants who chose to be tried by a jury and objected to the Juries Act of 1927, which excluded all women from jury pools except those who opted to be part of the potential jurors list. The Supreme Court ruled the Juries Act unconstitutional because it constituted invidious discrimination on the basis of sex.
This case represented the first trial and conviction for female genital mutilation in Ireland. The accused were originally from a French-speaking African country, and were charged and convicted with female genital mutilation and neglect of their daughter in relation to the same incident. At the time of the offence, the girl was under two years old, and her injuries were discovered when her parents brought her to the Accident and Emergency Department of an Irish hospital due to uncontrollable bleeding.
The 2018 Act consolidates the law on domestic violence. It provides for safety orders (Section 6), protection orders (Section 10), barring orders (Sections 8-9), and care or supervision orders (Section 12), which a court may issue based on all factors or circumstances it deems relevant, including the Act’s 19 enumerated factors (Section 5). The Act penalizes a contravention of an order with a class B fine (up to €4,000), imprisonment of a term not exceeding 12 months, or both.
The Employment Equality Act pertains to discrimination in the employment context.
The Equal Status Act pertains to the delivery of goods and services. (Section 1). It prohibits discrimination (with specified exceptions) in the disposal of goods and provision of services (Section 5), the disposal of premises and provision of accommodation (Section 6), and education establishments (Section 7).
