A woman who was trafficked has said people need to remember that the crime is not just “something you see in a film” but a reality for victims.
Rebecca Whyte said she felt “very blessed” that she was no longer a victim of the trafficking industry.
She was speaking following an investigation into “pimping websites” which found that human trafficking is a “catastrophic” problem that is being “hidden in plain sight online”.
The Stormont inquiry was prompted by growing concerns about the exploitation of trafficked and vulnerable women on online platforms.
The subsequent report, external found women who were forced into prostitution, advertised online, drugged before “appointments” and moved through cities one day at a time.
The report said such sites allowed criminal gangs to manage multiple profiles and conceal abuse behind the pretence of the women being independent.
The All-Party Group (APG) on Human Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation released the inquiry report on Tuesday.
It said 95% of women and girls trafficked were “brought for the purpose of sexual exploitation”.
The APG inquiry looked at four main websites that advertise women for sexual services across Northern Ireland – Locanto, Adult Works, Viva Street and Escort Ireland.
The websites are publicly available and people will select women and make contact usually through the website, WhatsApp or Telegram.
The women are listed as “independent escorts” offering an extensive list of services. However, the reality is much different, the report found.
Rebecca Whyte was forced into prostitution at 19 and advertised online. She said the sites were not neutral platforms.
“They provide the infrastructure through which sexual exploitation can be organised, marketed and monetised,” she said.
“You have the websites but they bring the people from online actively looking for girls, our customer base knew that we were either being drugged before the appointment so that we were completely incoherent, you could not say yes or no, your body is paralysed, that’s not said online.”
Rebecca said she “wanted people to know that human trafficking was out there.
“It was real life,” she said. “It was my life.”
She said the women on these websites “never knew” what they were “walking into”.
“You could have a man who wasn’t aggressive and the next minute have a man who’s grabbing you by the throat,” she told BBC News NI.
Rebecca added that the men running “pimping websites” handpick women’s “biggest flaws” and share them with customers.
Another survivor featured in the report was managed by a man who controlled the profiles of multiple women trafficked from Brazil.
“None of us had access to the emails from buyers. They came directly through him, he answered as if he was us.”
The report also states the National Crime Agency has identified websites advertising prostitution as “significant enablers of trafficking and sexual exploitation”.
