Chai Brady
Fr Sean Cassin The pandemic has “stymied” human trafficking efforts due to heightened restrictions on travel, according to an Irish missionary priest who heads a charity tackling the issue in Vietnam.
Human trafficking
CEO of Dasatt, Franciscan Fr Sean Cassin, told The Irish Catholic that the recent convictions of several Irish people in relation to human trafficking from Vietnam exposes the “horrific” reality of what is happening.
However, he said one of the positives of the pandemic is that “because of the coronavirus, trafficking efforts are really stymied, my people in Vietnam are saying there isn’t much evidence of either missing persons or people seeking to migrate across to Europe”.
The people found responsible for the deaths of 39 Vietnamese immigrants who were discovered suffocated in a sealed refrigeration container in Essex last October were sentenced over the weekend.
Four Irishmen were among those who jailed by a court in London, three for manslaughter. They received sentences from seven to 20 years based on their varying levels of involvement.
Fr Cassin said: “It was horrific to be seeing it and hearing more of the details about the end hours of the young people that died in it, and it actually confirmed the level that which this was actually a coordinated, trafficking effort and the extent of the coordination and planning of it.
“For me there was a relief that here is blatant evidence of the levels of human smuggling and trafficking that are actually happening, most of us are incredulous that children could actually be treated like that. I’m glad that this is getting another airing, I’m glad that it’s been exposed, now people are more willing to say this is a reality.”
The victims were 28 men, eight women and three children, two of them aged 15. The judge, Nigel Sweeney, said the victims died “excruciatingly slow deaths” of asphyxia and hyperthermia, or overheating.