An under-age girl was among the victims of human trafficking in Malta last year, according to a new international report.
The Trafficking in Persons report by the US State Department, published on Friday, said that for the first time ever, Maltese authorities had identified and referred a child victim to care.
The Maltese girl was a victim of sex trafficking, the report says, adding that the government had provided the child victim with comprehensive specialised support.
Prosecution and Victim Protection
The report says that the Maltese police’s vice squad, which is responsible for investigating trafficking, conducted three probes in 2018, compared to seven in 2017.
Police also conducted seven investigations for illegal prostitution in massage parlours, but they found no evidence of trafficking.
The government prosecuted 10 persons (eight for labour trafficking and two for sex trafficking) compared to two in 2017.
Three labour trafficking prosecutions initiated in 2014 and a 2004 case involving a police official for collusion with a trafficker remained pending at the close of the reporting period.
In March 2018, the government convicted one sex trafficker from a 2008 case, however, the court fully suspended the prison sentence; this was the first conviction since 2012.
The perennial issue of slow court proceedings, the report says, continued to hamper prosecutions and convictions.
There were no new investigations or prosecutions of government employees complicit in trafficking offenses.
Police identified 23 foreign trafficking victims and one Maltese victim, compared to 30 foreign victims in the previous reporting period. Forced labour victims included 17 Filipinos (13 from a single case), three Mauritians, one Nepali, and one Pakistani. Sixteen of the forced labour victims were male and six were female. Sex trafficking victims included one Moldovan woman and one Maltese girl - the first government-identified child victim to date.
Sixteen of the 24 victims identified during the reporting period received care services. The government assisted one victim with return to their home country.
A social worker dedicated to trafficking victims was employed last year, and in March 2019, the legal aid agency trained victim assistance lawyers.
The government encouraged - but did not require - victims to assist in the investigation and prosecution of their alleged traffickers, and provided them with protective support, including the option to testify via video, although courts inconsistently offered it.
Some victims reported challenges in accessing interpreters, the report says.
Who are victims of trafficking in Malta?
As the report has detailed in previous years, human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Malta.
Sex traffickers, the report says, exploit foreign and domestic women and children and labour traffickers exploit foreign men and women.
Forced labour victims originate from China, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia, with increasing numbers from the Philippines.
Women from Southeast Asia working as domestic workers, Chinese nationals working in massage parlors, foreign male soccer players, and women from Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, and Ukraine working in nightclubs represent populations vulnerable to trafficking.
Malta does not meet the standards
According to the report Malta does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so. The government demonstrated overall increasing efforts compared to the previous reporting period.
These efforts, the reports says, included prosecuting more traffickers, hiring a social worker dedicated to trafficking victims, removing all residency and work permit fees for foreign victims of trafficking, and for the first time, identifying and referring a child victim to care.
However, the government did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas. It has only convicted one trafficker since 2012, which resulted in a fully suspended prison sentence, identified fewer victims, continued to lack coordination among ministries, and did not effectively control licensing for massage parlours, where there was a high vulnerability for sex trafficking
Key recommendations
• The report calls on the Maltese authorities to vigorously investigate and prosecute trafficking offenses, including convicting traffickers and sentencing convicted traffickers to significant prison terms.
• Efforts to proactively identify trafficking victims among vulnerable immigrant populations, particularly migrant workers and women in prostitution needed to be increased.
• Improve licence control for massage parlours
• Increase collaboration between police and other stakeholders during investigations.
• Use anti-trafficking training for police officers, prosecutors, and judges to increase focus on working with victims.