Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1525500
11 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 18 AUGUST 2024 efforts still lack muscle, US report says tion in 2020 for failure to ad- here to court procedure, and in 2023 overturned the con- viction a second time because the case was tried in the incor- rect court. Courts ultimately upheld the conviction of two traffickers in December 2023, via a plea deal, and sentenced them to significant sentences; an appeal from a third traffick- er in a separate case was also upheld, which also included a significant sentence. The report's trafficking ex- perts also believe untrained judges were dismissing cases or pursuing crimes with inad- equate penalties when physical violence and injuries were not sustained by trafficking vic- tims. On the judicial front, it said anti-trafficking training for judges remained inadequate and courts continued to fre- quently overturn trafficking convictions on appeal for ad- ministrative technicalities. It also said Malta did not report efforts to effective- ly enforce labour regulations to prevent recruitment fees charged to workers, which in- crease workers' vulnerability to trafficking. And no concrete efforts to increase oversight and regulation of massage par- lours were registered. Victim protection In 2023, Agenzjja Appogg, a government office within the Foundation for Social Welfare Services (FSWS) that provided national assistance to traffick- ing victims, identified 16 vic- tims, while police identified two. Of the 18 total victims, police formally identified six traf- ficking victims and the other 12 victims remained potential victims. Of these victims, traffick- ers exploited nine in sex traf- ficking, three in both sex and labour trafficking, and six in labour trafficking, including one for forced labour, one for forced criminality, and four for domestic servitude. All identified victims were adults – 17 women and one male – and foreign nationals. In its 2021 report, the Coun- cil of Europe's anti-trafficking committee GRETA stressed the government's failure to convict traffickers, and the ab- sence of effective, proportion- ate, and dissuasive penalties undermined efforts to combat human trafficking and victims' access to justice. In October 2023, the gov- ernment established a spe- cialised human trafficking investigation unit comprising four staff and a backup unit to assist as needed, but no traf- ficking-specific training was given to judges in 2023 despite sustained concerns related to gaps in judges' knowledge of trafficking crimes In a joint action with Europol in December 2023, the spe- cialised trafficking investiga- tive unit partnered with immi- gration authorities to inspect three locations in Malta. Five Nigerian women for immigra- tion violations in a location known for commercial sex, but no potential victims were identified. Experts encouraged separate inspections for the trafficking investigation unit and immi- gration authorities, as fear of deportation often deterred po- tential victims from engaging with law enforcement. Police said they continued to screen for sex trafficking indicators among individuals in commercial sex, including conducting outreach at several massage parlours and a prison in 2023 – however, the lack of interpreters hindered their efforts, and no victims were identified. There are concerns by civ- il society groups that police did not proactively identify trafficking victims in massage parlours, apart from a lack of oversight and regulation on the licensing of such parlours, which had a higher likelihood of sex trafficking occurring. Additionally, the government decreased funding for preven- tion and continued to lack co- ordination among ministries. In 2023, the government al- located €50,000 to the Human Rights Directorate (HRD) for prevention efforts, including continuing to draft a new an- ti-trafficking NAP and raising public awareness. This was a significant decrease compared with €300,000 allotted by the government in 2022, 2021, and 2020. The U.S. report says that the government was still not ad- dressing key gaps in prosecu- tion or victim identification and assistance. Fraudulent labour recruitment Fraudulent labour recruit- ment remained a significant concern, with estimates of foireg nationals employed in low-earning vocations, in- creasing to some 100,000. The Employment Agencies Act (EIRA) regulates labour recruiters but does not allow workers to be charged recruit- ment fees by employment or recruitment agencies, even though many agencies illegally charged such fees. To address this, the govern- ment passed new regulations effective in April 2024, that gave the government the op- tion to prohibit recruitment companies from operating if they charged a recruitment fee, withheld identity docu- ments, or impeded freedom of movement and job transfers. However, in a report pub- lished by the Auditor Gener- al in January 2024, the office concluded labour inspectors responsible for implementa- tion of employment laws took a lenient approach toward compliance and did not effec- tively enforce the law. The report also found appli- cable penalties were not suffi- cient to deter violators, which created exploitable gaps in en- forcement. Experts urged the govern- ment to enforce the law pro- hibiting fraudulent recruit- ment and recruitment fees charged to workers. Foreign workers and asylum-seekers could not change employers without prior government permission, as work permits were tied to a specific employ- er, which may have increased their vulnerability to traffick- ing.