Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/604914
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 22 NOVEMBER 2015 JAMES DEBONO 72 North Koreans employed by 11 companies are currently working legally in Malta, official statistics show. These include 41 working at Leisure Clothing, the clothing company owned by a Chinese mu- nicipality. Statistics presented in parlia- ment shows that the number of North Koreans working in Malta increased from one worker em- ployed in the "craft and related trade" sector in 2010, to 11 with an "unknown occupation" in 2011. The number of North Koreans in- creased to 22 in March 2014 and to 72 in 2015. Employers are legally obliged to abide with Maltese law when em- ploying workers from other coun- tries. But MaltaToday is informed of cases where accommodation and food costs are allegedly de- ducted from the monthly wage of foreign workers. Questions sent to the Department for Industrial and Employment Relations (DIER) and Identity Malta, on whether these international reports are being in- vestigated locally have not been answered. The exploitation of North Ko- rean workers was recently flagged by the European Alliance for Hu- man Rights in North Korea, which accused Malta and Poland of em- ploying "forced labour" from North Korea. The report alleged that North Korean workers, who are typi- cally on three- or four-year labour contracts, channel a large propor- tion of their earnings to the North Korean authoritarian government led by Kim Jong-un and are only allowed to keep a fraction of their wages. While most of the 50,000 North Koreans on such schemes are cur- rently working in Asian and Mid- dle Eastern countries – some 1,800 are believed to be helping Qatar in its preparations for the 2022 World Cup – up to 1,000 may be work- ing in the EU, the report's authors said. In another report to the UN Gen- eral Assembly, Marzuki Darusman, United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, revealed that North Korean work- ers are being used as a new source of income for the North Korean government. Darusman said foreign compa- nies hiring workers from the coun- try were 'complicit in an unaccept- able system of forced labour.' He said more than 50,000 North Korean workers are employed in foreign countries, mainly in the mining, logging, textile and con- struction industries, according to various studies – and added that the number is rising. The vast majority are working in China and Russia but others are reportedly employed in countries including Algeria, Angola, Cam- bodia, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nigeria, Oman, Poland, Qatar and the United Arab Emir- ates. Darusman said civil society or- ganisations report that these work- ers earn €110-€140 per month on average and are sometimes forced to work up to 20 hours a day, with only one or two rest days a month and insufficient food. Employers pay "significantly higher amounts" to the North Korean government, Darusman said. 6 News 6 News Human smuggler arrested, another on the run MIRIAM DALLI THE police arrested a Somali man suspected of having managed the trips of over 200 migrants who want- ed to reach Malta from Italy. The man was held yesterday afternoon but the police are still searching for another man linked to the racket. A 31-year-old man from Birkirkara who landed in Malta following a flight from Rome last Thursday was arrested on suspicion of aiding mi- grants leave Italy illegally. The police believe they have un- earthed a racket which involved bringing migrants to Malta from It- aly carrying fake documents to seek asylum. The individuals, mostly asylum seekers fleeing war in Syria and persecution in Somalia, would use fake passports to pass off as Euro- pean citizens, allowing them to go through the Schengen zone without any checks. On two separate but related occa- sions, the Italian authorities stopped four Syrians at the Bergamo and Ciampino airports as they tried to reach Malta using false documents. Stricter checks and controls at the borders and the suspension of Schengen rules in Malta and Italy led to renewed passport controls. In turn, this uncovered "a racket" under which migrants would cross over, seeking asylum on the island. According to the Maltese govern- ment, the persons in question were applying for asylum, often using photos of people involved in war – whom they claim are their relatives – to sustain their claims for asylum. A total of 30 people were said to have entered Malta since the start of the year, who are now being traced down by the authorities, together with collaborators. "From the analysis of the authori- ties involved, these people are unre- lated to terrorism. Their abuse is re- lated to false documentation for the provision of international protection and work permits," the government has said. But Opposition leader Simon Bu- suttil finds it hard to believe that the individuals were trying to reach Malta just for work and asylum pur- poses. "Sorry, I don't buy that," the PN leader tweeted. Authorities in various member states, including Italy and Malta, are trying to crackdown on criminal organisations that facilitate the tran- sit of foreigners through the bloc's borders, providing them with false documentation, flight tickets and money. An investigation by The Guardian revealed that forgers in the Middle East were offering fake Syrian pass- ports for as little as $250. During an emergency meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Coun- cil on Friday, EU member states ad- mitted that only a few governments had actually strengthened checks for certain EU citizens, as agreed in May. According to Euractiv, all EU citi- zens will now be considered a poten- tial threat, so all EU travellers will be subject to a stricter scrutiny, includ- ing checks against the Schengen In- formation System (SIS), as is the case for all third country nationals. Besides the loopholes in the ex- ternal border controls, ministers also emphasised that member states should improve their exchange of intelligence. Officials estimate that five member states share "half of the information" related to foreign terrorists, while the other capitals barely engage in the exchange of in- formation. Therefore, the ministers agreed on making "maximum use" of the Schengen tools to improve the over- all level of information exchange be- tween counter-terrorism authorities in the EU. mdalli@mediatoday.com.mt 72 North Koreans working in Malta Thousands of North Koreans are being sent to work abroad, earning Kim Jong-un's country up to €2 billion in foreign currency