[ Human
Trafficking, Country-by-Country ]
MALTA (Tier 2) – Extracted from the U.S. State
Dept 2020 TIP Report
The Government of 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; therefore Malta remained on Tier 2. These efforts
included increased victim care
funding, public awareness campaigns, and convictions, which included significant prison
sentences. However, the government
did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas. The government decreased
both investigations and prosecutions,
identified and referred fewer victims, continued to lack coordination among ministries,
and did not effectively enforce
labor recruitment regulations or control massage parlors where vulnerability to trafficking was
high.
Prioritized Recommendations
Increase efforts to vigorously and
expeditiously investigate and
prosecute trafficking offenses.
• Increase efforts
to convict traffickers,
including complicit officials, and sentence convicted traffickers to significant prison terms. • Increase
efforts and training of
relevant staff and officials to proactively identify trafficking victims, including Maltese
nationals, and among vulnerable
populations, particularly children, migrant workers, and individuals in commercial sex. • Improve
coordination efforts among
ministries to effectively implement a finalized and funded national action plan. • Increase
migrant worker protections by implementing
strong regulations and oversight of recruitment companies that are consistently
enforced, including prosecuting for
fraudulent labor recruitment.
• Implement license
control for massage
parlors, including oversight and screening for trafficking victims. • Increase
collaboration between police and other
stakeholders during investigations to decrease the length of investigations and prosecutions and to
increase the possibility of successful
convictions. • Institutionalize anti-trafficking
training for front-line
officials, police officers, prosecutors, and judges, and use it to increase focus on working
with victims. • Ensure adequate
availability of interpreters for victims.
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