[ Human Trafficking, Country-by-Country ]

MALTA (Tier 2) – Extracted in part from the U.S. State Dept 2023 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 with the previous reporting period, considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, if any, on its anti-trafficking capacity; therefore Malta remained on Tier 2. These achievements included investigating and prosecuting more suspected traffickers, updating its NAP, increasing funding for victim assistance, and continuing to provide an extensive week-long trafficking awareness campaign for the third consecutive year. The government also hosted a regional training and a series of seminars, which included trafficking survivor panelists. However, the government did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas. For the second consecutive year, the government did not report convicting any traffickers, which undermined efforts to combat human trafficking and victims’ access to justice. Gaps in victim identification persisted and the government did not report identifying any Maltese, children, asylum-seekers, or undocumented migrants as trafficking victims. The government continued to lack coordination among ministries and has never awarded restitution or compensation to any trafficking victims. The government did not effectively enforce labor regulations to prevent recruitment fees charged to workers, which increase workers’ vulnerability to trafficking, or make concrete efforts to increase oversight and regulation of massage parlors where there was a higher incidence of trafficking indicators.

Prioritized Recommendations

Increase efforts to vigorously and expeditiously investigate and prosecute trafficking crimes.

Increase efforts to convict traffickers, including complicit officials, and seek adequate penalties for convicted traffickers, which should involve significant prison terms.

Ensure relevant staff and officials proactively identify trafficking victims, including Maltese nationals, especially among vulnerable populations, like children, migrant workers, asylum-seekers, and individuals in commercial sex.

Institutionalize victim-centered and trauma-informed anti-trafficking training for front-line officials, police officers, prosecutors, and judges with a focus on the use of psychological coercion and fraud as means of trafficking.

Improve sentencing practices by sensitizing judges to the severity of trafficking crimes and the full range of penalties available.

Allow formal victim identification by and referral from entities other than the police, including labor inspectors, asylum case workers, health care professionals, social workers, and NGOs.

Ensure victims could be formally identified without the requirement to cooperate with law enforcement.

Improve effective leadership and prioritization of human trafficking, as well as streamline anti-trafficking coordination and communication efforts among ministries.

Enact a legal provision to ensure victims are not inappropriately penalized solely for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked.

Increase migrant worker protections against labor trafficking by implementing strong regulations and oversight of recruitment companies that are consistently enforced, including prosecuting for fraudulent labor recruitment.

Implement license controls and oversight of massage parlors and increase screening for trafficking victims.

Improve efforts to proactively inform foreign worker groups of worker rights and responsibilities and victim assistance resources in their native languages.

Ensure trafficking victims have consistent early access to free legal aid.

Enforce the law prohibiting recruitment fees charged to workers and ensure any recruitment fees are paid by employers.

Increase collaboration between police and other stakeholders during investigations to decrease the length of investigations and prosecutions and enhance the likelihood of successful convictions.

Increase awareness of and trafficking survivor access to damages and compensation, regardless of their nationality or residency status.

Increase prosecutor awareness of and efforts to systematically request restitution for survivors in criminal trials.

Consider removing the maximum limits for compensation and damages and allowing confiscated assets from traffickers to be awarded to victims.

Consider establishing specialized prosecutors dedicated to human trafficking and consider prosecution-assisted investigations on trafficking cases.

Increase training for and efforts to pursue financial crime investigations in tandem with human trafficking cases.