Agreement with unnamed country for training against human trafficking in pipeline

The government will in the next few week be announcing an agreement with an unnamed foreign government for Maltese people employed in the area of fighting human trafficking to receive additional training.

This was made known by parliamentary secretary for citizenship Julia Farrugia Portelli during a Gvern Li Jisma session today, who said that the agreement would be part of an increased effort by the government to combat human trafficking.

Those receiving training will include a small team of Identity Malta employees whose work is focused on the fight against the trafficking in human beings.

This team has very recently been raising the alarm about a number of cases, Farrugia Portelli said, without giving details.

She also said that new laws, meant to safeguard people who disclose human trafficking circles, by giving them a new identity, to protect them from being traced by those who would not want information disclosed, were being envisaged.

Health minister Chris Fearne emphasised during the session that it was unacceptable that there were foreign people in Malta who were being forced into prostitution.