IOM praises Malta for US Human Trafficking report upgrade

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has welcomed Malta's upgrade in the trafficking in persons report compiled the US Department of State.

Malta was recently moved up a notch into tier 2 of the annual trafficking in persons report after having featuring on tier 2 watch list for two consecutive years.

"This promising achievement is the result of a joint effort of the Maltese authorities and IOM and will pave the way to further activities also in light of the recent launching of the new EU strategy on trafficking", José Angel Oropeza, Chief of Mission in Italy and Malta, said.

Under the coordination of the former Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici, with the technical assistance of IOM experts and thanks to funding made available by the national government, 30 representatives of the Maltese governmental agencies and civil society gathered in order to improve their knowledge and skills about the prosecution of the trafficking crime and the protection of victims, in line with the National Action Plan.

These capacity-building measures will be soon complemented by further training activities, the elaboration of Standard Operating Procedures and the launching of an awareness-raising campaign on which the Maltese government and IOM are already working on.

"Trafficking is a widespread, ever-changing phenomenon, the dark side of globalization", Oropeza said.

According to the International Labour Organization, the number of victims of forced labour, including forced sexual exploitation, stood at 20.9 million at a global level. 5.5 million of these are children.

Such global estimates are even considered to be conservative.

"Trafficking is a camouflage phenomenon that can be easily confused with other contiguous phenomena, such as irregular migration, prostitution, irregular work. However, trafficking cannot and must not be confused with prostitution, although this grave violation of human rights has been often, inappropriately, juxtaposed with it," Oropeza added.

This aspect is also underlined by an EU Directive whose transposition is due by April 2013 by Member States. The directive represents one of the main tools of the recently launched EU strategy towards the eradication of trafficking in persons."

In its preamble the Directive recalls the gender-specific phenomenon of trafficking, pointing out that women and men are trafficked for the same or different purposes, citing sex industry, labour exploitation in construction work, agricultural sector or domestic servitude among the diverse forms of exploitation of male and female trafficked victims.  

Yet, one of the main challenges remains the proper identification of victims and represents the first step towards the restoring of individuals' violated dignity.   

Having often being lured with the promise of a remunerated job, victims are forced to provide services seven days a week to pay back ridiculous amounts of money to their traffickers, often deprived of their passports, and in many cases locked in and only allowed out for 'work'.

Barred from contacting their families, having been made fearful of the local authorities by their traffickers, the idea of escaping remains elusive - as is their prospect of returning to a 'normal' life.

Among some of the most interesting aspects of the Directive is the clear introduction of the principle of non-prosecution or non-application of penalties to victims for their involvement in criminal activities or offences under legislation on prostitution or immigration which they have been compelled to commit as a consequence of being subject to trafficking, together with the acknowledgement of trafficking of EU citizens within the borders of the Union.

"This victim-centred approach is present throughout the whole EU strategy and represents the guiding principle of IOM's actions in the field of counter-trafficking," Oropeza said.

"We take the good results achieved by Malta in the field of counter-trafficking as a stimulus to do better in the framework of the EU strategy that provides the Member States with practical and effective tools to curb this scourge."

Oropeza insisted that IOM is ready to assist governments in pursuing the common goal of more just and therefore more secure societies where the EU convergence process can really represent a driving force for the strengthening of fundamental rights for all persons.