“Efforts are being made to bolster the fight agaist human trafficking being sexual or labour explotation, although in a local context, the number of cases identified is limited. A single victim of Human Trafficking is a victim too many”.
This was stated the Minister for Home Affairs and National Security Carmelo Abela during his address at a training seminar organised by International Organisation for Migration.
He referred to the central role played by the Malta Police Force in relation to this fight. Whilst the majority of cases of human trafficking encountered in Malta involve sexual exploitation, cases of labour exploitation have been investigated by Vice Squad. He stressed on the challenges presented in cases of human trafficking most particular the identification stage given that this is mostly prominent for being a hidden crime.
Mr Abela stated that the Police are taking their role seriously as attested by the prosecution of offenders and participation in training session, both locally and abroad. The training focuses on improving the detection of cases of labour exploitation seeing that traffickers often change their modus operandi, adopting more sophisticated or subtle techniques for exploitation.
“In an area like human traffiking awareness is of utmost importance. Being on the look-out for the possibility of human trafficking may make all the difference”, concluded by saying the Minister for Home Affairs.