Malta has been urged to sign on to the Council of Europe’s Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. The convention requires the signatures of three more Council of Europe member States to come into force, and Amnesty International (AI) called upon all such States “to demonstrate their commitment to eradicating growing modern day slavery… without further delay”.

Despite Malta being right in the centre of one of the world’s densest human trafficking areas, the Mediterranean, the country, and many other COE member States, is still to sign the important declaration. The convention sets out a range of minimum requirements that States must take in order to respect and protect the rights of trafficked persons.

The convention is the first European treaty to protect and promote the human rights of victims of trafficking. In this respect, the Council of Europe point to the need to clearly differentiate between the victims of trafficking, illegal immigration and prostitution.

For example, a foreign woman sexually exploited by a gang of criminals is, in many countries, still considered as an illegal immigrant. Rather than receiving assistance and protection to escape from traffickers, and to allow for those responsible to be charged, a victim is often considered to be an offender and is deported, despite being a victim of trafficking.

In Malta, there has been a noted prevalence of foreign women being forced into prostitution over recent years. Criminals responsible for the practice, usually operating in the underbelly of Maltese society, are also said to buy and sell such women through the “owner” exchanging such exploited women’s passports.

While accurate Europeans statistics on such crimes are not readily available, particularly given the clandestine nature of the practice and difficulties in locating and identifying victims, pan-European estimates go into the millions.