“Malta’s failure to convict human traffickers and the absence of effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions undermines efforts to combat human trafficking”. This was the main conclusion of the report by the Council of Europe’s expert group on human trafficking, GRETA, published this month.

The detailed 55-page report is a depressing resume’ of Malta’s abysmal failure to protect victims of human trafficking and its impressive track record in protecting traffickers.

Although Malta was identified as primarily a country of destination for trafficked persons, for our government, Malta has no human trafficking problem.  In 2019 the total number of trafficking victims identified was zero.  Not a single trafficking victim was identified.  In 2020, four victims were identified - one was a woman, the other three children.

During those two years, thousands of persons were rescued at sea and disembarked in Malta: 3,406 persons in 2019 and another 2,281 in 2020. Despite the thousands of asylum seekers, Malta simply has no data on the number of human trafficking victims identified from amongst them. That’s hardly surprising. Maltese authorities do not even provide information to presumed victims in asylum reception centres and immigration detention centres.  Embarrassingly, in its report GRETA urged the Maltese authorities to ensure provision to asylum seekers of information materials on the rights of victims of trafficking, the services and assistance measures available and how to access them.

Apart from the lack of convictions of human traffickers, GRETA was particularly concerned about the inordinate length of criminal proceedings which “impacts negatively on victims who might be exposed to repeated confrontation with perpetrators and re-victimisation”. In one case (Police vs Kevin Amato), a police officer who assisted a trafficker with issuing visas for foreign women for sexual exploitation, proceedings are still ongoing after 16 years.

In another case involving the exploitation of 32 victims, the trial restarted 3 times from the beginning as each new magistrate assigned the case insisted on reviewing the evidence from the start. Although the trial started in 2015, it is still at the stage of submission of evidence at the first instance.

GRETA was shocked by the leniency of sentencing imposed on the rare trafficker found guilty. In 7 cases, the perpetrators were sentenced to 2 years’ suspended imprisonment with a 4 year probation period - effectively let off scot free.

In three cases the perpetrators were either completely exonerated or sentenced to a short suspended sentence by the Court of Magistrates which was then overruled by the Court of Criminal Appeal sentencing them to an effective prison term.

In one of the most shocking cases a Romanian woman was charged with recruiting girls for traffickers.  The case started in 2006.  On 28th February 2019 she was acquitted. The reason for her acquittal was that the testimony given by the victim was considered inadmissible because the accused was not given the opportunity to question the witness.

In another case an Indonesian woman was recruited as a carer for the father of the accused.  On arrival in Malta on 6 June 2013 her passport was confiscated and she was subjected to verbal and physical abuse.  Her movements were restricted and she was made to work long hours with no pay and without a day off.  She managed to flee the residence after a year and filed a complaint. On 11th November 2019, the accused was sentenced to a two-year jail term.  But in September 2020 the Court of Criminal Appeal acquitted him due to an error by the prosecution in the charge sheet.

The most disturbing case was that of two Hungarian men who on 22 November 2019 were sentenced to a 12-year jail term for trafficking women. But on 1 September 2020, the men were acquitted on the ground that the defence was not allowed to cross examine the victims. But the victims were not allowed to be cross-examined on the advice of a psychiatrist, appointed by the Court itself, because of the severe trauma the victims had endured.

Is the pathetically low number of trafficking victims identified just down to sheer incompetence? Is the incredibly low number of prosecutions co-incidental? Are the huge delays in court proceedings just laziness? Why has a police officer who enabled trafficking of human beings still not been sentenced after 16 years? Why are human traffickers regularly let off the hook for such heinous crimes - because of a ridiculous prosecution error or on a technical point?  Why are those found guilty given such light sentences for crimes that permanently destroy their victims’ lives?

GRETA has some answers.  The government’s anti-trafficking stakeholders task force, meant to co-ordinate anti-trafficking efforts has rarely met. The Labour government cut the already miserly budget of the Anti-trafficking Monitoring Committee from 20,000 (2017/2018) to 16,000 euro (2019/2020). There is no regular training on human trafficking provided to judges, members of the Attorney General’s office or police officers.

After meeting Rosianne Cutajar, parliamentary secretary for equality, GRETA were so appalled that they recommended the establishment of an independent national rapporteur to monitor the anti-trafficking activities of state institutions. They even suggested that the monitoring should be commissioned to an external independent evaluator.

On paper Malta has improved - it introduced compensation for victims of trafficking to the Criminal and Civil codes. In practice, not a single victim of trafficking has ever been granted compensation in Malta. Even worse, Malta did not even provide legal assistance or legal aid to any of the victims.  All trafficking victims in Malta have so far been represented and supported by NGO lawyers.

It is acutely embarrassing for Malta to have to be reminded by the Council of Europe of our basic responsibilities towards trafficking victims - to provide legal aid and guarantee access to compensation. But it is intensely enraging for human traffickers to continue to be protected.

As international experts highlight the abysmal failures of our institutions, Labour’s relaxed  - the institutions are working.