The Malta Independent 17 February 2025, Monday
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Malta’s first national strategy against human trafficking launched - government

Thursday, 1 August 2024, 15:01 Last update: about 8 months ago

The government has launched Malta's first national strategy against human trafficking, Parliamentary Secretary for Equality and Reforms Rebecca Buttigieg said during a news conference on Thursday.

Buttigieg said that the strategy, together with an action plan, is aimed at strengthening the fight against human trafficking as well as preventing human trafficking and supporting the victims of such crimes.

She said this strategy is being carried out in close collaboration with experts from the Council of Europe and the European Union through a program co-financed by European funds.

The Parliamentary Secretary remarked that over the last three years, the Directorate of Human Rights has carried out several capacity-building initiatives with training programs for public officials as well as awareness campaigns for the public, which she said can also help to fight and prevent this type of crime.

Within the last five years, around 50 people have been identified as victims of human trafficking, Buttigieg said, "including three Maltese". She continued that the most common cases in Malta are associated with trafficking related to prostitution or work market exploitation.

She commented that the government has proven its determination to combat this crime by amending the law in 2018 so that the penalty for those found guilty of trafficking increased from a minimum of four years in prison to six years. She added that there have already been court judgements that reflect this.

Buttigieg concluded by saying that the government remains committed to fighting against human traffickers and that its commitment will increase through this strategy "with legislative and administrative actions that will be carried out in the coming seven years".

She added that an inter-ministerial committee has been set up to carry out necessary actions, observe the strategy's implementation, and ensure that Malta has the best practices for enacting justice and giving help to victims of trafficking.

A factsheet read that the Strategy will be implemented over a period of seven years (2024 - 2030), with actions of its National Action Plan to be implemented over a time frame of four years (2024 - 2027).

The strategy, it shows, has five Strategic Priority Areas. Strategic Area 1: Strengthening the supporting anti-trafficking framework. . Strategic Area 3: Increasing reporting by victims, effective investigation and prosecution of traffickers. Strategic Area 4: Comprehensive victim protection, justice and remedies. Strategic Area 5: .

It reads that the implementation of the measures in the strategy will be subject to continuous examination of progress achieved to track compliance with the plan. The monitoring of the Strategy will check on how planned activities are progressing, identify operational difficulties and recommend actions, it reads. "This will ensure that adjustments are made according to national developments and that the allocated resources and delivered results are making the intended difference on target groups."

"Two evaluations will take place: a mid-term evaluation of the Strategy at the end of its first National Action Plan and a final evaluation. The evaluation of the Strategy requires the systematic collection and analysis of data to assess the relevance, effectiveness, and impact of actions of the National Action Plan, considering the strategic objectives and the set internal indicators. This will be done using various sources of information, including annual reports as a baseline. Evaluations will enable stakeholders to identify where adjustments are needed on the approach taken to address the specific strategic areas and to decide on future objectives and actions."

 

 

 


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