د . إAEDSRر . س

Zero Reports Of Human Trafficking Were Made In Malta In 2019

Article Featured Image

A total of 15 cases of human trafficking have been reported since January 2014, said Minister for Home Affairs, Law Enforcement and National Security Byron Camilleri.

The answer came after Nationalist MP Claudette Buttigieg posed a question to the Minister during the parliamentary sitting on 4th June.

Malta is trying to address the issue. Last year, the government launched an anti-trafficking awareness campaign, with the government also looking to decriminalise sex work to curb the issue. However, human trafficking is not solely related to sex work with other industries in Malta also suffering from the issue.

As it stands, Maltese law prescribes four to 12-years imprisonment for a person found guilty of sex or labour trafficking. These penalties are even more stringent when it comes to sex trafficking, which also falls under other serious crimes such as rape.

Six of the 15 reports were made in 2018, making it the year with the highest amount of reports since 2014. The years with the second highest reports were 2013 and 2017, with 4 reports of human trafficking each.

A 2019 report found that convictions are low.  As of June 2019, not a single person has been convicted of human trafficking since the start of 2015, despite 23 alleged traffickers appearing in front of the court during the same period.

As of May, 2020 has given rise to a single report.

What do you make of these statistics? Let us know in the comments

READ NEXT: Fortina Ends TACA Contract, With Construction Workers Who Went On Strike After Not Being Paid For Five Months Being Sent Home

You may also love

View All