Vice gangs may target Malta

A shadow industry involving the prostitution of trafficked women could develop around the flourishing “gentlemen’s club” trade in Malta, an American human rights scholar told the Times.

We need to make sure that we let victims know they are actually victims... and also we have to train police and judges to treat them as victims- Professor Terence Coonan

“We have seen in the US that in metropolitan areas where there is a tolerance for commercial sexual activities such as strip clubs, a whole subculture can thrive which is of concern to anti-human trafficking advocates,” said Terence Coonan, mentioning the potential for taxi drivers, bouncers and “enforcers of different kinds” to profit from facilitating sexual services for clients in the club.

“It would be something for Malta to be mindful of as gentlemen’s clubs proliferate more and more,” he added.

Prof. Coonan, who is executive director of Florida State University Centre for the Advancement of Human Rights, was speaking to The Times after delivering his keynote address at the Border Securities: Human Experiences conference organised by the University of Malta’s Department of Civil Law and Institute of Criminology with support from the US Embassy.

Human trafficking, by which people are traded and forced or coerced under false pretences into providing sexual or labour services for the benefit of others, is an issue the government is attempting to address with its Action Plan on Combating Trafficking in Persons published earlier this month.

Human trafficking differs from people smuggling, when people freely agree to pay a smuggler to facilitate illegal entry for them into another country or territory.

It is an issue that the US State Department is concerned about. Last June in its annual Trafficking in Persons Report it put Malta on the Tier 2 Watch List for human trafficking, making it one of only three EU countries on this list, which also features Afghanistan among other countries.

One of the main reasons Malta was placed on this list was that, although the government is seen to be taking the issue seriously, its policies and actions are viewed by the US State Department as not yet yielding effective results, with no victims of human trafficking identified in the year of the report and no investigations or prosecutions begun.

Prof. Coonan believes the official figures which show 10 cases of human trafficking investigated in Malta between 2002 and 2010 resulting in 14 convictions are just the tip of the iceberg.

“When you scratch the surface there may well be more. I think that may have been the concern of the State Department – that there are potentially cases that are not being looked at or not being prosecuted as expeditiously as they could be,” he said.

However, Prof. Coonan thinks this is probably due to a lack of awareness and training in how to deal with human trafficking cases rather than apathy on the part of the police and judiciary.

“It has probably never crossed their radar screens. In the US we find it’s not that there is a determination to avoid these cases or remain wilfully ignorant, it’s just that they’ve never been trained to develop the eyes to see where human trafficking is happening in the community.

“My guess is that Maltese law enforcement is just like American law enforcement – when they do understand that this is not just a human rights issue but a crime, they would very much be involved and be positively disposed to looking at those cases,” he said.

Prof. Coonan thinks a major awareness campaign is needed for the public, law enforcement officials, prosecutors and judges.

“Some of it is training local communities to see where the industries are in their communities where there may be cases of trafficking. What we’re finding in the US and other places is that where there is tourism, there is often the potential for human trafficking,” he said.

Furthermore, it is important to raise awareness among victims and vulnerable groups that they are protected and to give reassurance that they will not be treated as criminals if they come forward.

“We need to make sure we let victims know they are actually victims. In the US there has been tremendous under-reporting of the crime, largely because the victims themselves don’t think they have any rights. And traffickers, of course, cultivate that sort of thinking.

“We also have to train police and judges that this person is no longer deemed to be a criminal because they have had their ability to consent taken away from them through force or fraud or coercion, and we’re going to treat them as a victim.”

NGOs also have a vital role to play in the fight against human trafficking. “The great lesson learned on our part in the US is that you need to have an NGO that can do the victim care because law enforcement is not set up to do the kind of intensive victim care that is required. And the longer victims have been exploited, the more acute their needs are,” Prof. Coonan said.

So who is behind human trafficking and who are the vulnerable groups in Malta? Prof. Coonan is unequivocal that organised crime gangs are responsible for human trafficking the world over.

“Trafficking is the dark side of globalisation. It is international criminal syndicates that are increasingly involved in this,” he said.

The chances of there being Maltese victims of human trafficking is minimised by the relatively close-knit communities in the country, as people tend to know one another’s business and look out for another if needed, he said. More at risk are foreigners, especially those who are deemed to have entered the country illegally, even if they have a genuine case for asylum or refugee status.

“Once you have designated someone as being illegal and being outside the protection of the law, you have just really enhanced their vulnerability,” Prof. Coonan said.

• We have seen in the US that in metropolitan areas where there is a tolerance for commercial sexual activities such as strip clubs, a whole subculture can thrive which is of concern to anti-human trafficking advocates.

• Human trafficking differs from people smuggling, when people freely agree to pay a smuggler to facilitate illegal entry for them into another country or territory.

• When they do understand that this is not just a human rights issue but a crime, they would very much be involved and be positively disposed to looking at those cases.

• The chances of there being Maltese victims of human trafficking is minimised by the relatively close-knit communities in the country, as people tend to know one another’s business and look out for another if needed, he said.