Malta put on human trafficking watch list
‘Such an inclusion does not make for good publicity’
Malta, together with Azerbaijan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, has made it on to the international human trafficking watch list, compiled by OSCE representative Christopher Smith, Labour Deputy Leader Anglu Farrugia said yesterday.
I have already sponsored a resolution about protecting vulnerable populations from human trafficking- Dr Farrugia
Speaking in Parliament during the continuation of the debate on the motion to censure Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici, Dr Farrugia said that unless one knew about Malta’s place on this list, it was unbelievable.
He asked the minister whether he had looked into what could be done, together with other European countries, to eradicate the reputation that resulted from being listed in such a negative manner, and with countries which did not make for good publicity.
“I have already sponsored a resolution to be discussed in Monaco next July, during the plenary assembly of the OSCE about protecting vulnerable populations from human trafficking,” Dr Farrugia said, adding that he was involved to see what could be done, and more so why nothing had been done yet, resulting in Malta finding itself on this list.
Furthermore, a report by Professor Manfred Nowak, from the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute, found that there was a serious drug problem in Malta’s prisons and prisoners’ rights were not respected, resulting in a situation which ranked Malta even worse than Turkey.
Dr Farrugia said the parliamentary group had debated this report, and invited the Minister Mifsud Bonnici to offer an explanation, if what Professor Nowak said was true. The case of Josette Bickle, who last year was sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment for drug trafficking in prison, brought some of the issues to the surface, but the situation was much deeper.
Similarly it was unacceptable that a Maltese person imprisoned abroad, who had been granted the right to serve the remainder of his sentence in Malta, remained in prison in Italy.
He said the opposition was duty bound to present a censure motion about the shortcomings of a ministry, when there was an interruption of the normal course of business as this debate was about what people expected from the ministry.
Dr Farrugia also spoke of delays in the courts, which caused the people pain, but which the government seemed to remain indifferent to. Doing something to address this would not mean interfering with the judiciary, which will still deliver judgement, but would go a way towards tackling delays. If Malta was determined to fight corruption, the legal machinery must be implemented.