Live transmission of a House committee meeting on human trafficking was suspended yesterday after a Council of Europe representative requested that it be held behind closed doors.

Twenty minutes into the meeting, the administrator of the Council of Europe’s secretariat on action against human trafficking, Carolina Lasendiaz, was informed that the session was being transmitted live online.

The chairman of the House Social Affairs Committee, Edwin Vassallo, told the CoE delegation that they had to be cautious with their remarks as they could not take them back since the meeting was being streamed.

Ms Lasendiaz asked that the session be held “in camera” and Mr Vassallo accepted the request because of the meeting’s confidential nature.

In his introduction, Mr Vassallo said the committee believed Malta might be experiencing human trafficking, which did not get as much exposure as irregular immigration.

The committee, he said, had been discussing an area in Malta which was well known for its nightlife. Although it did not have any evidence of human trafficking, it was possible that it existed in certain entertainment spots.

He believed the police were doing their utmost in difficult circumstances because, if human trafficking in Malta existed, it would be very well organised and one might not immediately spot it.

In her introduction, Ms Lasendiaz said she wanted to hear the views of the Maltese Parliament on the issue and on the policy regarding the transposition of the EU human trafficking directive. Did Malta want any particular changes to be made?

The meeting was also attended by Labour MPs Joe Debono Grech and Michael Falzon as well as by the first and second vice presidents of the CoE secretariat, Gulnara Shahinian and Davor Derenicinovic.