MALTA INVESTIGATES TRAFFICKING CLAIMS AMONG

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 VALLETTA 000303

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR G/TIP, DRL, PRM, IWI, EUR/WE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KCRM PHUM KWMN ELAB SMIG ASEC KFRD PREF MT
SUBJECT: MALTA INVESTIGATES TRAFFICKING CLAIMS AMONG
MIGRANT POPULATION

REF: VALLETTA 93


1. (SBU) Summary. On June 25, DCM and PolOff met with a GOM
interagency group on trafficking to discuss reports from
representatives of NGOs based in Malta that four Nigerian
women being trafficked to Italy had ended up in a Maltese
detention centers after being rescued at sea. After an
animated discussion over the technicalities of whether the
women had been trafficked "to Malta," all the government
players eventually agreed that any reports of victims of
trafficking among the immigrants would be investigated
immediately, and if the reports proved credible, the victims
would be released from detention and offered protection and
assistance. End summary.


2. (SBU) DCM and Poloff met June 25 with representatives of
GoM agencies involved in handling matters related to
immigrants and asylum-seekers. The interagency group
includes Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs (MJHA),MFA,
Police, Organization for the Integration and Welfare of
Asylum Seekers (OIWAS),and APPOGG (Malta,s Social Welfare
Agency). For background on the origins of Embassy's request
for the meeting, see para 7.


3. (SBU) At the outset of the meeting, several participants
focused on venting their frustration at the 2008 TIP report,
which had kept Malta at Tier Two despite significant progress
in the way Malta handles TIP issues. Joseph Gerada, the
Executive Director of APPOGG, provided a copy of an
informative brochure outlining TIP and referring possible
victims to a GoM hotline and website for assistance. Several
participants made the point that the four Nigerian women had
not been trafficked "to Malta" but had been en route to
Italy. (DCM and Poloff emphasized that the important thing
was not where they had originally been headed, but that they
be assisted and protected once identified.) Alex Tortell,
OIWAS Director, noted that in 2007 a total of 29 Nigerian
women had arrived in Malta, among them the four possible
victims of trafficking, and that so far this year only 6 of
the new arrivals had been from Nigeria.


4. (SBU) Alex Tortell said that as soon as OIWAS had become
aware of the case of the Nigerian women it had interviewed
them and carefully assessed their stories, but had found no
evidence to suggest that they had been victims of
trafficking. DCM emphasized the importance of such
assessments being out by trained professionals, since victims
are often traumatized and reluctant to talk about their
victimization. He recommended that OIWAS seek documentation
of the original JRS interviews, which would almost certainly
tell a different story.


5. (SBU) The tone of the meeting improved remarkably over the
course of its hour and a half duration, and at its conclusion
all present agreed that all reports of victims of trafficking
among the immigrants, from any source, would be immediately
investigated, and that if they were found to be credible, the
victims would be released from detention and
protected/assisted.

New Working Group


6. (SBU) The NGOs tell us they have formed a working group
with OIWAS to address the specific needs of the immigrant
community. OIWAS and APPOGG (Malta,s Social Welfare Agency)
are capable of offering assistance to victims once
identified. Moving forward, we hope to facilitate a meeting
between the GOM interagency group and the NGO representatives
in order to clarify the protocol for identifying possible
victims of trafficking among the migrant population. The
channels of communication for reporting cases between the
NGOs and the GOM agencies need to be clarified and reinforced
through regular meetings.


7. (SBU) Background: In April of this year, Jesuit Refugee
Services (JRS) reported that they had identified four
Nigerian women who were potential victims of trafficking. The
women had been en route to Italy but, like nearly 2000 other
immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa over the past year, were
rescued at sea and brought to Malta. JRS and UNHCR conduct
interviews with all newly arrived migrants and asylum seekers
shortly after their arrival in Malta, and they emphasized
that the phenomenon of apparent trafficking victims among
African immigrants was a new phenomenon never before
encountered in Malta. JRS emailed the names of the four
individuals to the GOM agency tasked with providing for the
welfare of the asylum seekers, OIWAS (Organization for the
Integration and Welfare of Asylum Seekers),but never heard
back; JRS later learned that the employee to whom the names

VALLETTA 00000303 002 OF 002


had been emailed had left OIWAS. These cases were all
Nigerian women whose intended destination was Italy ) not
Malta. In early May, DCM raised the matter with Charles
Deguara, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Justice and
Home Affairs (MJHA),who said it was the first he had heard
of it but undertook to follow up. He later reported that when
OIWAS interviewed the four women, they made no claim of
having been trafficked. Two of the women were released and
given shelter in a GoM funded "open center" as vulnerable
immigrants, while the other two remained in detention while
any possible claim to asylum was assessed. DCM emphasized the
importance of dealing with such cases in a timely fashion and
requested a meeting with the various GoM players involved in
handling such matters; the interagency meeting reported in
this cable was the result.


8. (SBU) Comment: OIWAS is a new agency, formed only last
year; Tortell was clearly frustrated in the lack of direct
communication from the NGOs on these particular cases. He
emphasized that they are working now to develop policies and
structures. Tortell is seeking training for his staff to
better assess victims and offer protection; he attended a
session in April 2008 at the Marshall Center in Germany on
Migration and International Security, and will attend a
second session in September on Immigration Policies and
Integration. The GOM agencies are clearly willing to deal
with the challenges facing them ) it,s a matter of
training, building expertise and maximizing the available
resources. End comment.
BORDONARO