VZCZCXRO2144
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN
RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHVT #0303/01 2031319
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 211319Z JUL 08
FM AMEMBASSY VALLETTA
TO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES  PRIORITY
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1657

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