The Council of Europe presented the Joint Project on “Supporting Malta in the design and implementation of a new National Anti-Trafficking Strategy” and its preliminary recommendations at the first meeting of the Human Trafficking Monitoring Committee of Malta held online on 2 February 2023.

The Monitoring Committee stands as the high-level decision-making mechanism in the field of trafficking in human beings and will be responsible for the future adoption of the national anti-trafficking strategy and action plan. The Committee was recently recomposed and is chaired by Emmanuel Psaila, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry for Home Affairs, Security, Reform and Equality (MHSR), which is the main beneficiary of the Project. The Council of Europe welcomed this important step and highlighted the crucial role of this national monitoring mechanism to ensure that domestic anti-trafficking measures respond to existing gaps and are effectively implemented. The Council of Europe will collaborate with the Monitoring Committee, in the framework of the project, to ensure that the proposed Strategy and Action Plan respond to the priority needs of Malta which will be identified with all relevant national actors from Ministries, civil society organisations, the private sector, researchers and victims themselves.

The Project “Supporting Malta in the design and implementation of a new anti-trafficking strategy” aims to contribute to the ongoing policy reform for combating trafficking in human beings in Malta. The project is co-funded by the European Union via the Technical Support Instrument, and implemented by the Council of Europe, in cooperation with the European Commission.