Following a fourth evaluation round, on 6 May 2026 the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) of the Council of Europe published the evaluation report on Malta, covering the period 2021-2025.
Chapter 3 includes a dedicated section on asylum seekers and refugees, following which Greta made the following recommendations to the Maltese government:
“59. GRETA urges the Maltese authorities to strengthen their efforts to prevent asylum seekers and refugees from becoming victims of trafficking in human beings, in particular by:
- ensuring that when there are reasonable grounds to believe that an asylum seeker is a child, the person concerned is presumed to be a child and is granted special protection measures pending age verification. This includes prompt separation from any unrelated adults and transfer to appropriate accommodation;
- taking actions for preventing and following up on any disappearances of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and ensuring that all such cases are registered promptly and thoroughly investigated.
60.--Further, GRETA considers that the Maltese authorities should:
- improve the social and economic integration of asylum seekers and refugees, notably their access to employment and vocational training, to prevent them from becoming vulnerable to exploitation and THB;
- continue to raise awareness of asylum seekers and refugees of their rights and the risks of human trafficking, including recruitment and abuse through Internet/social networks”
- Council of Europe (6 May, 2026), [Evaluation Report: Malta. Measures to prevent and detect vulnerabilities to human trafficking],