Human Rights group Aditus and indentured labour at Leisure Clothing
When I read in Malta Today this morning that Neil Falzon of the human rights group Aditus would be receiving an award from LGBT Malta, it suddenly occurred to me that when organisations began releasing statements in the aftermath of the first Leisure Clothing/human trafficking stories, Aditus wasn’t among them.
So I emailed the organisation and got an immediate reply (thank you).
——–
Hi Daphne,
I’ve been away from the office for almost 2 weeks and am still catching up on all issues.
My colleague tells me we’ve already sent all available info to the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency, as they’re gathering data on severe forms of labour exploitation.
We won’t issue a public statement (we’re drowning with many other things), but we’re going to write to the national Trafficking in Persons Coordinator, established some years ago in the context of Malta’s action plan to combat human trafficking.
We’ll also make sure the US Embassy is made aware of this, as they regularly gather data for their highly influential TIP report.
We have repeatedly raised our concerns that trafficking in persons is not limited to sexual exploitation, but that various other labour sectors are also attracting this human rights violation.
We’ve urged the DIER and the relevant Ministries to expand their perspective to include these sectors in their national research and policy discussions.
To date, we’re not sure if any concrete activities have been undertaken. It is an area we are trying to become active in, but our capacities are too stretched at the moment.
Thanks for alerting us. Although we won’t be issuing a statement, if you feel it relevant go ahead and confirm that we’ll be doing the above.
Neil
14 Comments Comment
Leave a Comment
So Aditus are more concerned about LGBT rights than they are to “monitor, act & report on access to fundamental human rights.”
Their “focus is primarily Malta” – but when a huge case of breaching of fundamental human rights explodes in their face they are “too busy” to follow it and comment.
Are these guys for real? Are we paying for this NGO to operate as well?
Gays and Africans are their top priorities it would seem.
@Bob, pray tell, how are you/we paying them?
Is there a portion of our salaries that goes to ‘Them’ directly or does the government have a heading in the budget Ghal-Engeeows Tradituri?
As far as I know, I never paid for any NGOs except through my own choice via private donations.
If you mean EU funds, then I guess it’s more like Mr and Mrs Schnieder from Munich who contribute more than you or I do.
There’s something particularly repulsive about opportunistic “humanitarians”.
How sick is it that the ones who were all for pushbacks are the same ones to exploit these people?
Leo Brincat, Lino Spiteri, Jimmy Magro and Ramona Frendo have so much to explain.
I bet they’ll be the first to oppose intervention in North Africa, western imperialism at its worst, no doubt.
They’ve become everything and its opposite.
Aditus should send info directly to the State Department and to US NGOs, and not to the US embassy. The ambassador is way too friendly with various members of the MLP regime.
Oh come on. Seriously? Are you for real? Of course she is friendly with the regime. It’s her job to do so.
Of all people to doubt, a woman who probably had an ancestor who was a slave just three generations ago.
Oh come on. Seriously? Prevalent slavery in the US three generations ago? Slavery was abolished in the 1860s in the US.
I wonder if he would have been so complacent and passive had the victims been African or had the Nationalist Party been in government.
Maybe the EU does not fund NGOs to fight for the rights non-Africans workers exploited in Malta
By the time his email reached Daphne, I think he had drowned in all the tasks surrounding him. Some people can really make mountains out of molehills.
Years ago I worked with a Maltese business that employed mainly Asian or Indians living in the UK who were waiting for citizenship.
My employer lured them to Malta with many false promises of good pay. Then after a month he called them in and said to them that he would halve their pay and if they refused he would chuck them out and they would be in a real fix because they were not EU citizens.
He did it repeatedly.
I reported it to the ETC. I said to the person at the desk: “Can’t you see the rate of staff turnover in this company is not normal? The ETC officer said, “Yes, I know, but the establishment is interested in the numbers. The more turnover the more employment it can boast.” That made no sense at all to me.
So really all we get are twisted figures. Which government has really clamped down on these abuses? One wonders.
Issuing press releases if one thing, taking all the action listed in the email and on a repeated regular basis is more work than just talking your mouth off to the press. It’s the ‘pressuring’ NGOs do behind the scenes.
Aditus is a very small organisation, so yes they can only do so much.
I’d bet my favourite woolly socks that you guys criticising this assumed inaction were actually over the last few weeks complaining about all things China related.
I personally prefer to keep my mouth shut when I do not have the complete picture.
I suppose late is better than never.