The way the State dealt with prostitution was untenable and the government was studying legal models in other countries to propose changes, Civil Liberties Minister Helena Dalli told Times of Malta.
She was approached following comments by Labour deputy leader Toni Abela and lawyer Edward Gatt in favour of regulating prostitution to protect sex workers.
“The status quo was not tenable,” the minister said. “Indeed, the government is looking at different models in other countries, assessing their successes and shortcomings. Our main concern is the well-being of the persons involved in the sex industry, ensuring their safety and that they are not exploited by pimps or clients alike.”
She noted long-standing differences in the approaches to prostitution. “On the one hand, there is the ‘Swedish model’ where selling sex is not a criminal act while purchasing sex is. The aim of this model is to protect vulnerable women and make the purchasing of sex a form of violence.
The status quo was not tenable
“Others have taken a diametrically opposed approach by decriminalising sex work to ensure access to safe working conditions and healthcare for sex workers.”
Nationalist Party spokeswoman Claudette Buttigieg said she was all for protecting vulnerable women and controlling infectious diseases but felt that the debate should make a clear distinction between regularising and legalising the sex trade.
Other countries followed these roads before and, therefore, Malta should consult thoroughly and study what happened elsewhere to see if these model cases fit the island’s scenario, she added.
She urged the government to consult, take a stand and propose legislation that could then be discussed in detail.
In Malta, prostitution in itself is not considered a criminal offence but soliciting, living off immoral earnings, organising prostitution or forcing anyone into prostitution is.
A report by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control had said that the legality of sex work affected sex workers’ vulnerability to HIV and other sexually-transmitted infections.
It argued that criminalisation could make sex workers reluctant to access healthcare and support services. It could also lead to the deterioration of working conditions, limited protection from law enforcement and limited legal rights.
Brothel ownership is legal in countries such as Austria, Belgium, Greece, Germany and the Netherlands and it is illegal to buy but not to sell sex in Iceland, Norway and Sweden.
In several EU countries, there is no law legalising or criminalising sex work but, instead, there are many legal provisions and regulations in place making sex work difficult, such as the criminalisation of soliciting, “curb crawling” and “companion activities” and regulations on where and when sex work is allowed.
In several EU countries, even though sex work is not recognised as a trade, sex workers have to register at the local municipality, have mandatory regular health check-ups and sometimes even pay taxes as self-employed workers.