Health and safety should always be the priority

In a story published on our front page yesterday, the Law Students Association called for prostitution to be legalised and regulated, mostly to safeguard the health of those who work in the sex trade.

The trouble is that the law covering prostitution and other related offences is very ambiguous in Malta. The law states that it is illegal to loiter with intent, as well as soliciting with intent. It is also illegal to live off the earnings of prostitution, which is mostly applied towards pimps. The Association compiled a 20-page report, gathering opinions from various experts on the matter. The opinions vary from one extreme to the other. Women’s groups believe that prostitution should be made illegal, along with gentlemen’s clubs, while some psychiatrists and therapists say that the sector should be legalised and regulated to safeguard the health of women – and of course men – who work in the trade. The truth is, someone needs to address this elephant in the room. Prostitution does exist and will continue to exist. Over the years, it has evolved. Malta’s prostitution scene used to be known for the seedy hovels in Gzira, which were home to tenants living in squalid conditions, often suffering from acute drug problems. Now, however, the phenomenon of call girls and high-end escorts has been on the increase. We have seen cases end up before the courts, with some of the women saying they travelled to Malta for business of their own accord, while others say that they were trafficked and forced into the industry.

If the sector is regularised, then health and safety inspectors would be able to carry out spot checks and visits to make sure that the health of the individual is not being compromised and that they are not being forced into prostitution. It was Labour Deputy leader Toni Abela who spoke about the issue last year and suggested that a review of the situation was definitely needed. He is correct. We cannot continue to brush the issue under the carpet and pretend that it does not happen. Perhaps a good model to follow would be the Nordic one. After years of study, in 1999, Sweden implemented legislation that criminalises the buying of sex, but decriminalises the selling of sex. The model’s goals were to curb the demand for commercial sex that fuels trafficking of people as well as promoting equality between men and women. It might sound strange, but the model had the desired effect, with government reports showing that trafficking for the purposes of prostitution has been halved in Sweden since the legislation came onto force. We cannot ignore what is happening around us. On the one hand, we still have the destitute in Gzira and around Marsa. But we also have a high-end sex trade that is largely taking place over the internet. One way or another, the government must discuss the issue across the board and draft legislation which aims to eradicate human trafficking for sex purposes, but also safeguarding the health and the rights of those who engage in the trade of their own volition. Ignoring the issue will not make it go away.