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Malta’s upcoming prostitution law will place the rights of sex workers who legitimately want to work in the industry at the forefront, Parliamentary Secretary for Reforms Rosianne Cutajar has pledged.

“I’m using the word ‘sex worker’ intentionally because some people don’t realise it can be a job,” Cutajar said in a speech in Parliament last night. “We can’t keep hiding from the facts.”

The Maltese constitution must treat all as equals, and if sex workers continue to be treated as lesser beings in society, then the constitution will have failed in its duty to protect all against discrimination and abuse, and continue to fail in protecting sex workers, a group of NGOs said on Friday.

“One of our core values is respecting and recognising fundamental human rights, which include equality, freedom from discrimination, gender equality and the right to self-determination. Coming from this, we believe that the discourse on sex work must move to one grounded in giving sex workers the right and dignity as any other worker which is what we have understood the sex work reform and the technical committee aim to do with their recommendations.” 

A host of human rights enjoys supporting a reform in prostitution laws have justified a stance in favour of giving sex workers “agency” through rights and protection with laws that take harsher action against pimps.

The coalition of LGBTIQ+ NGOs Gay rights NGOs MGRM and ARC, as well the Aditus Foundation, are taking a nuanced stance on prostitution reform advanced by the Labour government, suggesting that sex work should not be exclusively conflated with sex trafficking.

They also called out the lack of consultation with sex workers in the reform, arguing that criminalising sex buying would force sex workers to work underground, opening them to further opportunities for violence.

Groups who are not sex workers, and have no experience of sex work, and quote disputed research are fighting back in Malta. These groups propose the Nordic model and are fighting the potential decriminalisation of sex work on the island of Malta.  The Nordic model penalises the buyer but ultimately hurts the sex worker as has been shown time and time again.

The experts on sex work are sex workers, they should be consulted before anyone else.

The Prostitution Reform Technical Committee is in the initial stages of drafting a legal framework that aims to decriminalise sex work, Parliamentary Secretary for Equality and Reforms, Rosianne Cutajar, has told this newsroom.

The reform itself has brought on a number of heated debates, one side pushing for full legislation and regulation (the German model), while the other side calling for the decriminalisation of prostitutes and the criminalisation of those who buy sex (the Nordic model).

The framework aims to; “Decriminalise sex work; ensure the safety and well-being of sex workers by protecting them from coercion, exploitation and other violence; Safeguard the human rights of sex workers and protect them from exploitation; Promote the welfare, health and safety of sex workers; while providing a framework that is conducive to public health, which includes the promotion and adoption of safer sex practices by sex workers and their clients.”

When asked whether brothels or pimping will be legalised, the government has no intention to legalise brothels and pimping will still remain illegal and laws will be harshened in this regard.

When asked whether the buyer would be criminalised, it was explained that sex work is a “transaction between adults (sex worker and the client)”. The sex worker being either female, male, gender non-conforming, cisgender or transgender, will receive money in exchange for sexual services, either regularly or occasionally. “Criminalising one aspect of that transaction will not decriminalise sex work.”

The arguments rage on decriminalisation of sex work in Malta. Here is the Nordic Model argument.  The final argument being made is.

Honestly, I find it hard to believe that anyone sets out in life to be a prostitute, especially in the long-term. Even though the lure of easy money may sound more enticing than a boring minimum wage job, there will come a day when one wakes up and has to face in the cold light of day the grimness of what one does for a living. Buying someone for sex should not be dismissed as if it is nothing more than buying a plastic sex doll. We need to work towards elevating the way society looks at a woman and not continue to grind her down, stripping her of her worth, reducing her to a cheap product, whose price is negotiable and whose very spirit and humanity has been crushed.

Decriminalisation is the safest way for sex workers to work, a sex worker and activist in the field, the The Malta Independent.

The debate had since mellowed until, last Sunday, Reforms Parliamentary Secretary Rosianne Cutajar said that the proposed law to decriminalise prostitution would not make buying sex a crime.

A coalition of 40 NGOs have since come together calling for sex buying to be made into a crime. The sex worker told this newsroom that the Nordic Model has its problems. She also said that sex work and sex trafficking are two completely different things, and many people refer to sex work as sex trafficking.”