Eighty-one per cent of Maltese people would “feel unsafe” knowing that a home near them is being used for prostitution, according to preliminary results of a survey.
This is the first time that the public’s views on the subject have been gauged, following several calls by professional and lobby groups to use research as the basis for a decision on whether to decriminalise prostitution in Malta.
Prostitution is defined as an agreement between two people that includes the exchange of money and takes place in a private place. This part of it is not illegal. However, loitering, soliciting in public and living off the proceeds is.
The government wants to reform prostitution laws. The reform had been spearheaded until recently by Rosianne Cutajar, the former parliamentary secretary for equality and reforms, who has indicated her support for full decriminalisation, including for clients of sex workers.
“The government is proposing the decriminalisation of loitering and soliciting,” said Dr Anna Borg, who chairs the Malta Women’s Lobby.
“In a context where prostitution is not illegal, this means that once the industry expands, as happened in all other countries where it was decriminalised, this kind of business can occur everywhere, including in the flat or house next to you.”
Devastating effect on vulnerable people
The lobby, with the support of the European Women’s Lobby, commissioned the study to get a better idea of how the Maltese look at the issue of prostitution.
A total of 402 people were surveyed by MISCO in February. The local lobby group collaborated with the Coalition on Human Trafficking and Prostitution, which is made up of 45 organisations.
They have been brought together by their common concern for the well-being of the vulnerable people caught up in prostitution, saying there would also be an increase in human trafficking.
More findings of the survey will be revealed during a press conference on Tuesday, as well as proposals for reform of the current laws.
Borg said the lobby tried to communicate the survey results to the government but received no response.
An international union of sex workers, gay rights organisations and anti-human trafficking groups has backed decriminalisation, saying the Nordic model, which criminalises clients, has had a negative impact.
However, the coalition says data from other countries shows this approach would be “a gift to pimps and traffickers” and have a “devastating effect” on vulnerable people.
The overwhelming majority of people in prostitution in Malta are women trafficked to the island for the purpose of sexual exploitation, the coalition says.
One woman’s hell
When Jane was just 12 years old her mother, a heroin addict, introduced her to a world of drug dependence and prostitution which she is still struggling to break out of today, more than 20 years later.
In her time as a sex worker in the UK and Malta, Jane (not her real name) has been a drug addict, got thrown into jail and became a teenage mum to a child she had to give up for adoption.
Despite the blur of her past, she has a crystal-clear message: No one chooses prostitution.
“This is not a choice. No one chooses this. It’s so degrading. Of course, you can say ‘no’ technically. But when you’re trapped in addiction, you can’t.
“I never met a girl who chose to do this. That’s why I completely disagree with legalising prostitution. It’s like giving a drug dealer the power to deal. It gives a pimp more power.
“Do not give these people power. They will take advantage of this.”
Her parents were both addicts and she was raised in foster care. Now doing a normal job, she is working hard to clean up her life.
“I was always curious to know who my mother was and meet her. So, when I was 12, I found her,” she recalls.
That day she was introduced to drugs and it was the beginning of her spiral into crime.
“At 12, I started sleeping with men to finance my mum’s habit and it became my habit.”
She was in jail by the time she was 15.
Two years ago, she moved to Malta in the hope of starting a new life.
“I was sleeping out on the streets and a man came up to me and offered me a room to work from. It was a maisonette with several rooms where he kept women, some as young as 16, to have sex with men. He pumped us with drugs and practically did not allow us to leave.”
One day, in a moment of semi-clarity, Jane called a social worker who told her to just get out. She was taken to a shelter and started rehabilitation.
Now, with the support of Dar Hosea, a walk-in centre for women in prostitution, she is rebuilding her life.