The government does not plan to legalise brothels or allow pimps to exploit the women, parliamentary secretary for equality said on Wednesday in a parliamentary committee meeting. 

Rosianne Cutajar was speaking during a debate on a controversial reform on human trafficking and prostitution in the presence of representatives from human rights NGOs and women organisations. 

The meeting was held days after the parliamentary secretary stoked controversy in an interview to Lovin Malta when she announced that under the proposed law both sex workers and their clients would be decriminalised.

Her remark prompted a barrage of criticism from a coalition of over 40 NGOs who are advocating what is known as the Nordic model, whereby the client would still be liable for prosecution.

In their reaction, NGOs lamented that this would open the floodgates for trafficking, and risk turning Malta into a sex tourism destination.  

The reform was on the agenda of a Social Affairs Committee meeting in which NGO representatives outlined their views on the way forward. 

Early on, the parliamentary secretary seemingly backtracked from her position, saying no decisions had yet been taken by the government and she had only been expressing her personal views.

Though NGOs harboured different views, they called for extending the two-month consultation period further to be given enough time to outline their concerns and proposals. 

PN MP Claudio Grech said the focus should be on the main point of divergence about whether to criminalise the clients or not. 

Anna-Maria Vella who runs Dar Hosea, a centre offering support to women facing the challenges of prostitution, advocated the Nordic Model.

Speaking on behalf of the coalition of NGOs, she insisted her position was the result of academic studies and years of experience. She added that in countries where prostitution was legalised not on the Nordic model, the reform failed.

She cited the Netherlands saying 127 prostitutes had been murdered since prostitution was legalised, and pointed out that not criminalising clients was akin to encouraging pimps.

This would in turn increase demand which in the case of Malta could only be addressed through foreign sex workers, increasing the possibility of human trafficking, she said.

According to Vella, only 3% of women went into prostitution consciously as the rest were forced into such practice through circumstances. 

Anna Borg, who also spoke on behalf of the coalition, said prostitution could never be eradicated but the Nordic model empowered women to take action in case of abuse. 

However, human rights NGOs Aditus and Integra Foundation disagreed saying they were for the decriminalisation of both sex workers and clients. Criminalising clients would increase the vulnerability of prostitutes, promote human trafficking and drive such activities underground. 

LGTBIQ activist Ruth Baldacchino and Mina Tolu from Alternattiva Demokratika also spoke in favour of full decriminalisation.  

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