Sex Work In Malta: Regulation Starts With Acknowledging Industry Stakeholders, Volt Propose
Independent party Volt has proposed classifying sex workers as professionals in an effort to combat the pervading stigma persons in the industry suffer.
Volt has even taken the belief a step further by proposing a system that would effectively regulate the ‘Wild West’ that is the industry as we know it in Malta in their manifesto.
You can read the full proposal here.
“While it is legal, there is no protection for the workers and the potential for abuse is rife,” Volt writes.
On this premise, they proposed a model that featured a “multi-angled attack on the black market”.
Volt proposed launching investigations to ensure persons are engaged in the industry of their own volition. To begin, they propose prison time to illegal sex traffickers and brothel operators.
On top of that, they pledge to include support services “for individuals who have been coerced against their will into the industry, which protects the victim’s personal safety and anonymity and enables reporting of criminal activity”.
The next challenge according to Volt? Regulating the industry, which starts by ensuring sex workers register their employment status, with the option to also work as ‘self-employed’.
Persons engaged in the industry, they propose, will be over the age of 21, with nobody under the age of 18 unable to make use of this service. They will only be able to engage in these activities in strictly “Co-operative brothels,” and must abide by STD testing policies. Regardless of this, unprotected sex is a strict no-no.
A ‘Co-operative’ setting’ is run by the sex workers themselves, which means there are no ‘pimp’ figures in the establishment.
Moreover, the establishment and owners must be registered with a responsible authority, display signs promoting safer sex practices, and even refuse clients who are inebriated.
With sex work being another ‘taboo’ subject in Malta, one could argue that the time to address the issue should be given its due importance on the political agenda.
Selling and buying sex is legal in Malta, but soliciting in public and organising sex work isn’t. The laws that do exist surrounding sex work allow landlords to kick someone out of their property if sex work is taking place.
More shockingly, the law also allows you to disinherit someone for being a prostitute.
Since sex work is not recognised as work in Malta, there is no mandatory HIV or STI testing.
However, an adult living off the earnings of prostitution is completely legal.
The confusing aspects of the law make for a hard-to-regulate industry as it currently stands, with Volt saying its time for Malta’s sex industry to be properly seen to.
Do you think Malta should have a legal, regulated sex industry?