Prostitution should be legalised in Malta, according to Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, the former PN MP who had thrust divorce on the national agenda ahead of the 2012 referendum.

“Prostitution is creating many serious health problems and is leading to the disgusting exploitation of vulnerable people,” Pullicino Orlando, who also chairs the Malta Council for Science and Technology, said in a Facebook post.

“Ending the world’s oldest profession is impossible and pretending it doesn’t exist in Malta is puerile and irresponsible. What are we waiting for to legalise it? We can clamp down on the worrying spread of STDs and facilitate the eradication of exploitation.”

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Julia Farrugia Portelli, the parliamentary secretary for reforms, last week launched an awareness campaign on human trafficking ahead of a consultation process.

People will be asked for their opinions on the way forward with regards human trafficking, prostitution, massage parlours and gentleman’s clubs.

In a recent interview with MaltaToday, Farrugia Portelli recounted how a pimp had turned up at her office a day after she spoke about prostitution on a TV programme.

She said the pimp told him he treats the prostitutions like “queens”, but in the same breath said he drives them wherever they go and is constantly be their side.

“Without even realising it, this man was giving me all the indicators that those girls were living in captivity; yet at the same time, to this individual himself… he thought he was ‘treating them well’,” she said. “So yes, this is why awareness is needed, too.”

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