The National Council of Women is very concerned about the proposal that once again is being put forward to legalise prostitution (ToM, 6th April). Such a law would confirm that women are a commodity and that women’s sexual favours are there for the taking as long as one pays! This worst form of degradation of women is totally unacceptable.
The National Council of Women (NCW) believes that respecting the dignity of women as human beings and respecting their human rights, should be translated in practice through a holistic approach by NGOs, funded by the government. The programme should offer the services of professionals including social workers, psychologists, medical practitioners and legal advisers to reach out to women, taking into account their different circumstances, providing support, social and health services, education and training for job opportunities, and to assist women to get out of the trap of ‘traditional’ prostitution rings.
Both ‘traditional’ prostitution and trafficking of women for sexual exploitation require different legal measures, the latter also falling under the UN Palermo Protocol on Trafficking of Human Beings, which should have been signed and ratified by Malta years ago. The NCW has for years been urging different governments to address these two degrading practices separately. It is a shame that in the case of the latter, so little, if anything has been done in practice. It is an embarrassment to our political parties, that the Council of Europe has so harshly criticised Malta for the lack of the implementation of 16 areas of the Convention on Trafficking of Women for Sexual Exploitation.
NCW fully supports the law as it stands and the positive steps taken to address organised crime, the criminalisation of practices of living off immoral earnings, organising prostitution in various places of entertainment or forcing or seducing anyone into prostitution. Such measures have gone a long way to protect women from this form of abuse. However, the NCW insists on stronger law enforcement measures and condemns any attempt to changes in Malta’s legislation to decriminalise the sale of sexual favours.
Grace Attard
NCW Vice President