Buying of sex should be outlawed and penalized accordingly, the Malta Women’s Lobby said in a statement Wednesday.

The overwhelming majority of persons in prostitution in Malta are women, and research repeatedly shows that they are all, bar a few exceptions, victims of coercion, be it financial, emotional, or physical, the lobby wrote in a letter to Parliamentary Secretary Rebecca Buttigieg.

The letter was sent after The Malta Independent reported on Monday that amendments to the prostitution law are currently underway to ensure that proposals put forward through public consultation match the local context.

In principle, the lobby said in its statement, “we agree entirely with government support for sustainable exit programs, as well as the implementation of concrete measures that ensure that persons in prostitution are not re-victimised by prosecution. However, it must be stressed that the prevention of exploitation may only be effective if the buying of sex is outlawed and penalised accordingly.

Fully decriminalising legislation supports, to a limited extent, a very small minority of individuals, whilst simultaneously exploiting the majority of victims. It also opens Malta’s doors to sex tourism and human trafficking, enabling such criminal behaviour, and exposing Maltese and foreign women and girls to unprecedented levels of risk and harm, the lobby said.

With the exception of two organisations - which are not experts on the subject - ALL 46 organisations which participated in the consultations process and eventually formed part of the Coalition, strongly advised that to promote gender equality and curb sex trafficking, the new legislation must limit, not expand, demand for sexual services.  This was also the position taken by the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality (NCPE)

“To be true to your word that “amendments to the law are currently underway to ensure that the proposals put forward correspond to the local context”, it is your representational duty to listen to and follow the advice of Malta’s experts. A consultation is a crucial process and must not be merely reduced to a hollow PR exercise,” the lobby said.

To do otherwise would mean consciously putting vulnerable persons in a much worse, not better, position, and would result in risking the lives of women and girls, whilst protecting those who exploit them.

We strongly urge you to champion women's rights and to protect the most vulnerable, many of whom have no voice in this debate, and depend on their representatives to protect their interests and not the interests of those who are exploiting them, the letter concluded