Prostitution in Malta is itself legal, but certain activities connected with it, such as running a brothel and loitering, are not. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat promised to discuss legalising prostitution in the buildup to the general election. Prostitution has occurred in Malta for centuries.
When the Knights Hospitaller came to the country in , the port of Vittoriosa contained many brothels. The French king's geographer, Nicholas de Nicolai, was impressed by the number of prostitutes in the streets when he visited Vittoriosa in , [ 8 ] Prior to the Great Siege of Malta in , arrangements were made to evacuate the country's prostitutes to Sicily. When the Knights moved from Vittoriosa to the new capital Valletta , the prostitutes followed. As the Knights took vows of chastity , the prostitutes with them was seen as a scandal.
Foreign prostitutes were expelled and the Maltese prostitutes confined to one area of the city. In , inquisitor Leonetto della Cordoba was charged with seeking out prostitutes and dismissed as an inquisitor. Towards the 17th century, there was harsh prejudice and laws towards those who were found guilty or who spoke openly of being involved in same-sex activity. English voyager and author William Lithgow , writing in March , says a Spanish soldier and a Maltese teenage boy were publicly burnt to ashes for confessing to have practiced sodomy together.
Lower-class men were whipped and sentenced to hard labour on the third offence. The code of Emmanuel de Rohan-Polduc barred foreign prostitutes from entering the country and placed restrictions on Maltese prostitutes.
They were not allowed to open their doors between sunrise and sunset and were not allowed to enter pubs or taverns. Compulsory medical examinations were introduced.
