Age of consent for sex officially lowered to 16

The Gender-Based Violence and Domestic Violence Bill, which passed through parliament on Wednesday, includes an amendment to the age of consent • The amendment was initially proposed by then-Nationalist MP Franco Debono back in 2010

25 April 2018, 8:22pm
by Tia Reljic

1 min read

Parliament officially green-lighted the domestic violence bill, which included an amendment to lower the age of consent to 16.

The amendment was praised by the Maltese National Youth Council (KNZ) who had issued a policy paper with a number of recommendations on the subject back in 2015.

Former Nationalist MP Franco Debono had first called for lowering the age of consent in parliament in 2010.

Speaking during the second reading of the Various Laws - Criminal Matters Amendment Bill on protecting minors from sexual abuse online, Debono had said that Malta and Turkey were the only countries with an age of consent of 18 years.

Tia Reljic is a former MaltaToday reporter