Country Profile Malta

General Country Information

Summary

There is no national women’s helpline in Malta, but other helplines are available to survivors of different forms of crimes. There are three women-only shelters in the country and four other shelters accessible to women, with at least 90 beds available. In Malta, there are eight women’s centres and one sexual violence referral centre. There is a National Strategy on Gender-Based Violence and Domestic Violence 2023–2028, which includes prevention measures. The state collects data on women’s specialist services, which is available upon request, but there is a lack of coordination among different state bodies collecting data.

Women’s Specialist Services

There is no specialised national women’s helpline in Malta, but two generic helplines that can provide support also to women survivors of gender-based violence. Therefore, the country does not meet the Istanbul Convention standards for the provision of a 24/7 and free-of-charge specialised women’s helpline. The first generic helpline available is the Support Line 179 (tel.: +356 179), which is run by the Foundation for Social Welfare Services. This helpline provides support, referrals and information to different groups of people, including survivors of domestic and intimate partner violence, sexualised violence, human trafficking and exploitation, stalking and harassment, child abuse linked to family violence, and psychological and economic violence. The second one is the Victims of Crime Helpline (tel.: 116006), which is run by the Victim Support Agency and covers all crimes, including different forms of gender-based violence. Both helplines are free of charge and available 24/7, and offer multilingual support primarily in Maltese and English, with interpretation services available for other languages. Funding comes from the state, and although helplines are not specifically for women, the staff receive training related to gender-based violence. In 2024, the most common form of violence reported to the Support Line 179 was domestic violence. Other frequently reported issues included child abuse and child protection concerns, often linked to family violence, followed by cases of sexual abuse and assault, as well as reports of human trafficking and exploitation. In 2024, this helpline received 14,838 calls from 11,068 callers.

Additionally, there are other helplines in Malta which can support survivors of violence against women, which are run by NGOs and targeted to specific groups. For instance, the Women’s Rights Foundation helpline (tel.: +356 80062149) provides legal support about migrant women’s rights and violence against women, and the LGBTIQ+ Wellbeing Service (tel.: +356 22959000) provides counselling for LGBTQI+ individuals. The Kellmni.com helpline provides chat support to youth facing difficulties such as abuse, family conflicts and mental health issues, and the Life Line Malta (tel.: +356 99242490) supports women with pregnancy, parenting, emotional crises, and violence.

There are three women-only shelters in Malta, and four other shelters that are accessible to women survivors of violence, offering in total approximately 90 beds. Three of these are emergency shelters, while the others are second-stage shelters. Emergency shelters offer 24/7 access, and women are expected to pay for their accommodation if they can afford it; nevertheless, all women are accepted in the shelters and receive support regardless of their ability to pay. Access to shelters is often limited to women who meet specific criteria, such as filing a police report, holding legal status, or actively seeking help to leave abusive situations. There is a need for additional shelters and beds in the country, especially for temporary accommodation for undocumented women and for those who need support in taking the first steps to escape abuse. In emergency shelters, women can stay for up to six months, while in second-stage shelters, they typically stay for more than a year. Women-only shelters provide different types of in-house services, such as casework, counselling and psychological support, referrals and collaboration with other services, and practical and legal advice.

All women-only shelters can be accessed by and are accessible to refugee women, women with physical disabilities and transgender women, while most shelters can also accommodate women with cognitive disabilities, and some are equipped to support women with substance abuse issues. There are no shelters which are tailored to the needs of specific groups of survivors.

Women-only shelters receive state funding through public social partnerships with NGOs. One women-only shelter is run by the state, while the other two women-only shelters are run by the church. Shelters are located in main cities, and due to the small size of the country, they can be reached by public transport. If women-only shelters had to decline referrals, the main reasons were the lack of space and capacity to support the survivor, the survivors being ineligible for support, or the shelters not being adequately equipped for the needs of women and children.

Besides the women-only shelters, there are other shelters in Malta that can be accessed by survivors. These include one homeless shelter run by the YMCA, where also women survivors of violence access to if they need accommodation, and a night shelter called Dar Papa Frangisku, which support all groups of women.

There are both women-only centres and centres accessible to all survivors of violence in Malta, for a total of eight centres. Centres are run by different entities: one of them is run by a women’s NGO, one state-run social work service supports survivors of domestic violence, one police-run centre supports survivors of crime, including domestic violence survivors, and other centres are run by NGOs.

Women’s centres provide referrals, counselling, legal advice for survivors of domestic abuse, financial and welfare support, housing advice, employment, and representation at court/police. Four of the centres also provide residential support. One centre offers support for survivors of trafficking in persons, and one supports transgender women and non-binary people, including survivors of VAW. Funding for women’s centres comes from state funding, donations, and national projects. Women’s centres are available in most regions of the country.

In Malta, there is one sexual violence referral centre, the Care for Victims of Sexual Assault (CVSA) that is run by an NGO, Victim Support Malta. It operates 24/7 and provides forensic and medical care, needs assessment, psychological support, legal guidance, and referrals to police or shelters if needed. It supports all survivors of sexual assault. It is funded by the state and through donations.

Malta has issued its third National Strategy on Gender-Based Violence and Domestic Violence 2023 – 2028, called “Unite, Engage, Elevate”. The strategy includes a chapter on prevention, but no specific reference to primary prevention. Measures addressed by the strategy include awareness-raising campaigns, educating boys and girls about gender equality and supporting the development of non-violent relationships, providing training programmes for professionals, and engaging the media and the private sector in addressing gender stereotypes.