Belgium has come up with a new law, the first of its kind in the world, that recognizes the rights of sex workers and offers them treatment like any other job. Under the new law, sex workers will be entitled to benefits such as official employment contracts, health insurance, pensions, maternity leave and sick days.
Belgium decriminalized sex work in 2022. However, the new landmark law establishing employment rights and contracts for sex workers is a first on a global level. This law ensures the same protection for sex workers as other professions.
“It’s radical, and it’s the best move we’ve seen anywhere in the world so far,” Erin Kilbride, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, said, according to a BBC report.
“We need every country to move in that direction,” he said. Sex work is legal in many countries, including Germany, Greece, the Netherlands and Türkiye.
The law has been welcomed by sex workers, for whom the job is a necessity. “This is an opportunity for us to exist as human beings,” said Sophie, a sex worker and mother of five, who was forced to continue working until the end of her pregnancy due to financial pressures, the BBC reported. Was lying.”
Belgium’s new law took shape after the 2022 protests, which started over the lack of state support for sex workers during the Covid pandemic. This will come into effect from December 1, giving sex workers the right to work on contract.
Explaining the importance of the new law, Victoria, president of the Belgian Union of Sex Workers (UTSOPI), said: “If there is no law and your job is illegal, there is no protocol to help you. This law gives people tools. ” To make us safe.”
Victoria, who herself was an escort for 12 years, said the illegality of her job before 2022 left her facing unsafe conditions, her clients having no choice and her agency taking a large portion of their earnings.
Detailing her struggles, Victoria told the BBC that she was once raped by a customer. She said that when she went to the police station to report the incident, a female officer was “very strict” on her. “He told me that sex workers couldn’t be raped. He made me feel like it was my fault, because I did that thing,” she said, adding that she left the station crying.
However, critics believe that this law does not go far enough as it will not be able to prevent trafficking, exploitation and abuse that comes with the trade.
“This is dangerous because it normalizes a profession that at its core is always violent,” Julia Crumière, a volunteer with Isala, an NGO that helps street sex workers in Belgium, said in the BBC report. Has gone.
Rights under new law
Under the new Belgian law, sex workers will have access to social coverage and employment contracts that follow rules on working hours and remuneration. It will also reportedly protect these workers from hazards in the workplace.
In addition, now every room where sexual services take place must be equipped with an alarm button connecting sex workers to their “reference person”. They would also have the right to refuse clients or sexual services without risking dismissal.
The law also gives these workers the right to resign without any notice or compensation or to impose conditions on their services.
Although the law allows pimps to operate legally, they have to follow strict regulations. Under the new law, anyone convicted of a serious crime will not be allowed to employ sex workers.
