Belgium has come up with a new law, the first of its kind in the world, recognising the rights of sex workers and offering them treatment like any other job. Under the new law, sex workers will be entitled to benefits like official employment contracts, health insurance, pensions, maternity leave and sick days.
Belgium had s decriminalised sex work in 2022. However, the new landmark legislation establishing employment rights and contracts for sex workers is a global first. The law ensures the same protections for sex workers as other professions.
"This is radical, and it's the best step we have seen anywhere in the world so far," said Erin Kilbride, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, according to a report by BBC.
"We need every country to be moving in that direction," she added. Sex work is legal in several countries including Germany, Greece, the Netherlands and Turkey.
The law has been hailed by sex workers, for whom the job is a necessity. "It's an opportunity for us to exist as people," said Sophie, a sex worker and a mother of five who was forced to continue work late into her pregnancies due to financial pressures, according to the BBC report.
Belgium's new legislation took shape after 2022 protests that were sparked by the lack of state support for sex workers during the Covid pandemic. It will come into effect on December 1, giving sex workers the right to work contracts.
Explaining the significance 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 are no protocols to help you. This law gives people the tools to make us safer."
Victoria, who was herself an escort for 12 years, said the illegality of her job before 2022 subjected her to unsafe conditions, with no choice over her clients and her agency taking a big cut of her earnings.
Elaborating on her struggles, Victoria told BBC that she was once raped by a client. She said that when she went to the police station to report the incident, a female officer was "so hard" on her. "She told me sex workers can't be raped. She made me feel it was my fault, because I did that job," she said, adding that she left the station crying.
However, critics believe this law is not enough as it would not be able to prevent trafficking, exploitation and abuse, that comes with the trade.
"It is dangerous because it normalises a profession that is always violent at its core," BBC report quoted Julia Crumiere, a volunteer with Isala - an NGO that helps sex workers on the streets in Belgium, as saying.
Rights Under The New Law
Under Belgium's new law, sex workers will get employment contracts providing social coverage and adherence to rules regarding working hours and remuneration. It will also reportedly protect these workers from threats in the workplace.
Moreover, now each room where sexual services would take place would have to be equipped with an alarm button connecting sex workers with their "reference person". They will also have the right to refuse clients or sexual services without risking dismissal.
The law also grants these workers the right to resign without notice or compensation or impose conditions on their services.
Though the law allows pimps controlling the sex trade to operate legally, they have to follow strict rules. Under the new law, a person convicted of a serious crime will not be allowed to employ sex workers.
