In Belgium, the law on social guarantees for sex workers entered into force on December 1. Now they will enter into employment contracts and have equal status with other legal professionals.
This is reported by the Associated Press.
The document also officially allows people to refuse clients and quit at any time. This is a consistent decision by the country after the decriminalization of sexual services there in 2022.
Sex workers have access to health insurance, paid vacation, maternity benefits, unemployment benefits, and a pension. Legislation will regulate their working hours, pay and also take care of safety.
“Under the previous law, hiring someone to provide sex services automatically made the person a pimp, even if the arrangement was voluntary. Now you need to apply for a state permit to hire [sex] workers," says Isabelle Jaramillo, coordinator of the human rights group Espace P, which participated in the development of the project.
Employers must meet certain requirements — they cannot have a criminal record for sexual violence or human trafficking. They are obliged to provide employees with clean underwear, condoms and hygiene products, as well as to install emergency call buttons at workplaces.
Belgium still allows independent sex work. However, illegal employment and violation of the rules will be considered a crime. Previously, Germany and the Netherlands had already legalized work in the sex industry, but neither of them took care to protect people in the way that Brussels did.
- In 2023, in Amsterdam, sex workers protested against a plan to move the red light district from the city center to a suburban "erotic center". More than 20 000 people called instead for more crowd control in the area and police surveillance, especially at night.
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