Sex workers often face client violence, sexual abuse and psychological exhaustion.

PHOTO: Scanpix

Prostitution is considered the oldest profession in the world, yet despite existing for longer than any other job, it lags far behind in terms of recognition, regulation, worker’s rights and protection. Attitudes towards sex work are slowly starting to change, however, and Belgium has just become the first country in the world to introduce a law that entitles sex workers to official employment contracts, health insurance, maternity leave and sick days.

Belgium to give sex workers greater rights and protection

Although sex work is decriminalised or even legal in several countries, the new Belgian law goes one step further. It means sex work will be treated like any other job, and is the most progressive measure taken anywhere in the world to date in relation to the profession.

Some people get into sex work as a way of solving financial problems quickly, and may even succeed in doing so. Nonetheless, many of them still encounter harmful, traumatic and dangerous situations on the job, such as becoming victims of intimidation, rape and violence, or contracting sexually transmitted diseases.

The new law aims to reduce those risks and also means that sex workers will be legally protected should their clients or bosses mistreat them or coerce them into doing things against their will.

Contrasting views on Belgium’s new law

Isala is an NGO that helps sex workers on the streets in Belgium, and volunteer Julia Crumière says the law is actually dangerous, as it normalises a profession that is “always violent at its core”. Rather than labour rights, most of the women she meets in the profession just want help finding a way out and a “normal job”.

She cites the new legal requirement of a panic button that connects a sex worker with their “reference person” in every room where sexual services take place as proof that there is no way to make sex work safe. “In what other job would you need a panic button?”

Sex work has always been a divisive issue and how to regulate it will very likely be debated for a long time to come. For the women involved in the profession in Belgium, however, they will now at least have greater protection than in the past.

- With the help from Patrick Conroy ir Silvija Aksiutinaitė

Belgium introduced the law following continuous protests in 2022, sparked by the lack of government support for sex workers during the COVID pandemic. The president of the Belgian Union of Sex Workers, who herself worked as an escort for 12 years, considers prostitution a social service, saying that sex with clients is only a small part of what she does in her job. For her, providing company and a listening ear to lonely people is what’s really at the core of sex work. She believes the new law will improve the lives of all sex workers by giving them tools to keep them safer.

Removing criminals from sex work

The law will allow procurers – pimps/madams – to operate legally, and oblige them to follow strict rules. People with serious crime convictions will not be allowed to employ sex workers. Kris and Alexandra Reekmans run a massage parlour in the town of Bekkevort, and pride themselves on treating their employees fairly. Kris believes many current prostitution businesses will have to shut down due to the criminal records of the people involved in managing them.

Erin Kilbride of Human Rights Watch believes the law will “cut away at the power they (employers) have over sex workers.” She says that every country needs to “move in that direction”. Critics, on the other hand, say that although progressive, the new law won’t do much to prevent trafficking, exploitation and abuse.

PHOTO: Scanpix

Net pension replacement rates.

SOURCE: OECD

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