Belgium has signed laws protecting the rights of sex workers including other approved welfare packages similar to others working normal jobs, a law which is the first in the world.
The law which was signed on Sunday ensures that sex workers will be entitled to official employment contracts, health insurance, pensions, maternity leave and sick days. Essentially, it will be treated like any other job.
“It’s an opportunity for us to exist as people,” Sophie a sex worker told the BBC.
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This decision was due to widespread protests in 2022, during which sex workers demanded state support after being excluded from government assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic. The law has been praised by NGOs who stand for the protection of sex workers.
“This is radical, and it’s the best step we have seen anywhere in the world so far,” says Erin Kilbride, a researcher at Human Rights Watch. “We need every country to be moving in that direction.”
For many sex workers, the job is a necessity, and the law could not come soon enough. Speaking with the BBC, Mel a sex worker recounted an ugly experience she had whilst doing her job which left her horrific
Mel was horrified when she was forced to give a client oral sex without a condom when she knew a sexually transmitted infection (STI) was going around the brothel. But she felt she had no option. “My choice was either to spread the disease or make no money.”
She had become an escort when she was 23 – she needed money and quickly started earning beyond expectations. She thought she had struck gold, but the experience with the STI brought her sharply back to earth.
Mel will now be able to refuse any client or sexual act she feels uncomfortable with – meaning she could have handled that situation differently. “I could have pointed the finger at my madam [employer] and said: ‘You’re violating these terms and this is how you should treat me.’ I would have been legally protected.”
One of those at the forefront was Victoria, president of the Belgian Union of Sex Workers (UTSOPI) and previously an escort for 12 years. For her, it was a personal fight. Victoria regards prostitution as a social service, with sex being only about 10% of what she does.
“It’s giving people attention, listening to their stories, eating cake with them, dancing to waltz music,” she explains. “Ultimately, it’s about loneliness.” The illegality of her job before 2022 raised significant challenges. She worked in unsafe conditions, with no choice over her clients and her agency taking a big cut of her earnings.
Victoria says she was raped by a client who had become obsessed with her. She went to a police station, where she says the 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.” Victoria left the station crying.
Every sex worker we spoke to told us that at some point they had been pressured to do something against their will. Because of that, Victoria fiercely believes this new law will improve their lives.
“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.” Under Belgium’s new law, each room where sexual services take place must be equipped with an alarm button that will connect a sex worker with their “reference person”.
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