Sex workers in Belgium gained the right to health insurance, maternity leave, sick pay and other benefits under a world-first new law.
The new legislation will allow sex workers to enter into employment contracts and enjoy the same legal rights and protections as any other employee, including a pension, unemployment benefits and annual leave.
Consensual prostitution was already decriminalized in this European country, but until now it existed in a legal gray area.
“I am currently a very proud Belgian sex worker,” an author and sex worker named Mel Meliciouss tells her Instagram followers in a video.
“This is a very important step for us as sex workers. (Employers) can’t force you to do something you don’t want to do,” she adds.
Virginie Mayo / AP
The new law does not apply to self-employed sex workers, but will prevent employers with a history of crimes, such as trafficking or abuse, from working in the field. According to the law, they must also provide a safe working environment equipped with alarm buttons.
Sex workers will also be able to refuse any client or sexual act without fear of being fired or punished for doing so.
“We can say that this is the first day of a new era,” Quentin Deltour, who campaigned for the law to be passed, told CBS News.
Deltour is part of Espace P, an advocacy group involved in drafting the bill. For them, this law is a small victory in their fight to protect sex workers from abuse.
“We realized that there was a ‘sub-status’ of citizen when you do not have social rights associated with your professional activity,” explains Deltour. His advocacy group sees the law as an important shift in perspective toward this type of work.
“The mentality before was that sex work was not compatible with women’s dignity. We can now stop this moral thinking. Sex work is work for some people,” he told CBS News.
However, the Belgian union of sex workers (UTSOPI) believes that this “historic” step is not a way to normalize this profession. For them, granting sex workers the same rights as other employees does not mean that their work is similar to that of others.
Daan Bauwens, policy and advocacy manager at UTSOPI, told CBS News that many of those who choose to enter sex work do so because of economic hardship, discrimination, inequality or lack of better opportunities.
“We’re not glorifying anything,” Baweens said.
“If people make this choice because they are going through a difficult time, we are not going to punish them a second time by denying them the basic rights that we grant to everyone else,” he added.