Brussels: In a first, Belgium came up with a new law for the sake of sex workers. As per the new law, sex workers are entitled to benefits like official employment contracts, health insurance, pensions, maternity leave, sick leave etc. The new law intends to recognize the rights of sex workers and offer them treatment like any other job, reports NDTV.
Through a landmark legislation, Belgium had decriminalized sex work in 2022.
Erin Kilbride, a researcher at Human Rights Watch told BBC that the legislation is radical but the best step seen anywhere in the world so far. She opined that every country is needed to move in that direction.
So far, sex work is legal in several nations including Germany, Greece, the Netherlands and Turkey.
According to BBC, sex workers in Belgium hailed the new law. A sex worker, Sophie, said that it is an opportunity for sex workers to exist as people. Sophie is a mother of five and her financial pressures used to force her to work late into her pregnancies.
The new law, which was the result of 2022 protests demanded states’s support for sex workers during the Covid-19 pandemic. The law is effective from December 1.
President of the Belgian Union of Sex Workers, Victoria, said that if there is no law and one’s job is illegal, there are no protocols to help them. Underscoring the significance of the new law, she said that it gives people the tools to make sex workers safer.
She said that the illegality of sex work before 2022 subjected her to unsafe conditions. According to her, who herself was an escort for 12 years, she did not have any choice in her clients and her agency took a big cut of her earnings.
She was raped by a client once and when she went to the police station to report the same, a female police officer responded harshly saying that sex workers cannot be raped.
Meanwhile, critics say that the law is not enough since it would not prevent trafficking, exploitation and abuse that are associated with the trade.