Belgium gives sex workers the same employment rights as other workers in world-first law

Sex workers in Belgium have been given the right to health insurance, maternity leave, sick pay and other employment benefits under a new world-first law.

The new legislation will allow sex workers to enter into employment contracts and benefit from the same rights and legal protections as any other employee, which also includes pension, unemployment benefits and annual vacation.

Consensual prostitution was already decriminalized in the European country but until now it existed under a legal gray area.

“I am a very proud Belgian sex worker right now,” an author and sex worker who goes by the name of Mel Meliciouss online, tells her Instagram followers in a video.

“This is a very important step for us as sex workers. [Employers] cannot force you to do something you don’t want to do,” she adds. 

The new law does not apply to self-employed sex workers but will prevent employers with a previous history of crimes, such as trafficking or abuse, from working in the field. By law, they will also have to provide a safe working environment equipped with alarm buttons.

Sex workers will also be able to refuse any client or sexual act without the fear of being fired or punished for doing so.

“We can say it is the first day of a new era,” Quentin Deltour, who campaigned for this law to be passed, told CBS News.

Deltour is part of Espace P, an advocacy group involved in drafting the legislation. For them, this law is a small victory in their fight to protect sex workers from abuse.

“We realized that there was an ‘under-status’ of citizen when you don’t have social rights associated to your professional activity,” Deltour says. His advocacy group considers this law to be an important shift in perspective toward this type of work.

“The previous mentality was that sex work is not compatible with women’s dignity. Now we can stop this moral thinking. Sex work is work for some people,” he told CBS News.

However, the Belgian sex workers union (UTSOPI) says this “historic” step is not a way to normalize this profession. For them, giving sex workers the same rights as other employees does not mean their work is like everyone else’s.

Daan Bauwens, a policy and advocacy officer at UTSOPI, told CBS News many of those who choose to pursue sex work do so out of economic hardship, discrimination, inequality or lack of better opportunities.

“We are not glamorizing anything,” Baweens said.

“In case people are making this choice because they’re going through a hard time, we’re not going to punish them a second time by denying them basic rights that we’re granting to everyone else,” he added.