Belgium has become the first country in the world to approve a labour law on employment contracts for sex workers.
Under the law, if a prostitute refuses a client more than ten times over six months, a pimp can trigger an intervention by a government mediator but cannot sack the employee.
It also entitles the sex worker to health insurance, pensions, unemployment and family benefits, holidays and maternity leave.
“This law is a world first. I cannot stress enough how important this is,” Daan Bauwens, a spokesman for the UTSOPI, the union for sex workers in Belgium, said.
“With this model, Belgium is really demonstrating that it aims to protect sex workers, regardless of any moral judgements about the profession people may have,” he told The Brussels Times.
He added: “We hope that this can lead to a reversal of the recent trend of criminalising clients in Europe.
“We hope that other countries will copy this text, as they did on topics such as same-sex marriage, abortion, euthanasia and transgender rights.”
The law makes it legal to give prostitutes employment contracts, after Belgium became the first country in Europe to decriminalise self-employed sex work in 2022.
It bestows certain rights on the worker and conditions on their employer. These include the right to refuse a client or a sexual act, as well as the right to interrupt a sexual act at any time without fear of dismissal or punishment.
Sex workers are also entitled to carry out a sexual act how they wish and to refuse to sit behind Amsterdam-style windows, which are also used in Belgium, or to advertise if their safety is at risk.
Invoking any of these rights more than 10 times in half a year can lead to the government mediation service being called by the worker or employer.
Sex workers can also end their contract at any time with no notice period and do not lose their right to unemployment benefits when terminating their employment.
Workers’ anonymity will be protected because the contracts will be provided under the same heading as those given to hospitality workers in the restaurant and hotel sector. This is intended to ensure they can apply for other jobs without fear of discrimination.
Registered pimp offices
The law does not cover pornographic actors, strippers or webcam performers.
Pimps must have a registered office in Belgium and apply for approval before they can offer the contracts.
Approval will be withheld if they have convictions for crimes including sexual assault, murder, extortion, abuse of sex workers or voyeurism.
They must provide the sex worker with an alarm button, which must be in the room where the sexual services are provided or be portable if the worker is travelling to the client.
The employer must also ensure sex workers have access to someone in charge of ensuring their safety, and that unions and support organisations have access to the brothels at all times.
Other countries, such as New Zealand, Germany and the Netherlands, recognised sex work before Belgium but have never set up a comparable legal framework.
The Belgian parliament approved the law, following years of lobbying from sex workers, on Friday, with 93 votes in favour, 33 abstentions and no votes against.
The next step will be the finalisation of three decrees focusing on the practicalities of the procedure for recognising employers, regulations on the size of rooms, workplace hygiene and the maximum number of sex workers per room, and the government mediation service.
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