In world 1st, Belgian sex workers now have access to contracts, benefits and pensions

Many sex workers in Belgium will now be treated like any other worker in the country, with access to employment contracts, maternity leave, health benefits, pensions and more.

That’s thanks to a groundbreaking new law, which came into effect Sunday, and is being hailed the first of its kind anywhere in the world. 

“Sex work is work, and that is something people need to understand,” Mel Meliciousss, a sex worker based in Antwerp, Belgium, told As It Happens host Nil Köksal.

“When somebody works at another industry or something, they do also get these rights, so why not for sex workers?

CBC is identifying Meliciousss by her professional pseudonym in light of the dangers and stigma sex workers often face. 

Sex workers rights’ advocates are hailing the new law as a victory that will make the industry significantly safer and more equitable.

But some feminist organizations argue it formalizes an industry they see as inherently violent, while failing to protect those who are most likely to be exploited. 

How does it work?

The new law was passed last year, following the country’s 2022 decision to decriminalize sex work. It applies to sex workers who have employers, like those who work in brothels.  

Under the legislation, anyone wishing to employ sex workers must obtain authorization from the state, adhere to safety protocols, and meet background requirements, including no prior convictions for sexual assault or human trafficking. 

“From the employer’s perspective, this will also be a revolution,” Isabelle Jaramillo, co-ordinator of Espace P, an advocacy group involved in drafting the legislation.   

“Under the previous legislation, hiring someone for sex work automatically made you a pimp, even if the arrangement was consensual.”

Workers at these establishments will have access to health insurance, paid leave, maternity benefits, unemployment support and pensions. 

Employers must provide clean linens, condoms, and hygiene products, and install emergency buttons in workspaces.

The legislation also establishes rules on working hours, pay and safety measures, ensuring sex workers can refuse clients, choose their practices, and stop an act at any moment.

What does this mean for sex workers?

Meliciousss, a member of the Belgian union of sex workers UTSOPI, says the law doesn’t impact her directly, as she is currently self-employed. 

But she’s hopeful it means her younger colleagues will never have to go through what she did. 

“I know for the younger Mel, it would have made a big difference. Because the first time I went to work at a brothel, the things that were happening over there were not quite right, and I felt it,” she said.

She had no choice but to take on clients that she wasn’t comfortable with, she says. It was also brothel policy to perform oral sex without a condom.

“If I had the rights back then that are happening now for sex workers, I would have made a change about this, and I would speak up and defend myself in this job,” she said.

Meliciousss says she knows other sex workers who became pregnant and had to keep working until the very last minute, then start working again right away after having their babies.

“It’s not healthy. It’s not right that this ever was like this,” she said. 

She hopes other countries will follow suit, including Canada, where it is legal to sell sexual services, but illegal to purchase them. 

It’s also illegal in Canada for third parties to advertise, facilitate or benefit from sex work. The Supreme Court of Canada is currently hearing arguments about the constitutionality of those laws.

What’s the pushback?

But not everyone sees the law as a victory for sex workers, and several feminist organizations have decried it. 

Isala, a non-profit that works with sex workers on the streets in Belgium, argues that prostitution is inherently violent, and this law “amounts to normalizing the exploitation of women’s bodies and sexuality.”

This exploitation, Isala argues, disproportionately affects undocumented women and girls, who will be far less likely to benefit from employment contacts. 

“On the contrary, the new legislation reinforces the social and psychological isolation in which they already live, and above all does not respond to the wish expressed by the majority of them: that of leaving prostitution and leaving it with dignity,” the group said in a press release, translated from French.

Jaramillo says the law alone won’t be enough to protect everyone, and called for better police and judicial training to protect marginalized workers.

“There’s still a lot of work to be done,” she said. 

Meliciousss says she understands this law is not a magic bullet.

“I’m not naive,” she said. “The bad people who don’t have good intentions, they don’t care about this law. I understand that.”

Nevertheless, she says it’s a positive first step that entrenches rights, and legal resources, for those who previously had none.

As far as Meliciousss is concerned, sex work has always existed, and it always will. 

“It’s better to have it regulated than just leave people to their destiny,” she said.