Belgium Is The First Country In The World To Provide Maternity Leave And Sick Pay To Sex Workers

A historic law that went into effect on Sunday, December 1, 2024, granted Belgian sex workers the right to formal employment contracts that include maternity leave and sick pay.

The law, which was passed by Belgian lawmakers in May of this year, grants sex workers who sign such a contract access to a number of additional rights and protections, including health insurance and unemployment benefits, that are typically granted to workers in other industries.

This is the first all-encompassing legal framework that protects sex workers from job-related risks and gives them the same rights as other employees.

According to Quentin Deltour, a public relations manager at Espace P, a group that advocates for the rights of sex workers in Belgium and assisted in the drafting of the law, sex workers who sign a formal employment contract now have “every kind of social protection” that is provided to the majority of employees in Belgium.

According to the law, sex workers are also free to discontinue any activity at any moment and to decline to perform a particular sexual act or offer services to a client.

According to the new law, employers of sex workers must apply for a government license.

Only if the potential employer satisfies specific requirements—such as not having a history of rape or human trafficking convictions—are licenses issued.

Employers of sex workers are also subject to legal requirements, which include providing condoms, clean bed linens, and an emergency alarm button in the workers’ rooms, among other things.

Many sex workers used to sign contracts with their pimps, or employers, but since pimping was illegal, these contracts were worthless.

These agreements were just as legitimate under the law as those that helped transport illegal drugs. A person cannot be held legally responsible for breaking a contract if they sign it committing them to deliver “one kilogram of cocaine every week.” ” “No, this contract has no value,” the judge will say.

Around the world, sex workers frequently experience violence, discrimination, and other human rights abuses.

According to the Global Network of Sex Work Projects, an international association of sex worker groups, while a few countries, like Germany and the Netherlands, have legalized sex work, it is still illegal to buy, sell, or do both in the great majority of other countries.

Belgium Emerges Among EU Countries With The Highest Number Of Labour Shortage

Two years after decriminalizing sex work and repealing laws that forbade third parties, including accountants and landlords, from offering their services to sex workers, Belgium has passed a new law.

Human Rights Watch researcher Erin Kilbride said that decriminalization in Belgium “removed any sort of criminal penalty on either the buyer or the seller” of sex. For instance, that was an important step in shielding sex workers from violence, but it denied them access to social security.

However, not all sex workers are covered by the new law. For instance, people who work for themselves, online, or in pornographic movies are not included.