In a landmark move to further legitimize sex work, Belgium has granted its sex workers regular employment rights. Despite sex work being legalized in several countries and decriminalized in New Zealand and Nevada in the United States, Belgium is the first to establish a labor law that puts sex workers’ rights at par with other workers in the country.
After decriminalizing prostitution in 2022, Belgian lawmakers voted in May 2024 to pass a law that entitles sex workers to employment contracts, health insurance, pension rights, maternity leave and pay, sick leaves, and unemployment benefits. The law, which went into effect December 1, also grants them protections that are specific to sex work, addressing concerns about abuse and exploitation.
Under the law, sex workers under contract are allowed to refuse clients, and are free to consent to or decline sexual acts at any time, “regardless of the agreements made in advance with the employer or the client.”
The new law requires employers to be legal entities with registered places of business in Belgium and no history of convictions of rape, child exploitation, human trafficking, or homicide. They also must provide their employees with condoms, clean bathrooms, and rooms that have emergency buttons, or mobile emergency buttons if the employee is working outside their place of business.
As of now, the law only applies to approved employers of sex workers who deal with physical contact. It does not cover independent work like online sex work and other related activities like pornography.
What the law’s critics are saying
Isala, a non-government organization dedicated to helping Belgian sex workers, expressed its concerns regarding the new law. According to the NGO, the law “legalizes the exercise of employer authority by a pimp over a prostitute.” Isala adds that the measure also “does not take into account the wish expressed by the vast majority of prostitutes, who are mainly women and girls of migrant origin and in precarious situations: that of leaving prostitution and leaving it with dignity.”
“Isala supports the decriminalization of people in prostitution and calls for the criminalization of clients, pimps, and anyone who exploits prostitutes,” the organization said.
Union des Travailleurses du Sexe Organisé-e-s Pour l’Indépendance (UTSOPI), or the Belgian union of sex workers organized for independence, said that while the law is a “huge step forward,” it can also be used to “reduce or eliminate sex work.”
“We already see certain municipalities hiding behind the words ‘safety’ and ‘hygiene’ to promulgate very strict local regulations that make sex work almost impossible [in] their territory,” the union said in a statement. “UTSOPI is already in dialogue with experts, the social inspection and city councils to weigh in on the new policy.”
Sex work in the Philippines
Article 202 of the Revised Penal Code deems that prostitutes are “women who, for money or profit, habitually indulge in sexual intercourse or lascivious conduct.” If found guilty, they can be jailed up to 30 days (arresto menor) or fined up to P20,000.
Although sex work is illegal in the Philippines, it is often tolerated in red light districts, including parts of Metro Manila like Ermita and P Burgos Street in Makati City. In particular, the red light districts in Angeles City and Subic Bay, both former U.S. military bases, are known hubs for sex tourism. Sex workers operate in bars, massage parlors, and casas or brothels, or find work through street prostitution or escort services.
OnlyFans, a content subscription service used primarily by not-safe-for-work (NSFW) creators, currently only allows people in the Philippines to subscribe to these creators. To work around this, Filipino creators use social media platforms like Instagram and X (formerly Twitter), where they can “tease” and sell photos and videos to followers.
For those whose work requires physical contact, the stigma surrounding prostitution and the lack of regulations make sex work unsafe. Rappler reports that in cases of abuse or rape, sex workers feel that they can approach neither the police nor women’s groups like Gabriela for redress. Dr. Sharmila Parmanand of the London School of Economics and Political Science told Rappler that in her study of sex work in the Philippines, she found that cops would even extort sexual favors or money from prostitutes in exchange of their freedom.
Informal groups like Voice for Sexual Rights and the Philippine Sex Workers Collective advocate for the legitimization of sex work in the country, but do not yet have institutional support.
After filing their certificate of nomination and acceptance (CONA) in October 2024, Gabriela Women’s Party reiterated that they do not support sex work due to its exploitative nature. According to ABS-CBN News, Dr. Jean Lindo, one of the partylist’s three nominees for the House of Representatives, said that they do not call prostitutes “sex workers.” “We call them ‘prostituted women’ because it is the social environment that is disempowering for these women, so kung mas nabibigyan sila ng mas magandang opportunity, mag-reduce talaga yung prostitution. (We call them ‘prostituted women’ because it is the social environment that is disempowering for these women. So if they’re given better work opportunities, prostitution will be reduced.)”
