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From now on, people who devote themselves prostitution in Belgium may have employment contractWith social coverageright to vacationTo retirementunemployment or sick leave and pregnancy. They will also be more protected from the risks associated with the profession.

The law no longer discriminates.

Daan Bauwens, director of the Center for Research and Development, Belgian Union of Sex Workersan organization that defends the rights of the collective, believes that the law is a great achievement that offers guarantees that were previously unthinkable.

“The work of sex This is legally recognized as work.sex workers have equal rights. The law no longer discriminates. What was illogical was to say it was a risky job and not do anything to protect people in the sector from those risks,” he comments.

However, the law has critics.. Lina Galvez, a Spanish Socialist MEP and president of the European Parliament’s equality committee, rejects the new rule and believes that in practice it allows pimping to be legal.

They have a very limited selection.

“I deny that prostituted people are sex workers.. In other words, I assume that there is exploitation, exploitation of people. There is a lot of talk about free choice, but I insist that the vast majority victims of human trafficking and another vast majority who are victims of poverty, or its origins, or lack of social inclusion. Therefore, they have very limited choices and freedoms,” Galvez analyzes.

Daan admits that prostitution is born out of situation with inequalitybut he claims that the law a way out for people who want to give it up: “It used to be very difficult for people who wanted to leave because they didn’t have rights like social security, meaning they didn’t have the right to unemployment, they didn’t have the right to study, they didn’t have the right to leave. because after that there was nothing. Like what happened with Covid, if you stop working, there’s nothing left,” he explains.

For her part, Lina Galvez clarifies: “It’s not that I don’t support women in prostitution having the same rights as other people. Quite the opposite. I want them to be full citizens and What I don’t believe is that we’re talking about work.“

The debate is complex, although the federal government says it is a balanced law in which it has listened to all groups.

RFI