Decriminalisation of economic exploitation of sex work and sex work under employment contract in Belgium: an initial rights-based evaluation

• In Event: Sex work and criminal policy

Abstract

Belgium is one of few countries worldwide to have decriminalised the economic exploitation of consensual, non-abusive sex work. While this milestone change is effective since June 2022, two key pieces of follow-up legislation were only adopted in May 2024. It concerns an executive decision setting the conditions for lawful publicity for sex work and a law authorising and regulating sex work under employment contract. The latter being effective only since December 2024, makes it too early to empirically evaluate the effect on the lived realities of sex workers and other stakeholders. An initial rights-based analysis, however, demonstrates strengths as well as weaknesses and missed opportunities.
It is doubtful that the provided rights for sex workers suffice. Likely, the allowance of either strictly self-employed sex work or sex work under employment contract as narrowly conditioned by the legislator, is insufficiently capturing and tapping in with the flexible needs of the sex workers’ market. Not only is there a lack of flexible or hybrid social law regimes for the sector (unlike e.g. for the horeca sector), the law regulating sex work under employment contract, while enshrining sex workers’ rights and security and safety measures on the one hand, is quite prohibitive on the other hand. It explicitly rules out temporary or student employment and fails to regulate the provision of employed sexual services in other venues than the sex workers’ private home, such as e.g. in clients’ homes, hotels or at private parties. It also allows a discretionary margin for municipalities, the prosecution services and the police to continue their own control policies. Publicity rules are also overly restrictive, and privacy-invasive.
This raises questions as to whether the decriminalisation is in fact not reduced to a mere legalisation, restricting sex workers’ agency and freedom and ultimately disincentivising official and declared work.

Author

• Gert Vermeulen, Ghent University