{"id":186278,"date":"2024-12-01T19:39:43","date_gmt":"2024-12-01T19:39:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/01\/sex-workers-in-belgium-granted-employment-rights-including-maternity-pay-and-pensions\/"},"modified":"2024-12-01T19:39:44","modified_gmt":"2024-12-01T19:39:44","slug":"sex-workers-in-belgium-granted-employment-rights-including-maternity-pay-and-pensions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/01\/sex-workers-in-belgium-granted-employment-rights-including-maternity-pay-and-pensions\/","title":{"rendered":"Sex workers in Belgium granted employment rights including maternity pay and pensions"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sex<\/div>\n
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Sex workers in Belgium have been granted full employment rights, including maternity pay, sick days and pensions. <\/p>\n

The new law, which came into force on Sunday, puts them on a par with those in other professions in a legal breakthrough some supporters are calling a “revolution”.<\/p>\n

Sex workers can now sign employment contracts and have been granted fundamental rights including being able to refuse clients, choose their practices, and stop an act at any moment.<\/p>\n

Belgium<\/strong><\/a> decriminalised sex work in 2022, and while countries such as Germany and the Netherlands have legalised sex work, none have implemented labour protections as comprehensive as Belgium’s.<\/p>\n

The legislation establishes rules on working hours, pay and safety measures, as well as granting sex workers access to health insurance, paid leave, maternity benefits, unemployment support and pensions.<\/p>\n

It also places duties on employers, who must provide clean linen, condoms, and hygiene products, and install emergency buttons in workspaces.<\/p>\n

Anyone wishing to employ sex workers now has to obtain authorisation, adhere to strict safety protocols, and meet background requirements, including no prior convictions for sexual assault or human trafficking.<\/p>\n

“This is an incredible step forward,” said Isabelle Jaramillo, co-ordinator of Espace P, an advocacy group involved in drafting the legislation.<\/p>\n

“It means their profession can finally be recognised as legitimate by the Belgian state.”<\/p>\n

She added: “From the employer’s perspective, this will also be a revolution. They’ll have to apply for a state authorisation to hire sex workers.<\/p>\n

“Under the previous legislation, hiring someone for sex work automatically made you a pimp, even if the arrangement was consensual.”<\/p>\n

Read more from Sky News:
British man dies in lift shaft on family holiday<\/a><\/strong>
Syrian military sends in reinforcements<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Independent sex work remains permitted, but unregulated third-party hiring or violations of the legal framework will be prosecuted.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

But critics argue the law cannot fully address the stigma and risks tied to the trade, especially for undocumented sex workers.<\/p>\n

“There’s still a lot of work to be done,” said Ms Jaramillo, emphasising the need for better police and judicial training to protect marginalised workers.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sex workers in Belgium have been granted full employment rights, including maternity pay, sick days and pensions. The new law, which came into force on Sunday, puts them on a par with those in other professions in a legal breakthrough some supporters are calling a “revolution”. Sex workers can now sign employment contracts and have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/24\/12\/1920x1080\/skynews-belgium-sex-workers_6763791.jpg?20241201190000","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[27316,12989,3356,9643,36984,795,9423,307,5150,2252],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186278"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186278"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":186280,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186278\/revisions\/186280"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}