Prostitution in Belgium is legal and was decriminalized on 1 June 2022. [1] [2] [3] [4] Human trafficking or exploiting individuals involved in prostitution is punishable by a maximum prison sentence of 30 years. [5]
Some cities in Belgium have a red-light district, often with window prostitution. [6] In 2015, it was estimated that there were 26,000 prostitutes in Belgium, [7] many of them are from Bulgaria. [8]
A report commissioned by the National Bank of Belgium, [9] revealed estimations of a turnover tax of €840 million from forms of prostitution in 2015. [10] The most important segments of the market seem to be escort and private prostitution, rather than the more visible forms of window or street prostitution.
Prior to 1946, prostitution was regulated by the municipalities, [11] with mandatory registration and medical checks. [12] In 1946 Federal legislation replaced local control of prostitution, however the municipalities could still regulate in their local area for the sake of public order or morality. [11]
Prostitution and paying for sexual services were not prohibited in the 1946 legislation, but Article 380 added the following offences: [11]
The 1995 Criminal Law Reform Act made some modification to the existing laws: [11] [6]
In 2005, the 1995 Act was amended to give greater power against human trafficking, including an increase in maximum sentences. [5] The 1995 Act also brought the Belgian law in line with the European Union law and international instruments that had been introduced in the previous years. [13]
On 1 June 2022, sex work was decriminalized in Belgium. [14]
Before the decriminalisation of prostitution in 2022, there were a number of draft bills proposing changes to the previous prostitution laws. Proposals from the pro-prostitution camp included licensing brothels and giving special status within the law to sex-workers. The anti-prostitution lobby proposals included the banning of windows and criminalisation of paying for sexual services (as stated in the Nordic Model). [11]
A law passed in March 2022 by the Federal Parliament decriminalised their work and third parties who make sex work possible (for example accountants, banks and "chauffeurs"). It also allows some advertising by sex-workers. [15] This law came into effect on 1 June 2022. The new law also gives sex workers rights in terms of status, social protection, and healthcare, like other self-employed workers. The new law included (but was not limited to): social security, unemployment, access to health care and parental leave. [1]
Belgium has enacted legislation granting sex workers the same social rights as other employees, including the ability to sign employment contracts and access social security benefits. Employers must undergo a criminal background check and obtain a license to hire sex workers legally. While the law aims to decriminalize specific aspects of the industry and provide protections, it has faced criticism for potentially benefiting pimps and traffickers and not adequately supporting migrant sex workers and victims of human trafficking. [16] [17]
Municipalities can impose local regulation on public order or morality grounds. Generally, these powers were little used until the 2000s, most preferring an "unregulated tolerance" approach. [11]
In the 2000s the municipalities took different approaches to regulation. Some, such as Liège and Ghent, banned window prostitution [18] or moved it out of its traditional locations in the city centres. [11] Others, such as Antwerp totally restructured its red-light district and heavily regulated it. [11] [19] Seraing is planning to build a new 'Eros Centre' to replace the existing windows. [11] [20] [21]
Prostitution was known to exist in what is now Belgium since the Middle Ages. [22] Regulation of prostitutes was introduced during the Burgundian regime (1384–1482) but often ignored. [12] [23] In Brussels, the public executioner was tasked with controlling the trade in the city. [12]
During the French regime (1794–1814) prostitutes were required to have mandatory health checks in hospitals. [12] After the Belgian Revolution brought about independence in 1830, the regulations set up by the French continued. [23] In 1844 identity cards were issued to prostitutes and twice weekly medical check-ups were required. [12]
The "White Slave Scandal" ("affaire des petite Anglaises") in 1880/1881 brought prostitution in Brussels into the spotlight. Over 40 minors, mainly English girls, were found to be working in brothels after being lured to Brussels [22] with promises of work in bars and nightclubs. [12] As well as those involved being prosecuted, the Mayor and Head of Police in Brussels were forced to resign. [22]
During WW1, the occupying Germans took over control of prostitution. In an attempt to prevent the spread of STIs amongst their troops, the trade was strictly regulated and girls forced to undergo regular health checks. [22]
The regulatory regime was regarded as discriminatory towards women in the 1940s, [12] leading to Isabelle Blume's proposals being passed as federal law in 1946. [22]
Belgium is listed by the UNODC as a destination for victims of human trafficking, [24] the victims being mainly Moroccan, Romanian, Chinese, Nigerian, Bulgarian and Tunisian nationals. [13]
The efforts by the Belgian authorities to eradicate trafficking was cited by United Nations special rapporteur Urmila Bhoola as "an example of good practice" in 2015. [25]
In 2016, 184 people were prosecuted for sex trafficking and 144 victims of trafficking were assisted. The victims are given help in specialised NGO-run shelters and when they leave the shelters, they are given protection, residence and employment permits and access to legal services. [24] In 2017 there were 176 sex traffickers prosecuted and 59 victims assisted. [26]
The United States Department of State Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons ranks Belgium as a 'Tier 1' country. [26]
Prostitution in the Netherlands is legal and regulated. Operating a brothel is also legal. De Wallen, the largest and best-known Red-light district in Amsterdam, is a destination for international sex tourism.
Prostitution in Taiwan was made illegal under a 1991 law. Legislation was introduced in 2011 to allow local governments in Taiwan to set up "special zones" where prostitution is permitted. Outside these zones prostitution is illegal. As of 2017 no "special zones" had been opened.
In Great Britain, the act of engaging in sex as part of an exchange of various sexual services for money is legal, but a number of related activities, including soliciting in a public place, kerb crawling, owning or managing a brothel, and pimping, are illegal. In Northern Ireland, which previously had similar laws, paying for sex became illegal from 1 June 2015.
Prostitution is illegal in the vast majority of the United States as a result of state laws rather than federal laws. It is, however, legal in some rural counties within the state of Nevada. Additionally, it is decriminalized to sell sex in the state of Maine, but illegal to buy sex. Prostitution nevertheless occurs elsewhere in the country.
Forced prostitution, also known as involuntary prostitution or compulsory prostitution, is prostitution or sexual slavery that takes place as a result of coercion by a third party. The terms "forced prostitution" or "enforced prostitution" appear in international and humanitarian conventions, such as the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, but have been inconsistently applied. "Forced prostitution" refers to conditions of control over a person who is coerced by another to engage in sexual activity.
Prostitution in Myanmar is illegal, but widespread. Prostitution is a major social issue that particularly affects women and children. UNAIDS estimate there to be 66,000 prostitutes in the country.
Prostitution in South Africa is illegal for both buying and selling sex, as well as related activities such as brothel keeping and pimping. However, it remains widespread. Law enforcement is poor.
Prostitution in Senegal is legal and regulated. Senegal has the distinction of being one of the few countries in Africa to legalize prostitution, and the only one to legally regulate it. The only condition that it is done discreetly. Prostitution was first legalised in 1966. UNAIDS estimate that there are over 20,000 prostitutes in the country. The average age for a sex worker in Senegal is 28 years old and female.
Prostitution in Ecuador is legal and regulated, as long as the prostitute is over the age of 18, registered, and works from a licensed brothel. Prostitution is widespread throughout the country. Many brothels and prostitutes operate outside the regulatory system and the regulations have been less strictly enforced in recent years. 25,000 prostitutes were registered in the year 2000. In 2007 it was estimated that 70% of the prostitutes in the country were from Colombia. The country attracts Colombian prostitutes as the currency is the US$ rather than the unstable Colombian peso. UNAIDS estimate there to be 35,000 prostitutes in the country.
Prostitution in Chile is legal, subject to regulation, but related activities such as keeping brothels and pimping are prohibited. Several hundred women were registered as prostitutes with the National Health Service.
Prostitution in Nicaragua is legal, but promoting prostitution and procuring are prohibited. The minimum age for prostitutes is 18 years old. It was estimated in 2015 that there were around 15,000 prostitutes in the country.
Prostitution in Vietnam is illegal and considered a serious crime. Nonetheless, Vietnam's Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) has estimated that there were 71,936 prostitutes in the country in 2013. Other estimates puts the number at up to 200,000.
The legality of prostitution in Europe varies by country.
This is an overview of prostitution by region.
Prostitution laws varies widely from country to country, and between jurisdictions within a country. At one extreme, prostitution or sex work is legal in some places and regarded as a profession, while at the other extreme, it is considered a severe crime punishable by death in some other places. A variety of different legal models exist around the world, including total bans, bans that only target the customer, and laws permitting prostitution but prohibiting organized groups, an example being brothels.
The decriminalization of sex work is the removal of criminal penalties for sex work. Sex work, the consensual provision of sexual services for money or goods, is criminalized in most countries. Decriminalization is distinct from legalization.
Prostitution in Oceania varies greatly across the region. In American Samoa, for instance, prostitution is illegal, whereas in New Zealand most aspects of the trade are decriminalised.
The Nordic Criminal Model approach to sex work, also marketed as the end demand, equality model, neo-abolitionism, Nordic and Swedish model, is an approach to sex work that criminalises clients, third parties and many ways sex workers operate. This approach to criminalising sex work was developed in Sweden in 1999 on the debated radical feminist position that all sex work is sexual servitude and no person can consent to engage in commercial sexual services. The main objective of the model is to abolish the sex industry by punishing the purchase of sexual services. The model was also originally developed to make working in the sex industry more difficult, as Ann Martin said when asked about their role in developing the model - "I think of course the law has negative consequences for women in prostitution but that's also some of the effect that we want to achieve with the law... It shouldn't be as easy as it was before to go out and sell sex."
Prostitution is legal in Belgium, but related activities such as organising prostitution and other forms of pimping are illegal. Enforcement varies, and in some areas brothels are unofficially tolerated.
Prostitution in Papua New Guinea is generally regarded as illegal but widely practiced with the laws rarely enforced. Prostitution occurs on the streets, in bars, brothels and in logging, mining, and palm oil areas. In 2010 it was estimated there were 2.000 prostitutes in the capital, Port Moresby. The drought in 2016 caused a rise in prostitution. Many of the women have turned to sex work due to poverty or unemployment.