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Sex workers in Belgium will soon be able to claim state pensions and other benefits, after the coronavirus pandemic prompted reforms to further decriminalise their profession.
Politicians approved plans to overhaul 19th century legislation to offer prostitutes a legally recognised job title.
It means for the first time sex workers in the country will be able to hire accountants to do their books or get a bank loan based on their earnings.
While prostitution is currently decriminalised under Belgian law, there is a ban on pimping aimed at fighting exploitation and sex trafficking.
Vincent Van Quickenborne, Belgium’s justice minister, said: “Once the bill is enacted, sex workers will be able to do their job with equal rights.
“Until now many sex workers were not catered for under present social legislation provisions. The pandemic showed us they did not enjoy sufficient protection.”
Some 25,000 people are believed to be operating as sex workers in Belgium in the current legal vacuum.
The new move puts them on a par with their counterparts in the Netherlands and Germany, where the sex industries are legal regulated and taxed.
Prostitution is not illegal in the UK but related activities, such as soliciting in a public place, pimping and kerb crawling, are unlawful. The country’s first legal red-light district, a so-called “managed zone” in Leeds set up in 2014, was scrapped last year.
Pandemic hardship
The change was partly fuelled by the pandemic, when sex workers in Belgium were unable to claim benefits because of the lack of official recognition for their trade.
"Corona really set this in motion," Mr Van Quickenborne said.
"We have seen that there was insufficient protection for our sex workers."
During the pandemic, all forms of sex work were banned, including on the streets, in so-called "rendezvous hotels", and in windows.
The same happened in Germany, which legalised and regulated prostitution in 2002, and as a result the number of registered sex workers dramatically declined.
Amsterdam's famous red-light districted suffered a similar fate, despite the support offered to sex workers to cope with the forced closures, many ended up in financial ruin.
Campaigners hope that change of law will allow people to hire sex workers and provide safe and hygienic conditions. In time prostitutes will also be able to build up their state pension pots and enjoy the same social rights afforded to all employees in the country.
Daan Bauwens, of Utsopi, a sex workers union, said before the proposed law is introduced prostitutes had been operating in a grey zone.
“Sex work was decriminalised, but no rules could be applied to the sector meaning it’s hard to draw the line between legitimate business and exploitation,” he said.
The changes could open up new roles for “managers” as the industry is further professionalised. “A pimp is an exploiter, anyway. We want to draw that line. Exploitation of prostitution remains in the criminal code,” he added.
"They work for a manager. That is someone who, with respect for safety and hygiene rules, runs a company where people are employed. Those rules do not exist at the moment. That is only possible now, because it is no longer in the criminal code."
Before the legislation change can enter into force, it must be first approved by Belgium's federal parliament.