Sex workers in Belgium are now entitled to formal employment contracts, which include sick pay and maternity leave, under a landmark law that went into effect Sunday.

A groundbreaking law, which gives some sex workers greater labor protections and social benefits than similar legislation elsewhere in the world, is now in effect in the European country.

I had to work while I was nine months pregnant. I was having sex with clients one week before giving birth,” said a Belgium sex worker named Sophie, lamenting conditions before the

Under the new law, which took effect Sunday, sex work employees have access to paid public holidays and to Belgium's version of Social Security. Sex workers will also have access to paid sick days, maternity leave, and health insurance plans.

Belgium has become the first country in the world to grant sex workers the same employment rights as other workers. The new law gives sex workers access to maternity leave, pensions, health insurance,

Her life would have been much easier had she had a right to maternity leave, paid by her employer. Under a new law in Belgium - the first of its kind in the world - this will now

A new law in Belgium granting labor rights to sex workers went into effect Sunday after the European country voted in 2022 to decriminalize sex work.

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The new law guarantees fundamental rights for sex workers, including the ability to refuse clients, set the conditions of an act, and stop an act at any moment.