{"id":57464,"date":"2024-12-02T10:31:27","date_gmt":"2024-12-02T10:31:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=57464"},"modified":"2024-12-02T10:31:27","modified_gmt":"2024-12-02T10:31:27","slug":"belgium-grants-maternity-leave-pensions-to-sex-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2024\/12\/02\/belgium-grants-maternity-leave-pensions-to-sex-workers\/","title":{"rendered":"Belgium Grants Maternity Leave, Pensions to Sex Workers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>By Cynthia Abah<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Belgium has enacted a historic law recognizing sex workers as employees with rights equivalent to those in other professions.<\/p>\n<p>Signed into law on Sunday, the legislation entitles sex workers to maternity leave, pensions, and protections against exploitation.<\/p>\n<p>The move addresses long-standing grievances, particularly after sex workers were excluded from COVID-19 financial aid in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>Under the new law, they can refuse clients, decline specific acts, or terminate engagements at any point.<\/p>\n<p>Employers must adhere to strict guidelines, including maintaining hygienic workspaces, installing panic buttons, and providing clean linens and safety measures.<\/p>\n<p>The Belgian Union of Sex Workers hailed the reform as a victory against workplace discrimination, emphasizing that it aligns sex workers&#8217; rights with broader labor standards.<\/p>\n<p>Global advocacy groups such as Human Rights Watch have commended Belgium\u2019s progressive approach.<\/p>\n<p>Erin Kilbride, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, described the legislation as &#8220;radical&#8221; and a global benchmark for advancing sex workers&#8217; rights.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis law allows us to exist with dignity,\u201d said Sophie, a Belgian sex worker, in an interview with the BBC.<\/p>\n<p>Belgium\u2019s reform is expected to inspire similar legislative changes worldwide, promoting equality and human rights in a historically marginalized sector.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Cynthia Abah Belgium has enacted a historic law recognizing sex workers as employees with rights equivalent to those in other professions. Signed into law on Sunday, the legislation entitles sex workers to maternity leave, pensions, and protections against exploitation. The move addresses long-standing grievances, particularly after sex workers were excluded from COVID-19 financial aid [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":57465,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57464"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57466,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57464\/revisions\/57466"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}