Inspired by the Belgium model, union demands labour rights for sex workers in India

Durbar Mahila Samanway Committee strategizes for sex workers' labor rights in India, inspired by Belgium's legislation.

Durbar Mahila Samanway Commitee (DMSC), one of the largest collectives of sex workers in West Bengal and India held a strategy meeting demanding labour rights for sex workers and decriminalising sex work on, Sunday (January 12, 2025). The union is highlighting recently passed legislations in Belgium giving rights to sex workers, legalising sex work, and taking inspiration from them to bring reforms in India. 

Also read:Supreme Court recognises sex work as a ‘profession’

Belgium was the first country in the world to include sex workers in labour rights. The law passed in December 2024 now gives sex workers rights to sign employment contracts, have health insurance, unemployment benefits, maternity benefits, right to refuse clients, criminal background checks on employers, installation of emergency panic buttons, and more. The speakers at the event organised by Durbar tried to draw a comparison of these implementations with Indian laws and to find a scope for further potential reforms. 

Professor Prabha Kotiswaran, Professor of Law and Social Justice, Kings College, London elaborated on the challenges in finding a balance between the two nations and their fight for sex workers rights. She said, “Belgium is a small country, they have sex workers in thousands, but India has sex workers in millions, implementation of these laws may be a huge hassle in India. There are times when many employers and third parties in sex trade do not abide by the laws, in such cases the sex workers may actually lose out on the benefits, further worsening their conditions.” She highlighted that this is an area of doubt within the industry and remains to be explored. 

Through the day long discussion with multiple stakeholders of the society like social workers, lawyers, researchers, human rights activists, and more, it was insisted that the first step to getting the basic labour rights for sex work in India is to get legal recognition of sex work as a valid profession. Speakers also insisted that sex workers themselves have to lose the stigma and take pride in accepting their profession as dignified and as respectable as any other profession. 

“To get any benefits from the existing labour laws in India, we need to establish that sex work is also work. We all use our body parts to do work, then why is sex work different? And why are some body parts stigmatised?,” questioned professor Kingshuk Sarkar, Professor, Goa Institute of Management and former Labour Administrator. 

Academician Aparna De, Principal, South Calcutta Girls’ College suggested in her capacity as an educator that the best way to bring social acceptance for sex work is to talk about it as a part of the education system to help in destigmatising the profession in front of young minds of the society.