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In 1948, as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was being drafted, its original title was the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man. It was only after intervention from women delegates — notably Hansa Mehta of India and Minerva Bernardino of the Dominican Republic — that the final title became the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Over seven decades later, that original impulse — to frame human rights around the priorities and interests of men — has re-emerged under a different name: sexual rights.
In March 2022, Belgium reformed its Criminal Code in a way that legalised pimping. The reform did not decriminalise prostitution — it had never been criminalised — but it removed most third-party offences and redefined exploitation as simply the making of an “abnormal profit”, a term that remains undefined in law.
In 2024, Belgium expanded this framework by adopting a new law that formalised prostitution as a recognised form of employment under the labour code. Individuals in prostitution can now be hired through standard work contracts. Though presented as a protective measure, the law institutionalises pimping as legitimate employment and integrates the exploitation of prostitution — a practice prohibited under international law — into the formal economy.
To call prostitution “work” is to erase the inequality and violence that define it. In Belgium, as across Europe, the overwhelming majority of prostituted persons are migrant women — many undocumented or living in poverty — while buyers are almost exclusively men. Under the guise of protection, the new Belgian law normalises male sexual entitlement and transforms prostitution into a legitimate business.
This shift stands in direct contradiction to binding international standards.
- CEDAW (Article 6) obliges states to suppress the exploitation of the prostitution of women — in other words, pimping.
- The 1949 UN Convention recognises prostitution as incompatible with human dignity.
- The European Parliament has repeatedly identified prostitution as a form of violence against women and an obstacle to equality between women and men (2014 and 2023 Resolutions).
- UN Special Rapporteur Reem Alsalem has documented prostitution as a grave violation of women’s human rights.
The European Court of Human Rights recently affirmed that France’s Equality Model — which criminalises pimps and buyers while decriminalising prostituted persons — fully aligns with human rights obligations.
In response, nine feminist organisations in Belgium have brought a constitutional challenge against the law. These women’s rights groups argue that the “Law on Sex Work” violates core constitutional and human rights principles.
Following the submission of arguments by both parties, including the Belgian government’s defence, the court is expected to deliver its ruling in the coming months, a decision that will touch directly on the fundamental question of women’s human rights.
On the opposing side, several powerful, corporate-style NGOs — including ILGA-Europe, Transgender Europe (TGEU), Médecins du Monde and the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), among others — have intervened in support of the Belgian government.
Within this framework, three well-funded lobbying interests converge: the transgender, prostitution and surrogacy lobbies. All three deny the material reality of sex and the structural nature of gender as a hierarchy of male dominance over women. Instead, they reframe systems of male power as matters of identity, expression or personal choice. In practice, this alliance legitimises male access to women’s bodies under the guise of “human rights”.
The case reveals a stark divide. On one side are feminist and frontline organisations providing daily support to women subjected to male violence, including those in prostitution and those trafficked for sexual exploitation. On the other stand influential, donor-fuelled NGOs united by an agenda that seeks to normalise male sexual entitlement — and to repackage it as progressive policy.
Source: The new human rights industry: The business of sexual politics – Athena Forum
