Sex workers in the Aarschotstraat, a hotspot for prostitution in Brussels, are set to lose a large part of their income now that brothels are being required to close at night, the Union of Sex Workers, Utsopi, says. Their complaint follows the decision by the mayors of the Brussels boroughs of Schaarbeek and Sint-Joost-ten-Node to oblige all cafés, shops and other commercial establishments in the Brussels’ North Quarter to close at 1 am exactly.
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Sex Workers' Union condemns the night-time closure of brothels, will encourage illegal prostitution
Colin Clapson
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The mayors of Schaarbeek, Martin de Brabant (Francophone liberal MR), and Sint-Joost-ten-Node, Emir Kir (Burgomaster’s List), have jointly decided that businesses in the Brabant and North Quarters near the North Station must close between 1 am and 6 am.
By locking down the neighbourhood at night, the mayors aim to improve safety. A few cafés and night shops are affected, but sex workers believe it’s primarily brothels on the Aarschotstraat that will be hit. There is a high level of drug dealing and use in the neighbourhood. Some businesses are also said to act as money-laundering fronts for the drug trade.
‘Decision will encourage illegal prostitution’
The Belgian Union for Sex Workers is critical of the mayors’ decision. "This plan has taken absolutely no account of the reality sex workers face in Brussels," says Utsopi’s policy officer Daan Bauwens. “We too emphasise that the security situation in the neighbourhood is dire, but we do not see how this decision is supposed to improve safety, either for people on the streets or for sex workers.”
According to Bauwens, sex workers will be forced to switch to illegal prostitution. “They will suddenly lose their jobs, and that will encourage more illegal prostitution, because sex workers will not stop working during the hours when the establishment is closed. That increases the risk of violence and exploitation.”
Utsopi is also unhappy that the mayors have drawn up the plan without involving the Union or the sex workers themselves in their decision. “We find that very regrettable. We could have offered solutions to improve the plan. This has not been thought through.”
Still to be approved by the city councils
A trial period is planned for the new security plan that will only come into full effect once it has been approved by the city councils. “We hope this will not be a temporary solution that is then made permanent!”
Bauwens also hopes that Brussels and its municipalities will follow the example of how sex work is managed in cities like Ghent and Antwerp. “Those cities prove that it is possible to integrate sex work safely into the city. It is incomprehensible that the Brussels-Capital Region is lagging so far behind in this respect.”