Decriminalisation and the need to offer social law perspectives to sexworkers
Even if the formal criminalisation of the economic exploitation of prostitution (informally largely tolerated
if not genuinely exploitative) does not legally pre-empt sex workers to exercise their job as an
employee or a self-employed person, in practice they experience serious impediments when working
in either of both traditional social law capacities. Not only does recent jurisprudence challenge the legitimacy of tolerance policies, including at city level, a resolute decriminalisation of the economic exploitation of prostitution, of the renting out of sex work places and of the provision of services to sex
workers is key to grant them the basic rights to individual autonomy and agency and to establishment
as a self-employed person. Moreover, sex work requires both a diversification of the traditional status of employee and self-employed worker and the creation of additional, flexible regimes.