ABSTRACT
Belgium, a small multicultural country, has always been influenced by neighboring powers, including in its approach to prostitution. Culturally, Belgium has a similar, permissive view toward prostitution as the Netherlands. Considering prostitution to be "sexual exploitation", Belgian feminism groups are against the decriminalization of procuring or legalization of commercial sex, and are increasingly pleading for the criminalization of clients in accordance with the Swedish model. Advertising of prostitution is also penalized, as the Law of March 27, 1995 punishes soliciting through all possible sources of communication. The main purpose of the 1995 legal changes was to define human trafficking for sexual exploitation as a separate offense. The policy focus on trafficking has in Belgium, even more than in other European countries, determined public debates on commercial sex. The highly varied policy approaches to window prostitution have had different effects on the ground.
