Justice ministry programme failed sex workers, report finds

A government programme to improve the legal and social standing of sex workers in the Netherlands has ended without delivering the changes its backers said were needed, according to a report published on Tuesday by Soa Aids Nederland, the Dutch HIV and sexual health body.

The joint project between the justice ministry and the foundation’s Sex Work Reporting and Advice Centre (SMAP), which deals with complaints from sex workers, concluded in February.

Information provision for sex workers has not improved, enforcement of the tax scheme they work under has not been embedded, and rules meant to protect their autonomy and privacy are still routinely breached, the centre found.

Unsafe environments and exploitation

Over the four years SMAP has operated, it has received 444 complaints – 42% about unsafe working environments, 13% about privacy breaches, and 22% about access to permits or banking. In 2025 alone, 31% of complaints were about the people operating brothels and other sex businesses.

The complaints include threats of fines or dismissal, high commissions, pressure to take dangerous bookings, coercion into risky cosmetic procedures, and being made to work without condoms.

The mechanism at the heart of the problem, the report says, is the so-called “opting-in” tax scheme. Under it, sex workers are formally neither employees nor self-employed: the operator withholds payroll tax but takes on few of an employer’s responsibilities. The scheme was meant to simplify tax payment and improve workers’ rights. In practice, SMAP says, it has done the opposite.

“There is no government body that supervises operators,” Iris de Munnik, the project leader of Soa Aids Nederland, told Binnenlands Bestuur. “Not the labour inspectorate, not the tax office, and not the municipalities. The municipal prostitution inspection teams only check the permit conditions, not the opting-in conditions.”

Complaints filed with the centre also went well beyond operators: 17% were about websites, 15% about the police, and 13% about healthcare providers, with banks accounting for 11% and councils 8%.

Human trafficking debate

Soa Aids Nederland is calling for stronger enforcement of the opting-in conditions, better cooperation between the tax office, labour inspectorate, police and municipalities, and accessible legal and psychosocial support for sex workers.

MPs are due to debate human trafficking and prostitution on Wednesday. Justice minister David van Weel said he would wait until then before commenting in detail.

The centre also pushed back on a government bill on processing sex workers’ data, which it said would not improve safety. “It still gives sex workers nowhere to go with their complaints, and offers no enforcement on the opting-in scheme,” De Munnik said.