The neighborhood committee of the Alhambra district is concerned about Chinese street prostitution. According to the residents, the number of Chinese sex workers is increasing and at least four addresses are already known where the women offer their services.
“They are usually very discreet, but what worries us is that these practices are related to human trafficking,” says Jan Leerman of the neighborhood committee. “From customer messages on specialized sites, we deduce that customers can choose from different women and that addresses are constantly being added.”
A year ago, BRUZZ discovered that more and more Chinese sex workers were appearing on the sidewalks of the Alhambra district. At that time, two addresses were known where the Chinese women offered their services. In the meantime, that number has increased, it appears.
“We already knew the existence of three addresses. We discovered a fourth quite recently, about a month ago. We see that there are also more Chinese sex workers active in our neighbourhood. It was especially noticeable in December: perhaps because it was a period is where more men are looking for affection.”
According to Leerman, street prostitution is more visible because the sex workers walk some distance hand in hand with their clients. “We see, for example, how female recruiters take customers from Emile Jacqmainlaan almost to De Brouckèreplein. That is already quite a distance. And because street prostitution was decriminalized a few months ago, it is much more difficult to act.”
Committee Alhambra says it has written to Pag-Asa, which assists victims of human trafficking in Brussels. “They are aware of what is happening in our neighborhood, but they can only intervene if a victim contacts them himself or files a complaint with the police, which is not easy.”
Succession
The Committee says on Facebook that it has also written to Brussels mayor Philippe Close (PS) asking to draw up a new framework for the Alhambra district. “We ask that a tolerance zone for street prostitution be provided, together with a police regulation that would allow GAS fines again if prostitutes recruit customers outside that tolerance zone. The city promises a concrete answer soon.”
According to the Committee, the file has since been transferred to the federal police. When asked for a response, the federal police replied “not currently responding to these questions.”
Through the spokesperson, the Close cabinet says that they “have regular contact with the committee and follow up the district.” The Brussels-Capital-Ixelles police also reports that they are keeping an eye on the neighbourhood.
This article is originally published on bruzz.be
