Prostitution is legal in Belgium , but making gains from third party activities such as pimping is illegal. Most of the red-light districts in Belgium consist of window prostitution , where prostitutes sit in a window with a curtained-off workspace behind, although there is also some street prostitution.
As of , there were about prostitutes working in about 60 windows in the area. In the Rue d'Aerschot, the majority of women were Bulgarian, while those working in side-streets were mostly from Nigeria.
The City of Brussels named a street after her to draw attention to the "forgotten women who are victims of human trafficking, sexual violence and femicides".
Street prostitution has traditionally taken place in the Alhambra quarter of Brussels to the south-west of the North Station. In Antwerp , prostitution is only permitted in the area bounded by Verversrui, Vingerlingstraat and Schippersstraat, in an area known locally as Schipperskwartier sailors' quarter.
Near the old port, the area has been a centre for prostitution for centuries. An influx of prostitutes from Eastern Europe had seen an associated rise in organised crime and violence.
