On trial for seeking asylum in Europe

I celebrated Newroz (our Kurdish New Year) in Greece last Monday and Maya Q'eqchi' communities in Guatemala celebrated Waqxaqib' B'atz' (their Lunar New Year) the week before. Just a quick reminder that the Georgian calendar is just one of many calendars. Let's begin:

• Belgium decriminalized sex work
• Three young Black men from Guinea and Ivory Coast are (still) on trial in Malta for (basically) being migrants
• 76 people were murdered over the weekend in El Salvador
• And: A call for a war crime investigation in Ethiopia, news of suicide bombings in Somalia, new tombs discovered in Egypt, feminism in Honduras and Belize, etc

Now without further ado, here's what happened last week:

what happened last week

We decriminalized sex work in Belgium -- it's the first country in Europe to do so
Last week, Belgium decriminalized sex work. It's now OK to sell sex, pay for it and/or work with sex workers. The country also reformed other parts of its sexual criminal law (that was based on a code from 1867), basically writing the principles of safe, sane and consensual sex in law.

Why this matters:
Belgium is the first European country to decriminalize sex work. "It ensures that sex workers are no longer stigmatised, exploited and made dependent on others." said Belgium's Federal Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborn.

I thought prostitution was already legal in some European countries.
Yes and no. Yes, a number of European countries have legalized prostitution. No, it's only allowed under very, very specific circumstances; it's still a crime outside these parameters.

What about in Belgium?
Before, the rules around sex work in Belgium were confusing, restrictive, and varied by area. As a result, people working in the sex industry were/are less likely to be well off and more likely to be labeled as 'criminals.'

What do you mean?
Well, since sex work was not officially recognized as a profession, Belgian sex workers couldn't use it as proof of employment in order to get a loan or apply for social welfare benefits.

Plus, "third parties involved with sex workers are committing a crime," explains Maïthé Chini in The Brussels Times. "This brings many problems, as anyone who works with sex workers -- such as an accountant or a driver -- also becomes part of criminal practices."

What do sex workers say?
They're over-the-moon happy, of course. "This reform is the culmination of a fight that we, sex workers, have been waging for 30 years in our country," said the sex worker rights union UTSOPI in a statement. If people really want to help, "give us rights," the group said. (I paraphrase) 'And follow Belgium's example.'

• Good to know: For decades, scientists, public health experts, and researchers have been like, 'decriminalizing sex work makes sense, read here, here and here.'
• Recommended Twitter thread by @sammajammaz with examples from Ireland, New Zealand and Norway. "Why are sex workers calling for the full decriminalization of sex work, and not a partial criminalization model such as the Nordic Model?"

We are putting three Black refugees from Africa on trial in Malta -- because they refused to be push-backed to Libya

• Refresher: Three young men from Guinea and Ivory Coast have been on trial in Malta since 2019. The list of charges is long but includes terrorism, violence and hijacking of a cargo ship called the El Hiblu. Ever since, the three men are also known as the El Hiblu 3; they have an own campaign site and a Twitter account, too.

**Who...