Human Trafficking in France

Sex trafficking has been an issue in France for a very long time. “The Government of France estimates the majority of the 20,000 people in France's commercial sex trade, about 90 percent of whom are foreign, are likely trafficking victims.” (United) The foreign victims of sex trafficking in France are most commonly from Eastern Europe, North and West Africa, Asia, and South America. These victims are forced into prostitution through, “debt bondage, physical force, and psychological coercion, including the invocation of voodoo.”  (United) Among these victims of sex trafficking, there are quite a few children and the number of children in sex trafficking has been increasing over the last few years. While prostitution is legal in France, pimping, which is defined as, “any form of assistance given toward prostitution or living off the earnings of prostitution” is illegal in France. (100 countries)

 

Fortunately for the victims who are forced into this business, a law against prostitution was being pushed very hard in 2013. The goal of this law was to punish customers of the prostitution business and protect the prostitutes in the business. Customers would be fined 1,500 euros for their first offense and 3,000 euros their second offense. “They could also be forced to attend classes aimed at highlighting the harms of prostitution.” (Corbet)  Supporters of this law argued that, “it could reduce sex trafficking and empower prostitutes.” (Corbet) A large amount of the prostitutes who voluntarily perform ‘sexwork’ though, thought differently about the law. All the talk about the law ended up scaring clients to the business away; therefore, hurting the livelihood of many of the prostitutes. Some prostitutes say, “they have as many as 50% fewer customers since the media got hold of the issue [the law].” (Abbadessa) Because of the reduction in clients, prostitutes have felt forced to reduce the prices for their services by about 20 euros. Since there are less clients to work with, prostitutes, “feel forced to accept clients they would have previously refused, putting their own safety at risk.” “French newspapers recently reported an attack on a young woman who would not usually have gone to her clients’ homes. But one day, because of poor earnings, she accepted a man’s invitation. He apparently forced her to drink and then asked for unprotected sex. When the woman refused, he beat and raped her.” (Abbadessa)

Unfortunately for the victims of sex trafficking, the law against prostitution was not passed and things remain the same in France. One of the Sustainable Development Goals, proposed goal five, states, “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”. (Born Free) I believe sex trafficking is addressed by this goal. The victims of sex trafficking in France could greatly benefit from this goal being implemented. One of the specific goals of the writers of the law that France attempted to put into place was empowering and protecting women/ prostitutes. Unfortunately though, some of the prostitutes in France do not support this goal. As I have previously stated, most of the prostitutes who are not victims of sex trafficking did not want this law to be put into place because they care more about making money than gender equality. It is truly a shame that the interests of these prostitutes was put above the sex trafficking victims in France.

Even though this law was not passed in France, there are still other things France can do to assist and protect sex trafficking victims. The main thing being cracking down on offenders of the trafficking laws in place in France. The country needs to, “increase investigations, prosecutions, and convictions under the trafficking statute, ensuring convicted offenders are sentenced to jail terms”. (United) Another thing that would also really help in the combatting of trafficking is, “screen[ing] women and children arrested for soliciting or theft for trafficking indicators”. (United) This would in a sense, ‘weed out’ the trafficking victims from the prostitutes who are voluntarily performing these acts protected under the law. That way the prostitutes could continue to live their lives and make a living while the individuals who are taken from their homes and sold to the sex trade would be able to live the lives they wish to live.

Bibliography

Abbadessa, I. (2014, July 15). French prostitutes pay the price in ‘fines for clients’ debate. Retrieved November 15, 2015, from http://www.west-info.eu/french-prostitutes-pay-the-price-in-fines-for-clients-debate/

Corbet, S. (2013, November 26). Prostitution: France wants to punish clients. Retrieved November 15, 2015, from http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/11/26/prostitution-france-sex-trafficking/3744469/

Mendelson, S. (2014). Born Free: How to Prevent Human Trafficking. 4-4.

United States Department of State, 2015 Trafficking in Persons Report - France, 27 July 2015, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/55b73bef15.html [accessed 15 November 2015]

100 Countries and Their Prostitution Policies - Legal Prostitution - ProCon.org. (2015, April 1). Retrieved November 15, 2015, from http://prostitution.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000772#france