C S E C The Commercial Sexual
Exploitation of Children In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/childprostitution/France.htm
|
|||||||||||
|
CAUTION: The following links
and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the
situation in HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of child prostitution are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring how children got started, how they survive, and
how some succeed in leaving. Perhaps
your paper could focus on runaways and the abuse that led to their
leaving. Other factors of interest
might be poverty, rejection, drug dependence, coercion, violence, addiction,
hunger, neglect, etc. On the other hand,
you might choose to write about the manipulative and dangerous adults who
control this activity. There is a lot
to the subject of Child Prostitution.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. Teachers Check out some of
the Resources
for Teachers attached to this website. ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** ECPAT International
Report: France [PDF] Florence Tamerlo,
Karine Pidery & Nadine Benichou, 3/9/2004 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 15 May
2011] 2. SITUATION OF
MINORS IN PROBLEMS OF DEFINITION - When taken in charge by the police or social care services, children involved in prostitution are considered to be at-risk children. Official figures concerning children are mixed up, and those aged 15 to 18 are not reported as such. It is explained as a will to avoid traumatizing the child by labeling him or her as a prostitute. Lastly, children under 15 are prone to more covert prostitution qualified as pedophilia and therefore escape the prostitution statistics. All child sex assaults are reported as sexual abuse, not prostitution. Moreover, some prostitution related-facts are considered as pedophilia, not prostitution. The result is that France has no child prostitution because the figures show none. ***
ARCHIVES *** ECPAT Country
Monitoring Report [PDF] ECPAT International,
2011 www.ecpat.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Ex_Summary_France.pdf [accessed 28 August
2020] [FRENCH] Desk review of
existing information on the sexual exploitation of children (SEC) in France.
The report looks at protection mechanisms, responses, preventive measures,
child and youth participation in fighting SEC, and makes recommendations for
action against SEC. Human
Rights Reports » 2019 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 10, 2020 www.state.gov/reports/2019-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/france/ [accessed 28 August
2020] SEXUAL
EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN - The law criminalizes sexual exploitation of children.
The minimum age of consent is 15, and sexual relations with a minor aged 15
to 18 are illegal when the adult is in a position of authority over the
minor. For rape of a minor younger than 15 the penalty is 20 years’ imprisonment,
which can be increased in the event of aggravating circumstances. Other
sexual abuse of a minor under the age of 15 is punishable by up to 10 years
in prison and a fine of 150,000 euros ($165,000). The law provides that
underage rape victims may file complaints up to 30 years after they turn 18. The government
enforced these laws effectively but faced criticism from NGOs such as Coup de
Pouce, Acting against Child Prostitution, and the French
Council of Associations for the Rights of the Child that argued children
cannot provide legal consent regardless of circumstance. The law also
criminalizes the commercial sexual exploitation of children. The minimum
penalty for sexual exploitation of children is 10 years’ imprisonment and a
fine of 1.5 million euros ($1.65 million). The law prohibits child
pornography; the maximum penalty for its use and distribution is five years’
imprisonment and a 75,000 euro ($82,500) fine. As part of the
2020-22 plan to combat violence against children
released November 20, the government released estimates that more than
130,000 girls and 35,000 boys annually suffer rape or attempted rape, and
140,000 children are exposed to domestic violence. According to an IPSOS poll
released October 7 conducted with victims of childhood sexual abuse, the
victims’ average age is 10 years and 83 percent of victims are girls. Victims
file a lawsuit in only 25 percent of the cases. Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 30 June 2004 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/france2004.html [accessed 5 February
2011] [54] The Committee
notes that, following the World Congress against Commercial Sexual
Exploitation of Children in Stockholm in 1996, a National Plan of Action was
adopted to protect children from abuse and ill treatment. The following year,
in 1997, protection of abused children was declared a national priority.
However, the Committee is concerned at the occurrence of trafficking of
children, prostitution and related issues, as noted in the Report of the
Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child
pornography following his mission to Five Years After ECPAT: Fifth Report
on implementation of the Agenda for Action ECPAT International,
November 2001 www.no-trafficking.org/content/web/05reading_rooms/five_years_after_stockholm.pdf [accessed 13
September 2011] [B]
COUNTRY UPDATES – FRANCE – According to ECPAT France and AFESIP, Special
rapporteur on sale of children, independent expert on violence against
children present reports UN Commission on
Human Rights, Press Release, 07 Apr 2004 www.hrea.org/lists/child-rights/markup/msg00278.html [accessed 15 May
2011] www.un.org/press/en/2004/hrcn1076.doc.htm [accessed 5 November
2016] DOCUMENTS ON RIGHTS
OF THE CHILD
- According to this information, children are being trafficked into France primarily from Eastern Europe,
notably Romania, and from West Africa, but also from Asia including such
countries as India and China. Many, if
not most, of these children are under the control of trafficking networks and
are forced into prostitution. Dozens
convicted of pedophilia in France Samantha Bordes, The Associated Press AP, July 28, 2005 www.theage.com.au/news/world/dozens-convicted-of-pedophilia-in-france/2005/07/28/1122143950409.html [accessed 15 May
2011] BBC News, 19 May,
2004 news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3729049.stm [accessed 15 May
2011] The trial of 13
people in northern Air
www.world-tourism.org/protect_children/movie/air_france.htm [Last access date
unavailable] Since 15 March
1999, AIR FRANCE has screened this video on long-haul flights to raise
awareness about the problem of child sex tourism. It informs travelers that there are laws to
punish abusers when they are abroad, but also on their return home. RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
- Report submitted by Juan Miguel Petit, Special Rapporteur on the sale of
children, child prostitution and child pornography - Addendum - Mission to
France, 25-29 November 2002 [PDF] UN Economic and
Social Council, E/CN.4/2004/9/Add.1, 14 October 2003 www.unhchr.ch/Huridocda/Huridoca.nsf/0/cbba1e5f4208f627c1256df7002f3b5a/$FILE/G0316328.pdf [accessed 5 February
2011] SUMMARY - The report
focuses on the sale of children in the context of trafficking of children and
child prostitution, and on child pornography and its links with domestic
child sexual abuse. Concerning the
sale of children, trafficking and child prostitution, the report relates
information presented to the Special Rapporteur by the Children’s Ombudsman (Défenseure des enfants), the
police, NGOs, as well as government ministries. According to this information, children are
being trafficked into France primarily from Eastern Europe, notably Romania,
and from West Africa, but also from Asia including such countries as
India and China. Many, if not most, of
these children are under the control of trafficking networks and are forced
into prostitution. The Government of
France is starting to work with the authorities of the countries concerned,
in particular with Romania with which it signed a bilateral agreement in 2001
with respect to returning children. V. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 76. Prostitution is
reportedly growing rapidly, but the regular use of minors as prostitutes is a
relatively new phenomenon and new legislation has been introduced to ensure
that the clients of child prostitutes will be arrested. The Special Rapporteur commends the
Government of France for its efforts not to criminalize the children
concerned by subjecting them to detention, and recognizes the difficulties it
is facing in protecting such children from continuing in prostitution. 77. Many foreign
children are involved in prostitution.
Most of the children in prostitution are controlled by pimps, some of
whom live in another country and control the prostitution by cell phone from
abroad, usually getting an older child to supervise the younger victims. 78. Concerning child
sex tourism, the Government of France is taking measures to combat these
offences being committed abroad by French citizens. The Government has adopted extraterritorial
legislation to increase the chances of their being arrested and brought to
trial, and all government representatives abroad have been instructed to
collaborate with local police on these cases.
There were no reports of sex tourism within France. ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human Rights Reports
» 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61648.htm [accessed 8 February
2020] TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS
– In 2003 police arrested 67 adults in a Roma encampment outside Paris and
charged them with organizing sexual enslavement of Roma children who were
kidnapped from Romania, brought to the country, raped to make them obey, and
sent out on the streets of Paris and its suburbs to steal and prostitute
themselves. According to press reports, the children were forced to earn $240
(200 euros) a day or face severe physical punishment. The child‑traffickers
remained in jail awaiting trial at the end of the year. Traffickers of the
Romanian children of Romani descent have traditionally used the children as
beggars and thieves, but many of the children have increasingly turned to or been
forced into prostitution. Police estimated
that 90 percent of the 15 thousand to 18 thousand female prostitutes working
in the country were trafficking victims, and that 3 thousand to 8 thousand
children were forced into prostitution and labor, including begging. In a
2003 report the UNCHR rapporteur criticized the government for
"continuing to deny the existence and the scale of sexual cruelty
against children" with regard to trafficked children and called for the
NCCHR to further investigate the situation. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this webpage as: Patt,
Prof. Martin, "Child Prostitution - France",
http://gvnet.com/childprostitution/France.htm, [accessed <date>] |
