In 2013, there were about 20,000 prostitutes in France, 85% of whom were women, but the 2011 report of the parliamentary mission of inquiry on prostitution in France highlights the difficulty of properly assessing prostitution, a traditionally hidden activity, and that this number may be underestimated. Among street prostitutes, the proportion of foreign women rose from 20% in 1990 to nearly 90% in 2013, most of whom were exploited by mafia networks from Eastern Europe, Africa or Asia. Internet prostitution is more independent, but the 2011 report notes that “precariousness and vulnerability remain factors in the entry and retention of prostitution.” 99% of clients are men. The regulatory approach considers prostitution as a normal professional activity. It is regulated and supervised like any profession. Workers` rights are protected and abuses by employers are prevented. Regulation is often done through laws and registers of prostitutes. This applies to countries such as the Netherlands, Germany, Turkey, Switzerland, Hungary, Greece and Austria. Only in France does the Central Office for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings (OCRTEH) quantitatively assess prostitution. OCRTEH estimated in its 2009 report that there are between 18,000 and 20,000 prostitutes in France today.[12] This estimate has been disputed by the Sex Workers` Union (STRASS), which argues that OCRTEH mainly counts only street prostitution, which accounts for 13-15% of total prostitution in some other countries (UK, Switzerland) and that the figure of 20,000 seems much lower than in other European countries. for example, Germany, where there are 400,000 prostitutes.[12] The 2011 report of the parliamentary fact-finding mission on prostitution in France therefore highlights the difficulty of properly assessing prostitution, a traditionally hidden activity[12]. 10-20% of street prostitution is male, with the majority being transgender.

[13] According to the Mouvement du Nid, an association specializing in the defense of prostitutes, there are between 30,000 and 44,000 people who prostitute themselves in France, including 37,000 full-time prostitutes, although occasional prostitution is difficult to quantify. 85% are women, 10% men and 5% transgender. 62% of prostitution takes place on the Internet, 30% on the street and 8% in hostess bars and massage parlours[15]. A pimp also includes a person who profits from the prostitution of others, a person who incites prostitution, a person who acts as an intermediary between two persons, one of whom engages in prostitution and the other exploits or remunerates prostitution, or a person who cannot prove that he or she has sufficient means of subsistence while living with a person. who habitually engages in prostitution. Internet prostitution has become a widespread and thriving business that is difficult for the state to manage. Classified ads and social media are becoming a preferred channel for prostitution, even as governments try to find a better solution. Street prostitution on the Internet, the easy money earned through street prostitution, is even easier to earn on the Internet, according to professionals in this sector. Prostitutes rent apartments on Airbnb to receive their customers. A discreet form of prostitution, article 225-5 of the Criminal Code, punishes any form of service, i.e. supporting, protecting and offering assistance in order to profit from the prostitution of others.

So far, the measures to be taken with regard to prostitution on the Internet remain very theoretical. Prostitution is the activity of providing a sexual service for remuneration. In France, the practice of prostitution and courtship is allowed, but the purchase of sexual services is illegal and has been punished since the law of 13 April 2016[1][2] to which the France subscribes to the model of “punishing customers”, often described as “neo-abolitionist”. As this law was the subject of a priority question of constitutionality, it was declared compatible with the French Constitution by the Constitutional Council on 1 February 2019[3]. Pimps and brothels had been banned seventy years earlier by the Marthe-Richard law of April 13, 1946. Under the 1949 Convention, procurement is therefore illegal in France. He was fined €150,000 and sentenced to seven years in prison. [23] The act of prostitution is not prosecuted in theory, but the act of resorting to prostitution is in principle punishable [28],[29].

In some cases, clients of prostitution are severely penalized for engaging in prostitution of “minors or particularly vulnerable persons.”[29] Vulnerable people are people with disabilities and pregnant women[30]. Since the extraterritoriality laws of 4 February 1994 and 17 June 1998, it is possible to prosecute a client of prostitution of a minor, even if the act took place outside France 30. Victims of trafficking have a temporary residence permit, but on condition that they report their pimp.[31] Are you aware of a case of child prostitution? Contact Enfance en Danger. In case of prostitution of a minor via the Internet, report it on the platform of the Ministry of the Interior: anyone can report the case of a minor forced into prostitution, even without filing a complaint. It is even an obligation if the minor is under 15 years of age. If you are aware of a case of child prostitution (under 15 years of age), you are obliged to report it to the police, the gendarmerie, the president of the departmental council or the association Enfance en danger (119, free call).