French Lawmakers Restore Fines for 'Johns' in Prostitution Bill

Abolition supporters argue that prostitution managed by organized crime groups consist in the iceberg to which voluntary sex-workers only represent the tip. | Photo: Reuters

Published 13 June 2015

The bill decriminalizes solicitation, but reinstates fines for customers.

French Lawmakers voted in favor of changes to a proposed bill on the country’s prostitution laws Friday, approving fines customers after the measure was removed from the bill in March by the Conservative controlled Senate.

The legislation would also decriminalize solicitation, which was made a crime in 2003 by former right-wing president Nicolas Sarkozy in a move that was strongly criticized by women associations.

After October elections changed the majority in Senate, a special commission of senators reintroduced the listing of solicitation as a crime while also removing the US$1,500 fine for customers.

With the bill returning to its original version, senators will once again discuss the matter. In the case of an impasse, the lower chamber will have the final word on the proposed law.

The bill also purports to reinforce the fight against pimping and implements a campaign aimed at youth prevention.

RELATED: Women Resist

Women associations in favor of the abolition of prostitution, like the Nest Movement, as well as the social democrat government of Francois Hollande, support the measure. Minister of Social Affairs Marisol Touraine called on lawmakers to reinstitute fines for clients, arguing “Men need to think about what they do, about the way they behave.”

Other organizations such as Act Up or Doctors Without Borders demonstrated Friday in Paris against the measure, fearing that women in the sex work industry would be exposed to more precarity and risk of violence.

The debate between both movements have surged again as Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former head of the International Monetary Fund and once a potential presidential candidate, is facing charges of “aggravated pimping.”

According to a Nest Movement report released in May, between 30,000 and 44,000 people work in France’s prostitution industry full time, with part time sex work being much more difficult to evaluate. Only 30 percent of those in the industry work in the streets, while 62 percent engage customers online and 8 percent through “hostess bars” or massage parlors.