Around thirty people gathered on Tuesday, December 17 near the National Assembly to pay tribute to sex workers who are victims of violence and to demand better protection. Attacks against these women have exploded in 2024, with an alarming increase of 6% compared to 2023. Among the victims, the majority are irregular migrants who do not dare to file a complaint.
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Raped, assaulted, murdered. In 2024, the workers of sex in France have suffered an escalation of violence. 3,110 reports recorded, 203 rapes or attempts, 82 armed attacks, specifies Médecins du monde. For the majority of them, filing a complaint is unthinkable.
Mei is one of these invisible people. She is no longer young women. She is migrant and sex worker. Like many, she endures in silence, for fear of being deported. Before the National Assembly, she recounted the unspeakable: “ I have customers who don’t pay. I have customers who attack me. I am experiencing sexual violence. Besides, I don’t dare scream because I’m afraid of losing my apartment if my neighbors find out what I’m doing. There is anxiety, sadness, anger. Everything mixes together. But I take it upon myself, alone. »
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Failing help
Ting Chen, from the association The Roses of Steelwhich supports female migrant workers, has created its own emergency line. He emphasizes their isolation. “ When a non-French-speaking migrant calls 15 or 17, no one answers. We will say to her: Madam, sorry, you do not speak French. Even in very serious cases. »
Gravisssime is almost an understatement: in 2024, seven sex workers, all migrants, were murdered. For Paola Gioia Macioti, coordinator of the Jasmine platform at Médecins du monde: “ This increase in violence is directly linked to repressive laws which have increased the precariousness of sex workers, without changing the material conditions which push people to do this work to meet their needs. “.
At issue, according to her, is a 2016 law which provides for the penalization of customers of prostitutes as well as third parties who help sex workers.
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