In France, between 7,000 and 10,000 young people are involved in prostitution, mainly young girls aged 15 to 17. The government is launching a national awareness campaign entitled “I manage”, to warn about the reality and the dangers of child prostitution.
Prostitution of minors in France: what are the figures?
The numbers are worrying. Between 7,000 and 10,000 young people would be affected by prostitution in Francemainly young girls aged 15 to 17, from all walks of life. “An approximate assessment and probably below reality,” says the government. According to institutional actors and associations, “prostitution of minors is increasing and is no longer limited to the trafficking of minors of foreign origin”.
I manage: the awareness campaign against child prostitution
While the phenomenon has been increasing for 5 years, Adrien Taquet, Secretary of State for Children and Families, is launching a national awareness campaign to alert and warn the general public about the reality and dangers of child prostitution. The film features a minor, victim of prostitution, who thinks she can “manage” the situation on her own, until she loses her footing. Light is shed on the vulnerability of victims and the dangers they face.
Prostitution of minors: factors, what are the profiles of young people?
The working group was particularly interested in the different elements that can lead a minor to prostitution. The young people concerned generally present “a vulnerable personality or fragile psychological ground which is explained by a traumatic event (incest, abuse, accident…) or an insecure family environment (domestic violence, alcoholism, precariousness…). This leads to affective deficiencies, a lack of self-esteem, excessive credulity or an attraction to risky behavior.“, explained last November Arthur Melon, secretary general of the association Act against child prostitution (ACPE). It is then in contact with a person already initiated into prostitution that the rocker will take place, for example “a pimp, a lover boy (boy who prostitutes his girlfriend) or even a college friend.”
Moreover, among young girls aged 15 to 17, the most favored minors are not immune. “They evolve in a cultural context where new “pop culture” icons or certain reality shows, in which young women are valued only for their physical appearance, serve as a reference. While many celebrities expose their private lives on social networks, teenagers who do the same and highlight their intimacy in a relationship of seduction can find themselves in difficulty to identify the limits to be set” analyzes the report. Besides, “the acts of prostitution
mostly occur in a runaway context, which seem to be a privileged recourse for these minors to get out of the passivity into which the events have plunged them”, explains the government.
Among the other factors that lead teenagers into prostitution? The “Bad Encounter” who makes a miner fall in love with her “boyfriend”, who later turns out to be her pimp. Earning easy money is also a motivation for these young people, especially when, for example, they find themselves in a precarious situation following a runaway. “However, the pimps’ strategy regarding the distribution of earnings is often the same: after sharing the money received from prostitution, the pimp
brutally confiscates the remuneration”, states the report.
13 actions to fight against child prostitution
In November 2021, the government launched a vast inter-ministerial plan to fight against the prostitution of minors which revolves around 13 concrete actions with a financial commitment of 14 million euros.. These actions revolve around four priorities: “raising awareness, informing and better understanding”, strengthening detection”, “accompanying minors in prostitution” and finally “prosecuting and repressing more effectively” clients and pimps who feed this phenomenon.
- Create information and exchange spaces throughout the territory for minors and their families, with in particular the establishment of a single listening platform for minors and adults confronted with the phenomenon of child prostitution
- Deploy search to better understand the phenomenon
- Develop a public awareness campaignwhich will be launched in the first quarter of 2022 for children and adults.
- Develop the training of professionals, with the objective of creating a common culture of identification and support among professionals confronted with child prostitution.
- Improve the identification and reporting of minors in prostitution, in schools, places of health, in hotels and on rental accommodation platforms and in the street.
- Act on social networks: the plan provides in particular for the financing of digital patrols to identify the minors concerned and direct them to the competent partner services, but also to improve the moderation and reporting of prostitution situations likely to concern minors.
- Optimize management of runaways by professionals, set up in the police stations and gendarmeries of reception and priority treatment of runaways suggesting a situation of prostitution.
- Recognize minors in prostitution as minors in danger within the scope of child protection
- Create a support and/or accommodation system in each department to protect minors who are victims of prostitution
- Guaranteeing minors who are victims of prostitution a personalized care pathway as part of the deployment of the network of Pediatric Reception Units-Children in Danger (UAPED)
- Facilitate legal proceedings, with, in particular, the appointment of a lead magistrate in each court.
- Strengthen the mobilization of investigation services in the field of cyber-crime
- Formalize judicial cooperation with rental accommodation platforms
Are the social networks involved in the prostitution of minors?
In 2021, the first report also pointed social media responsibility whose “uses and misuses” play “an important place in the development of new forms of prostitution“.”Social networks are an amplifier of the prostitution system. The use of digital tools may increase certain risks, in particular the blackmail after detention of “nudes“, states the report. This document also warns about the difficulty for minors who prostitute themselves to realize that they are victims. “Many teenage girls say they have made the choice of prostitution and not endure it. Moreover, they often use to speak of it the terms of staging or escorting which, for them, have a more positive value. They present their activity using the vocabulary of the world of work (work, contract, recruitment, job interview, etc.)“, details the working group, which nevertheless warns of the need to “be able to name things accurately to prevent the reality of prostitution from being obscured.”
If you witness a child in danger, or if you have any doubts, you can contact the services of your department, namely theChildhood social assistance (ASE) or the unit for collecting worrying information (Crip) and/or specialized associations. You can also dial 119-Childhood in danger, open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, free and confidential.