France has made paying for sex a crime β a radical change of approach in a country where brothels were once legal. Some welcome the fact that, in future, the clients not the sex-workers will be treated as delinquents. The law also provides financial support for prostitutes who want to create new lives. It will permit foreign sex-workers to remain legally in France, so long as they abandon prostitution.
The estimated 40, prostitutes in France, eight out of ten from Africa, Asia or eastern Europe, can now offer their services openly on French streets or on the internet but it will be illegal to approach them.
France becomes, after Sweden, Norway and Iceland, the fourth country in Europe to transfer punishment to the client. Three previous attempts to push through the new law were rejected by the centre-right dominated upper house of the French parliament. The previous French laws on prostitution were similar to those in Britain β and enforced equally patchily. It was illegal to run a brothel or to be a pimp or to solicit in public.
It was not actually illegal to sell your body or to buy one. Under the new law, pimping and brothels remain illegal. It is legal to offer your body for sale but illegal for someone to buy it. Police unions have campaigned against the changed approach. They say it will be difficult to enforce because financial transactions between prostitute and client will be difficult to prove.
The clients fear of punishment or publicity will nonetheless force prostitution further underground, police say. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in Please refresh your browser to be logged in.
