The tone of the report is polite, its message to the authorities slamming!
Four federated associations - Mouvement du Nid, Fondations Scelles, Amicale du Nid and the Coalition for the Abolition of Prostitution (united under the acronym Fact-s) - publish this February 11 a review of the five years of the application of the Law of April 13, 2016 (known as the “fight against the prostitution system and support for prostitutes”).
Six months of investigation, carried out between June and October 2020 through their networks in the field and summarized over 150 pages, aim to send the State this request: "We must move up a gear of the law!"
», Insists Claire Quidet, president of the Mouvement du Nid.
She underlines, by recalling how much prostitutes remain in the eyes of the authorities, and "in mentalities", the "forgotten" fights #Metoo or #Metooinceste: "We can not fight against violence against women, children, or for equality between women and men, leaving aside prostitution.
"
Emergency measures in the face of the pandemic
Born before the first confinement, the idea of drawing up an inventory of the application of the law of April 13, 2016, via the forty branches in metropolitan France of these four associations, was "caught up" by the health crisis and social impact caused by Covid-19.
"People in a situation of prostitution, already weakened, have been hit hard by the pandemic, successive confinements and the risk of transmission of the virus have imposed the cessation of prostitution activity", notes the report.
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Difficulties of survival, access to hygiene, care, food insecurity, loss of housing or fear of controls: "The precariousness of prostitutes has been massive".
Some recounted having experienced confinement "locked up with their pimp or trafficker, delivered to their violence, often forced into prostitution via the Internet.
"
Faced with "emergency calls" launched by associations, "aid has arrived, over time, but not up to the needs, especially in terms of accommodation", underlines Claire Quidet.
“Some have relived traumatic confinement, linked to kidnappings or periods of detention they have known.
Some even expressed that they had relived moments of wartime, ”testifies Sandrine Goldschmidt, from the Nid movement.
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The pandemic had this other effect, reports the president of the Mouvement du Nid: “Many prostitutes (who would not have done so in another context) came to us.
Struck by economic distress and by very significant isolation, they became aware, by this time of imposed break, of what they were undergoing.
"
300 “routes out of prostitution” in four years
In addition to the abolition of the offense of “soliciting”, which made it possible to no longer consider prostitutes as “delinquents”, and the penalization of the client, still controversial (4000 clients fined, 50% of which in Paris), the law of 13 April 2016 (via a decree of 2017) made it possible to set up exit mechanisms from prostitution for volunteers.
The examination of the files was entrusted to the level of the department, each being supposed to set up an ad hoc committee;
a CDLP (departmental commission against prostitution).
Supported by testimonies, the results of the four associations are very positive for the prostitutes who have benefited from it.
“Today, I walk with my head held high, I can sleep again, I have temporary accommodation, a quiet studio managed by an association.
I left the apartment where men were still ringing the bell, it's over, ”says Danièle.
The fact remains that "a small number of requests (were) accepted in relation to the needs", underlines the report - especially since these needs have been increased by the pandemic.
In many departments, "the fear of the migratory air call" (more than 80% of requests come from women from sub-Saharan Africa, exploited by a network and in an irregular situation) continues to block everything, "in contempt. criteria of the law, ”recalls Claire Quidet.
Result: an astonishing map, in the report, which shows that only 18 of the so-called 75 departmental commissions are really active in helping prostitutes to enroll in a path out of prostitution.
Many pretend, by systematic refusals, very poorly motivated ... "Without being ideal, this tool (of the PSP, route out of prostitution), when it is used well, works very well and transforms the lives of the people concerned, notes Claire Quidet.
We must give it a boost and allow it to be applied uniformly across the territory.
"
240 million euros per year over 10 years
Because they claim "that the law of 2016 be carried politically by a clear and strong signal", the four associations of Fact-s put forward figures and projections.
France has around 37,000 to 40,000 prostitutes;
the cost of an exit route is approximately 30,300 euros per year.
It would therefore be necessary "2.4 billion euros over ten years to ensure the exit of prostitution of 40,000 people", or 240 million per year, calculates the report, in a summary and assumed.
Not so fanciful multiplications with regard to the "costs of prostitution for our societies", claims Claire Quidet.
Leaving aside the human cost of prostitution, which is difficult to assess, a survey conducted in 2015 by the Nid movement (Prostcost) estimated the economic and financial cost of prostitution at 1.6 billion per year.
"Faced with a State which reacts coldly by looking only at budgets, we wanted to show what it would cost to help prostitutes", claims Claire Quidet.
Supposed to be annual but met only once in 2017, an interministerial committee to monitor the law of April 13, 2016 should be held very soon, hopes, according to her information, the president of the Mouvement du Nid.
