EnglishFrance leads the way to make protitution a thing of the primitive past
The emblematic and foundational purpose of this vote and motion in France were made apparent by Guy Geoffroy, the Commission’s principal reporter, in an interview prior to the vote:
National Assembly, Paris. Copyright Maria van Dam.
“The resolution is the first step and we decided, symbolically, that as of the moment of the adoption of this resolution, adoption which is not in doubt, to deliver a legislative proposal this will pave the way to the responsibilization of the client, which will involve, if required, penalisation.”[1]
In this way the non-binding motion does not introduce any changes to existing measures aimed at prostitution. Instead, it serves to lay the foundations for the impending legislative proposal to punish clients of prostitution.
The vote was largely symbolic: it serves to loudly and unequivocally restate the National Assembly’s commitment to the eradication of prostitution.
The Swedish Commission concluded after visiting France to learn first hand, and examining many countries’ policies and laws that the Swedish model was the most successful and appropriate one to emulate.
The members of the Commission jointly tabled the motion that the National Assembly “reaffirm France’s abolitionist position, the object of which is, in time, a society without prostitution […and] consider that, in light of the constraint that is most often the cause of entry into prostitution, of the violence inherent to this activity […], that prostitution cannot, in any case, be deemed a professional activity”.[2]
Nordic & Baltic Prostitution Policy Reform
Category: Trafficking
