To Discourage Prostitution, France Passes Bill That Penalizes Clients
By ALISSA J. RUBIN

PARIS — After a debate lasting nearly two and a half years, France’s Parliament on Wednesday approved a bill to discourage prostitution by penalizing those who pay for sex, following the example of Sweden and Norway.

The National Assembly, France’s lower house of Parliament, voted 64 to 12 for the bill, with the vast majority of the 577 Assembly members not voting. Parliament can approve legislation without a quorum.

The French Socialist government, which had backed the bill, hailed the new law as a victory.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls posted a message on Twitter saying the vote was “a major advance” for the rights of women.

The minister for women’s rights, Laurence Rossignol, told the National Assembly before the vote that prostitution was “violence done to women” and that the new measure would send a message to those who work as prostitutes that “the state, the Parliament and society finally recognizes fully the violence of the system of prostitution.”

The measure first won approval from the Assembly in 2013 but was then turned down by the Senate, which has a majority of right-leaning lawmakers in contrast to the Assembly, which is dominated by left-leaning lawmakers. When the two chambers do not agree, the Assembly has the final say.

Under the new law, first time offenders will pay a fine of 1,500 euros, or about $1,700, if they “solicit, accept or obtain relations of a sexual nature” from a prostitute in exchange for money. The fine can rise to 3,750 euros (about $4,300) for repeat offenders.

Convicted offenders may also have to attend classes to learn about the vulnerability of women in the sex trade. There is also the option for a settlement in which the offender could be ordered to take classes in lieu of the fine.

The law also repeals an existing measure that penalizes solicitation by prostitutes, which many viewed as having forced prostitutes to work in more desolate neighborhoods or outside of city centers where they were less likely to be arrested by the police, but also where they were less safe.

Prostitutes who wish to leave the sex business will be eligible for funding to pay for training in other fields. But unions representing prostitutes and nongovernmental organizations that support them have complained that not enough money is allocated to help France’s 20,000 to 40,000 prostitutes, an estimate provided by various organizations and government agencies.

The law would also help foreign prostitutes acquire temporary residence permits and find other work, since 80 percent to 90 percent of France’s prostitutes come from outside the country and are victims of human trafficking, Ms. Rossignol said.

Some prostitutes, however, demonstrated against the law outside the National Assembly on Wednesday, saying that it would further stigmatize them, hurt their business and push it more underground.

France is in step with a European-wide trend away from laws that penalize women who offer sex for money, although there is little consensus over what approach to adopt to discourage the sex business.

A few countries, now including France, penalize customers. Sweden was a pioneer, enacting such a law in 1999.

But many countries have somewhat ambivalent measures. In France, prostitution is not illegal but buying sex is.

Some countries, like the Czech Republic, allow prostitution but prohibit brothels. Others, like Switzerland, allow licensed brothels but prohibit solicitation.

The Netherlands and Germany take a different approach, regulating prostitution as a business and requiring health checks and other measures to protect both the prostitutes and their customers.

法國新法案 罰嫖不罰娼

法國國民議會6日通過爭議性法案，罰嫖不罰娼，嫖客除罰款，必須上課。

國民議會以64票對12票通過法案，性交易被捕的嫖客將處以1500歐元（約新台幣5萬5000元）罰金，累犯可罰到3750歐元。

賣淫在法國合法，但雛妓、開妓院、拉皮條非法。

中央社報導，若性工作者想要從事別的行業，可獲得經濟協助和社會支援，外籍人士還可獲得臨時居留證，但僅限於打算從良轉業的人。

輔導性工作者轉業的資金，每年約需480萬歐元，由國家預算支出。

在歐洲，瑞典最早於1999年立法罰嫖，挪威、冰島相繼跟進，法國現在也希望藉由打擊性交易市場需求，從而減少人口販運。

一名議員指出，85%妓女是人口販運受害者。

這項法案在參議院及國民議會之間反覆討論兩年多，國民議會早於2013年通過草案，但三度送到參議院都被否決，因為參議院多數議員反對罰嫖。

根據法國制度，如果兩院意見不同，以國民議會的決定為最終依歸，因此國民議會6日投票結果使罰嫖成為定案。

但部分反對這項法案的議員和性工作者團體擔心，罰嫖會讓性交易趨於地下化，嫖客可能會要求性工作者到更隱密黑暗的地方交易，讓性工作者的處境更危險，畢竟性工作者被毆打、殺害的案例時有所聞。

也有部分性工作者認為賣淫是一種自願選擇的謀生方式，新法案影響他們的工作權益。

法國估計至有三萬名性工作者，八成是外籍人士，主要來自東歐、中國大陸、非洲，多數沒有合法居留權。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/07/world/europe/to-discourage-prostitution-france-passes-bill-that-penalizes-clients.html

Video：France on Wednesday approved an anti-prostitution and sex trafficking bill that would punish the customers of prostitutes, but not the prostitutes themselves.
http://nyti.ms/23e3nXe

2016-04-07．聯合晚報．A6．國際焦點．國際新聞組