In its report, the Social Affairs Inspectorate stresses that the heterogeneity of this profession makes prevention more and more difficult when people are more vulnerable.
How many are there? 20,000, twice, ten times as much, impossible to have even rough estimates. In France, prostitution is “an evolving and polymorphic phenomenon”. In a report that she has just submitted to the Minister of Women’s Rights, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs (Igas) points to “the health issues of prostitution”.
In addition to the inherent risks associated with their exercise, AIDS, hepatitis and more generally sexually transmitted infections, prostitutes are victims of violence from clients and pimps and suffer from pathologies of precariousness (respiratory problems, addictions, mental disorders) . This finding is all the more worrying as these people frequently give up their rights in terms of health. In particular, those who come from abroad. “Isolation and clandestinity appear to increase risk factors,” admits the report.
Because, for the inspectors of the Igas, “the hidden face of prostitution” makes preventive actions difficult. Between the professionals who recruit on the internet, occasionally or not, “the escort working on her own account in an apartment, and the foreigner without paper” who multiplies the passes, “the health needs are not the same”, ensures Dr Julien Emmanuelli, co-author of the report. Particular attention should be paid to minors and illegal aliens.
“Access to public prostitutes” was made even more difficult by the 2003 law which established the offense of passive soliciting, pushing this population to hide. Najat Vallaud-Belkacem is committed to abolish this law and to financially support risk prevention associations as part of a global plan on prostitution.
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