Precise figures at regional level on the procuring of minors do not exist. But according to a study by the Ministry of Health, the scourge is getting worse and worrying, which the associations confirm. The government is launching a campaign aimed at teenagers.
“My name is Nina, I’m 16, and I just came from hell. For over a year, I sold myself to strangers. My body, my sex, my smile, I offered everything for money”. Of her story, Nina wrote an autobiography, Papa, come get me (by Thierry Delcroix and Nina, with Jacqueline Remy, Éditions de l’Observatoire, 2020). An alternation of stories of the teenage prostitute and her parents, alone in their fight to get their daughter out of this grip.
What Nina experienced, many young girls experience it, in spite of themselves. In France, each year, between 7,000 and 10,000 children are victims of prostitution, an approximate estimate and probably below reality. Institutional and associative actors are unanimous in their observation: the prostitution of minors is on the rise and is no longer limited to the trafficking of minors of foreign origin.
In Besançon in the Doubs, this phenomenon of prostitution of minors is well identified. Even in this small town of 118,000 inhabitants, young girls prostitute themselves. “I think this prostitution has increased” explains the brigadier in charge of the fight against pimping at the antenna of the judicial police of Besançon. The pimps are often young delinquents from the neighborhoods, already known to the courts. A phenomenon that is difficult to quantify, social services sometimes report a few cases. Young girls prostitute themselves for a few weeks, a few months. “They don’t always think about the consequences. Often, after several months when we manage to audition them, they realize that they have been used” adds the policeman.
According to a study conducted by the Ministry of Health, child prostitution has been steadily increasing for five years. “The police and the gendarmerie identified 400 minor victims of pimping in 2020 compared to 206 in 2019, 205 in 2018, 170 in 2017 and 116 in 2016”. In five years, the increase has therefore been +70%.
“The prostitution of minors always starts in the same way. Young girls enter voluntarily, often by running away. Then they get caught up in a spiral, let themselves be dominated by pimps, the trap closes and then they fall into drugs to survive. analysis Bérangère Wallaert, general delegate of the ACPE association, Act against prostitution.
Youth for sale
•
©AssoACPE
The profile of young girls? “They are usually between 15 and 17 years old but sometimes they are younger, 12 to 14 years old and come from all social backgrounds. We note that all young prostituted girls are in a fragile situation. They have been victims of sexual violence, or they have experienced a trauma that has made them lose their self-esteem. says Bérangère Wallaert.
Launched in November 2021, the first national plan to combat child prostitution provides for a financial commitment of 14 million euros to combat this scourge.
This “commodification of the body” is facilitated by social networks. “It is very easy for a client or pimps to go through this to come into contact with minors and the confinement has only amplified the phenomenon” adds Bérangère Wallaert. “Pimping 2.0” is also increasing with the use of smartphones with which the exchange of photos is simplified. Prostitution has become commonplace, it is the “glamorization” of the commodification of the body, sometimes called the “Zahia effect”, named after this former prostitute successfully converted into the cinema.
Other aggravating factors exist and partly explain the increase in pimping on minors. “The taboo on prostitution is lifted and reveals situations hitherto unknown. Before pimps were drug dealers, now they only do prostitution, it’s simpler, less restrictive even if they take more money during convictions “ explains Bérangère Wallaert.
To fight against this scourge, the State Secretariat for Children and Families launched an awareness campaign at the end of February to alert and warn the general public about the reality and the dangers of child prostitution. A hard-hitting campaign film depicts a minor victim of prostitution in a daily life that she thinks she “manages”, shedding light on the vulnerability of the victims and the dangers they have to face.
- If you have proven facts, write to the public prosecutor.
- Report the teenager to the SDRIP, the Departmental Service for the Collection of Concerning Information.
- Call 119, number for children in danger. Social workers will guide you.