Today there are between 15,000 and 20,000 minors prostituted in France, a figure increasing by more than 70% in five years, according to associations. “L’Œil du 8 p.m.” investigated.
What mechanisms can lead a 16-year-old girl to sell her body to strangers? For Alice*, the ordeal begins on social networks. In 2018, she broke up with family and school. And one evening, his life will change: “I was recruited by social networks. Men came to talk to me, they made me believe good things – given that I was in a precarious situation – that I was going to have an apartment and just do the cleaning.”
“I did what I was told. I was their thing.”
Alice, former minor prostituteAt “The Eye of the 8 p.m.”
“In the end, I didn’t experience that. I arrived in an Airbnb, there were lots of people, there were older people and younger people. Eleven years, yes. There was a man who came in and a girl who received him. And I told myself that I was going to clean up for these people, except that it didn’t happen like that. I too was forced to do these things. At that point, I was like, “I’m just making money. And maybe later, I will get through it.” Well, not at all. It was something that was organized, I did what I was asked. I was their thing.”
Up to ten customers per day
For six months, Alice says she was kidnapped and prostituted in apartments and hotel rooms in the Paris region, chaining up to ten clients per day: “I got hit because I didn’t want to do certain things. I was their thing. They kill you inside, outside. The body doesn’t accept it, I felt dirty. Even if we cry about it, that’s how it is. When we are in need, we are ready to do anything. I’m not proud of myself. I am empty inside, faded, dead.”
Having fallen seriously ill, Alice found herself in the emergency room. She ends up denouncing her tormentors and files a complaint for aggravated pimping of a minor. Today she is trying to rebuild her life but, five years after the events, she is still awaiting trial.
Social networks, the first gateway
Overbidding of photos and videos. Youthful faces and naked bodies. Instantaneous messages, unequivocal classified ads… For the purposes of our investigation, we created a false profile on a dating platform for teenagers, that of a 16-year-old girl. A pseudonym: Lola. Then a fictitious profile photo, generated by artificial intelligence. And a few minutes later, dozens of messages, most of them very explicit: “Hello, are you naughty?”, “Hello, do you want bz?”
Men aged 18 to 60. One invites me to join him in a Parisian hotel: “I am 45 years old. You tell mejoin the Novotel Paris Les Halles? I’ll offer you 250 euros for two hours.”
But I also receive offers to go abroad, to Dubai, to probably join a prostitution network: “JI can accommodate you at my place. There are plenty of girls like you here. There’s money to be made. I can even pay for your plane ticket. Send me photos and videos of you naked first.”
A modus operandi well known to police services. This 25 year old man who presents himself as a protector will undoubtedly become my pimp. Increasingly organized prostitution of minors. Which, thanks to social networks, is getting worse, according to the authorities.
“I don’t force anyone”
Another client, who arranged to meet us that same evening at the bottom of his home, barely hides it. We find him at the bottom of his building. “Lola? he asks. I tell him that I am not Lola. But journalist. The man agrees to give himself up. He is 50 years old and recognizes that it is very easy to have paid relationships with minors thanks to the Internet. To my question : “Why look for young girls? It’s weird for a man to look for underage girls to sleep with, isn’t it?” he answers : “I don’t look for them but sometimes I find them.” I insist : “Yet these are young girls who potentially don’t know what they’re doing.” The man replies: “It’s true, but it’s her consent, it’s not me. I don’t force anyone. I want to meet women.“
“At 16, they are not children. Even if it is against the law, they are not children.”
A customerat “The Eye of the 8 p.m.”
Soliciting sex with a minor under the age of 18 in exchange for payment is illegal. This man faces seven years in prison and a fine of 100,000 euros.
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Minors from all social backgrounds
At the Paris judicial police headquarters, the minor protection brigade (BPM) tracks down child criminals on social networks. Its internet unit has seen the number of business increase fivefold in ten years. And with the arrival of the Olympic Games and the influx of tourists, Léon Grappe, police commissioner at the Paris BPM, is concerned: “We can expect that this trend will not decrease. What we see is a lack of awareness or minimization of the risk of social networks on the part of minors. So the arrival of the Olympics mobilizes us. The juvenile brigade plans to double the total number of staff provided to manage urgent situations of flagrante delicto and situations of pimping of minors.”
Helene David is Dhead of the Ado Sexo office at the Agir contre la prostitution des enfants (ACPE) association. She supports teenagers and trains childcare professionals, who are often deprived. This expert in risky behavior among adolescents discusses the role of social networks: “Today, what are 15-year-olds thirsty for? Of luxury, houses with swimming pools, beautiful cars, which we offer them on social networks.”
“It is not a question of putting girls under cover, but rather of inviting parents to have a discussion with their young one and helping them to spot predators, their techniques to try to recruit them, to make them dream. “
Hélène David, head of the Ado Sexo officeAt “The Eye of the 8 p.m.”
In 2021, the government launched a first interministerial plan to combat the prostitution of minors, with 14 million euros. But, according to the associations, the situation remains ever more worrying.
(*Istaken first name)