France has invested 14 million euro in a national campaign meant to identify the underage people involved in sex-work and to track customers and pimps more effectively.

Underage prostitution has become an increased problem in France in the past few years and is believed that it is mostly because the social media, which provides new and more appealing ways to get involved in the sex-working business. It has been discovered that underage sex-work has increased by as much as 70% in the past few years.

Therer are 7000-10000 young people willingly involved in sex work

The government took these steps followed by an alarming report released in July stating that at the moment, there are between 7.000 and 10.000 young people willingly involved in sex work, across the entire country.

The majority are young girls, between the age of 15 and 17. Another report shows that there is a tendency for this age to get even lower, some girls being as young as 14.

The Ministry of Solidarity and Health launched the campaign on Monday and the program is expected to be fully implemented in 2022.

The ministry identified the problem of youth involving into sex-work, as a growing phenomenon that society can no longer ignore and about which too little is known. With the program, the government wants to raise awareness and help to provide information and create a better understanding of the phenomenon. It is also intended to help identify the underage entities involved and to track pimps and customers more effectively.

There is a normalization of sex-work among young people

Raphaelle Wach told news channel France 24:

“There is really a normalization of sex-work among young people. When asked, some of the underage girls involved say that selling sex is an easy way to make big money and that it can help them achieve their lifelong dream.”

In its statement, the Ministry of Solidarity and Health noted that many minors do not consider themselves victims and value financial autonomy, as well as the feeling of belonging to a group and regaining control over their lives. But the authorities warned: “However, these minors are at risk, both physically and mentally”.

Genevieve Collas, the head of an anti-human trafficking non-governmental organization, told RFI:

“COVID has played an important role in this phenomenon because social networks offer new ways to attract underage girls very easily”.

She added that underage recruiting has become easier through short-term rental apps like Airbnb, which masks the extent of the problem on the street.

Previously we wrote in underage prostitution topic

We already published a lot of articles in underage prostitution topic, you can read them by following the links below:

Loverboys lure underage and insecure girls using violence or blackmailing to do various illegal activities. We explained who is a loverboy and how he uses his methods to seduce the young girls: The Loverboy Method

The Vienna Police removed a 16-year-old girl from a brothel in the 2nd district of the city. She worked of her own will and had fake identification: Underage girl in Vienna brothel

Two young men forced seven women into prostitution. The youngest girl was only 14 years old; the remaining ones were between 17 and 22 years: Men forced several women to prostitution

An Austrian gang was forcing Nigerian women into prostitution. One of the gang members also raped an underage Nigerian girl: Forced Prostitution in Austria: Several People Arrested