Just five months before the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games, associations are sounding the alarm on the prostitution of minors.
At every major international event, the subject comes up again. With eleven million visitors expected this summer, are the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games presenting an increased risk of child prostitution? Five months before the event, several organizations and collectives are raising concerns.
Among them, the Catholic Relief Services insists that there is a need for more awareness on the subject. “The great challenge of the Olympics is to accept that it exists and to find ways to better support the victims,” says Geneviève Colas, coordinator of the “Together against human trafficking” collective, to BFM Paris.
The coordinator of the “Together against human trafficking” collective is calling for access points with “translation,” “because often, these will be people who do not speak French,” as well as reception centers and trained personnel.
The association explains that work is underway with the police prefecture to set up these reception points for prostitution victims during the event.
Several organizations and collectives note that the increase in cases of prostitution is increasingly taking place through social networks. Young people are primarily affected.
During the Olympic Games, the police prefecture states that great vigilance will be given to online sites. “Given the inflation of rental prices, special attention from the Police Headquarters services is paid to any development of the prostitution phenomenon during the 2024 Olympic Games period. Any development of prostitution via online sites will be subject to great vigilance,” states the police prefecture to BFM Paris.
The prefecture adds that the vice squad will also increase its presence in the field. “During the Olympic Games, the group in charge of monitoring night establishments (Cabarets group) will also be reinforced,” adds the prefecture, which states that a working group involving the city of Paris and the public prosecutor has been set up “to develop prevention and awareness measures.”
The city of Saint-Denis has implemented a program called “Balance your sport,” in view of the 2023 Rugby World Cup and the 2024 Paris Olympics. This program, aimed at raising public awareness, has been in place since last summer. Several actions are being taken, such as prevention campaigns, as well as training sessions to identify cases of prostitution.
“We still have a lot of training to do,” says Gwenaëlle Badufle-Douchez, deputy to the Security and Prevention of the city of Saint-Denis.
She adds: “The Olympics are just a few months away. We would also like to train the landlords of the buildings, apartments. We would also like to train some hoteliers who will be hosting tourists in their establishments.”
To recall, in France, it is the clients who are punished by law, with a fine of up to 1,500 euros if the client has used a service of an adult prostitute. The fine is raised to 75,000 euros and 5 years in prison if the prostitute is a minor.
Maxime Cliet Ruzza, Oriane Voisine and Solenne Bertrand
