The question many have been asking in France is who should be punished or bear the brunt of the law? Sex workers or their clients? The French Senate is looking for the answer.
The Senate began discussing the issue to look at the best approach to legislating on Prostitution.
The senators are questioning weather the law should punish the prostitutes or their clients, as France resumes a divisive discussion on how to crackdown on the world’s oldest profession.
The law that is being proposed by the Senators is a revised version of a bill that was passed by the lower house in 2013. However it was never implemented.
The draft legislation passed by the lower house, two years ago made clients of prostitutes liable for a fine of $1,620 for a first offense and more than double that for subsequent breaches.
This bill made it illegal for people to solicit for services from sex workers.
But under the revamped bill currently before the Senate, prostitutes would continue to face fines of up to 3,750 euros and two months in prison for selling sex, while an earlier provision to fine clients would be dropped.
Both versions of the legislation have drawn fierce opposition from sex workers who say it would simply push prostitution further underground and make the women who earn their living from it more vulnerable to abuse.
Hundreds of prostitutes – many of whom were wearing masks – took to the streets of Paris on Saturday to protest the proposed laws.
Paying or accepting payment for sex is not currently, in itself, a crime in France. But soliciting, pimping (which includes running brothels) and the sale of sex by minors are prohibited.
France’s government argues the bill aims to prevent violence against women and protect the large majority of prostitutes who are victims of trafficking gangs.
However, the legislation sparked a fierce debate in France over whether criminalising the clients of prostitutes would have the effect of reducing the sex trade.
