"Surviving trafficking": the Scelles Foundation discusses the fight against demand in France at an international conference

Published on Thursday, 25 October 2018 13:45

On the occasion of the 12th European Anti-Trafficking Day, François Vignaud, Head of Institutional Relations at the Scelles Foundation, will speak, at the request of the Comunità Papa Giovanni XXIII association, on simultaneous video, at the conference "Surviving Trafficking: Experiences of inclusion of women and children and methods to combat transnational mafias" which will take place at the University of Bologna. The Scelles Foundation will provide its expertise on the new provisions concerning the "clients" of prostitution in the French law of 13 April 2016: sanctions and awareness-raising courses to combat the purchase of sexual acts.

Solicited by the Paris Public Prosecutor's Office, the Scelles Foundation, as soon as the law of 13 April 2016 was passed, took all the necessary measures to be able to ensure, in 2017, awareness-raising courses on the fight against the purchase of sexual acts in Paris, in synergy with the new public policies.

To this end, it has set up partnerships with the Paris Public Prosecutor's Office and the APCARS (Association de Politique Criminelle Appliquée et de Réinsertion Sociale), and developed internship modules. On 29 September 2017, the Scelles Foundation, in partnership with APCARS, hosted the first session in Paris of awareness-raising courses to combat the purchase of sexual acts.

these sessions are a key measure of the global mechanism of the law of 13 April 2016 aimed at strengthening the fight against the prostitution system and supporting prostitutes. They are part of new judicial measures aimed at better prosecuting and punishing perpetrators and reducing demand. They also have a societal objective of changing attitudes among 'perpetrators' and the public.

>>> Executive summary of the conference

awareness-raising courses to combat the purchase of sexual act program in Paris