Legislation for protecting Victims

France

In France, slavery and trafficking in human beings do not constitute criminal offences. However, certain legal provisions do sanction actions linked to slavery and trafficking, such as a breach of basic human rights or human dignity or attacks on an individual's integrity and identity. This lacuna in the legal system makes it necessary to distinguish between sexual and economic exploitation.

The notion of trafficking in human beings is reduced to the idea of exploitation through prostitution and to the more serious cases of acting as a pimp. The most recent edition of the criminal code provides a definition of 'acting as a pimp' which is very general and an accompanying punishment which is severe. To act as a pimp is defined essentially as the fact of wilfully aiding and abetting prostitution, i.e., by inducing someone into prostitution, by hiring, helping, or protecting a prostitute, whether or not the abettor makes direct financial gains (article 225-5).

Trafficking in human beings conducted for the purpose of prostitution is implicitly recognised in article 225-7, which addresses the more serious cases of acting as a pimp. This article punishes such actions in a host of contexts, for example:

á        when the victim is judged to be particularly vulnerable;

á        when there is more than one victim at the same time;

á        when the victim is a foreigner and the use of force, violence, or any other form of fraudulent behaviour is involved;

á        when the activity implicates numerous persons acting together as instigators and accomplices.

Finally, the French criminal code punishes acting as a pimp where this occurs in organised groups and where this is accompanied by torture or other forms of barbaric acts.

As far as other forms of exploitation are concerned, France's criminal laws and its labour laws do punish certain acts. For example, article 225-13 of the criminal code sanctions the taking advantage of another person's vulnerability or state of dependence in view of obtaining from this person ãthe provision of services which are either unpaid or paid with clearly no relation to the quantity of work accomplishedä. Article 225-14 sanctions the taking advantage of another person's vulnerability or state of dependence in order to subject this person to ãworking and/or living conditions incompatible with human dignityä. Articles L 125-1 and 125-3 of France's labour laws prohibit respectively the providing of manpower with the intention of causing harm in some way to the worker(s) concerned and the providing of manpower for financial gains.

France has no protection measures set up by the state. The groups that work directly with the problem take in victims of slavery voluntarily. The role these groups play is of fundamental importance, not only because they provide assistance, but also because they heighten the public's and the government's awareness of the problem. Without them, cases of slavery in France would receive much less attention.