European court agrees to hear appeal against French anti-prostitution law

Sex workers will be able to argue their case against a French law that penalises clients paying for sex before the European Court of Human Rights, which has agreed to hear their appeal.

A sex worker at a protest in April 2016 against the anti-prostitution bill, which later became law. Since then sex workers have exhausted legal recourses against the law in France, but the European Court of Human Rights has agreed to hear their appeal. © Thibault Camus/AP

The court said Thursday it had agreed to rule on an appeal against a 2016 law that made it a crime to pay for sex acts in France.

The case was filed at the end of 2019 by 260 male and female sex workers of different nationalities, who say they practice prostitution legally in France.

The sex workers, supported by several advocacy groups, argue that the law has unjustly affected their livelihoods.

They say it goes counter to several articles of the European Convention of Human Rights, including on the protection of life and against inhumane treatment.

'Greater risks'

"According to the applicants, who engage lawfully in prostitution, the possibility of criminal proceedings being brought against clients pushes those engaged in prostitution into operating in a clandestine manner and in isolation, exposes them to greater risks for their physical integrity and lives, and affects their freedom to define how they live their private lives," the court said Thursday.

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The fact that the court has agreed to hear the case is in itself already a victory for sex workers, given that the court usually rejects more than 90 percent of all appeals.

It has already heard testimony from several sex workers, both French and foreign, about how precarious their lives had become since clients stayed away because of fear of the law.

A person convicted of paying for sex face fines of 1,500 euros – up to 3,750 euros for repeat offenders – and the possibility of being required to attend sensitivity training.

The court will make its ruling in the coming months.

(with AFP)