This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 PARIS 001335 
 
SIPDIS 
 
G/TIP FOR DONNELLY, G, INL, DRL, RPM, IWI, EUR/PGI FOR 
BUCKNEBERG, EUR/WE FOR LARREA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG KFRD ASEC PREF ELAB FR BU RO AL SL CM NI
SUBJECT: FRANCE CONTRIBUTION FOR 2006 TIP REPORT - PART I 
OF II 
 
REF: STATE 3836 
 
SUMMARY:  France is a destination country for trafficked 
persons, mainly women trafficked for prostitution from 
Eastern Europe and Africa.  There are between 15,000 and 
18,000 prostitutes in France, of which about two-thirds -- 
between 10,000 and 12,000 -- are foreigners and thus likely 
to be trafficking victims.  France is making a determined 
effort to combat trafficking in persons, as evidenced, inter 
alia, by its extensive legislation, involvement of President 
Chirac, its centralized trafficking police force, and its 
provision of temporary residence permits to trafficking 
victims.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶1.  Answers below are keyed to section and para numbers in 
reftel.  Embassy Paris TIP point of contact is Kim Baker, 
bakerke@state.gov.  Phone 33 1 43 12 23 93  (or IVG 
8-498-2393), fax 33 1 43 12 26 63.  Time spent on TIP report: 
FS-04 poloff:  80 hours.  FS-1 Deputy Political Counselor: 4 
hours' review.  POL M-C: 3 hours' review. 
 
 
OVERVIEW - Question 21. 
---------- 
 
¶A.  France is a destination country for trafficked persons, 
mainly women trafficked for prostitution from Eastern Europe 
(Romania, Bulgaria, and to a lesser extent Albania) and 
Africa (Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Cameroon).  France's 
national Central Office for the Repression of Trafficking in 
Persons (OCRETH, a division of the National Police in the 
Central Directorate of the Judicial Police in the Interior 
Ministry) estimates that there are between 15,000 and 18,000 
prostitutes in France, of which about two-thirds -- between 
10,000 and 12,000 -- are foreigners and thus likely to be 
trafficking victims. 
 
OCRETH estimates the numbers and origin of prostitutes from 
statistics of those arrested for solicitation, which was 
criminalized in the 2003 Law on Internal Security (LSI). 
OCRETH noted that in 2004, the national police identified 999 
trafficking victims, 982 of whom were young women. 
Three-quarters of the victims were foreign.  Almost one-half 
of the victims (45 percent) came from Eastern Europe and the 
Balkans, while nearly one-fifth came from Africa. Jean-Michel 
Colombani, the head of OCRETH, told us on February 28 that 
those proportions held true for 2005, for which he shared 
preliminary figures. 
 
While by far the majority of trafficking victims in France 
are brought to work in the sex trade, there is also 
clandestine forced labor, mostly domestic workers.  Since 
domestic slavery is by its nature hidden (the victims are 
kept working inside and often permitted no leave time, and 
have no interchange with the outside world that would allow 
them to tell their story), the Committee Against Modern 
Slavery (CCEM) finds it difficult to estimate the numbers of 
victims.  Since its founding in 1994, it has assisted some 
400 victims, of which a majority are African, and nearly nine 
in ten are women.  Nearly 30 percent arrived on French 
territory as minors.  CCEM also notes that in about one-fifth 
of cases, the 'employers' are diplomats serving in France 
enjoying diplomatic immunity. 
 
¶B. Traffickers often tell victims they will be coming to work 
in child care, restaurants, etc., and then seize their papers 
when the victims arrive.  Often traffickers subject the women 
to brutal physical violence, including repeated rapes, to 
render them submissive.  In other cases, the women know they 
will be coming to prostitute themselves, and that they will 
have to repay a debt for passage, but do not know that they 
will be subjected to such violent conditions and to the 
confiscation of their papers.  In the case of African 
victims, often another woman (known as a "mama" or 
"sorceress") will subject the woman to be trafficked to a 
sort of 'voodoo' ritual before her departure from Africa, in 
which the "sorceress" takes bodily substances from her  -- 
for example, blood, hair, clothes, etc. - and puts a hex on 
her.  In this case, the woman believes so strongly that the 
sorceress can always see/hear her actions that she is 
effectively frightened from ever speaking to authorities, 
even in what would seem to Westerners to be a "safe" 
situation.  Because the threats also extend to her family, 
the woman is effectively discouraged from denouncing her 
traffickers, or even trying to escape.  An NGO that works 
with victims in Nice, ALC Nice, related the story of a 
Nigerian who was so convinced that her hair had been hexed 
that she would not talk until after her head was shaved bald, 
at which time she finally felt freed from the watchful eyes 
of the "mama." 
 
Trafficking victims in France are mostly put to work in 
prostitution; they must earn money to pay bondage debts. 
They are subject to violence including rape, threats to 
themselves and their families, and withholding of documents. 
 
One issue in France is that many of the trafficking victims 
are in France legally -- the biggest single group of 
trafficking victims in France are from Eastern Europe and the 
Balkans, with most coming from Romania and Bulgaria.  France 
does not require visas for visitors from either of those 
countries, slated to join the EU on January 1, 2007 (or 
possibly in 2008), for visits of less than 90 days.  Nigerian 
victims can demand political asylum, providing them a means 
to stay in France legally.  One NGO contact estimates -- and 
OCRETH director Colombani agrees -- that perhaps 80 percent 
of trafficking victims in France have legal papers. 
 
¶C.  The French government is determined to combat trafficking 
in persons and is making a good-faith effort to seriously 
address trafficking.  French government spending is subject 
to some degree to the Eurozone requirement to limit its 
budget deficit to 3 percent of GDP. 
 
¶D.  Elements of the interministerial commission are currently 
preparing a report, mandated by the 2003 Law on Internal 
Security (LSI), to describe France's progress in combatting 
trafficking in persons. The report will be presented to the 
French parliament and published.  According to OCRETH, the 
Health Ministry has the lead in compiling the report, for 
which OCRETH submitted its contribution some months ago. 
OCRETH expects to see the finished report perhaps in early 
June.  Post will send G/TIP a copy when it is published. 
 
 
PREVENTION - Question 22. 
----------- 
 
¶A.  Yes, France acknowledges that trafficking is a problem. 
On January 30, President Chirac, in announcing the creation 
of an annual national day to commemorate the abolition of 
slavery in France, also proposed prosecuting commercial 
enterprises that knowingly use forced labor, even for acts 
committed abroad.  In the same address, Chirac cited UN 
figures that more than 20 million persons are trapped in 
slavery worldwide, noting that forced labor exists under one 
form or another on almost all continents today, and asked, 
"How can we tolerate this at the beginning of the 21st 
century? That so many children work, and often under 
deplorable conditions? That so many young women are sold by 
their family, to become unsalaried domestics or to be 
delivered into prostitution?" 
 
¶B.  The Interministerial Commission combating trafficking 
includes the OCRETH (which leads the government's 
anti-trafficking efforts), along with several government 
ministries, including Interior, Justice, Education, Tourism, 
Health and Solidarity, Foreign Affairs, and Employment, 
Social Cohesion, and Lodging. OCRETH also has strong ties 
with the anti-pimping brigade of the Paris police.  OCRETH is 
the operational and political focal point for French efforts; 
police units all over the country turn their cases over to 
OCRETH if they are found to involve trafficking, and OCRETH 
serves as the designated correspondent of inquiries (for 
example, OCRETH chief Colombani testifies before the Senate 
on trafficking questions). 
 
¶C.  In addition to President Chirac's public statements, the 
government participated in an anti-trafficking poster 
awareness campaign in 2005. The posters were displayed at the 
"return to school" period (end-August, beginning of 
September) and again in early November.  Four French 
departments displayed the posters: Ile de France (Paris 
region), Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur (Marseille, Nice), the 
Loire and Champagne.  The posters (posters themselves and 
photos of posters in situ sent to EUR/WE) sought to create 
awareness of the fact that prostitutes in France may be 
trafficking victims and bore the words: "Slaves for Sale: Now 
you Know." 
 
¶D. The government continues to fund the campaign of the NGO 
ECPAT-France combatting child sex tourism; all Air France 
flights (and Air France buses between Paris and the two Paris 
airports) broadcast a video warning French tourists against 
engaging in sex with minors and alerting them that their 
actions on foreign soil are subject to prosecution in France. 
 In addition, profits from three out of the seven Air France 
products available for purchase on board Air France planes (a 
stuffed bear, a Concorde model, and a pen) are given to ECPAT. 
 
¶F. The relationship between government officials, NGOs and 
other relevant organizations or elements of civil society 
varies. In Nice, Patrick Hauvuy, who heads the reinsertion 
service of ALC Nice, has forged strong ties with Justice 
Ministry officials and Police officers.  On a set of meetings 
in Nice with Hauvuy in October, poloff was able to see the 
power of these personal relationships and the efforts of 
these individuals (Hauvuy, Examining Magistrate Philippe 
Dorcet, and Commandant of Police Serge LeMaire) in creating a 
network that is combatting trafficking there.  In some 
localities, inter-agency relationships are more antagonistic, 
with attendant problems for the fight against trafficking. 
In general civil society plays a robust role in France, and 
the French government recognizes its role in the battle. 
 
¶G.  France adequately monitors its borders, but a large part 
of metropolitan French border-monitoring has been subsumed 
into the Schengen Treaty, which covers the majority of 
France's land borders and some of its air traffic as well 
(persons arriving in flights, trains, and cars coming into 
France from other Schengen member countries such as Belgium, 
Spain, Italy, Germany, and Luxembourg are not subject to 
border controls because passengers have either gone through 
Schengen border control at the point where they entered 
Schengen territory, or they themselves are Schengen residents 
and thus receive no examination). 
 
¶H. The mechanism for coordination and communication between 
various ministries and agencies is the Interministerial 
Commission to Combat Trafficking in Persons, which OCRETH 
chairs.  France also has a Working Group on the Fight Against 
Sex Tourism Involving Children, which includes the Ministries 
of Social Security, Aged Persons, Handicapped Persons and 
Family; Minister-Delegate for Tourism; Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs; Ministry of Interior; Youth Ministry; Justice 
Ministry; NGOs, tourism-sector representatives, and other 
experts. 
 
¶J.  France's current national plan of action to combat 
trafficking in persons was enunciated in 2002.  A copy (in 
French) is with EUR/WE. 
 
 
INVESTIGATION/PROSECUTION - Question 23. 
------------------------- 
 
¶A.  French law specifically forbids trafficking in human 
beings -- defined as "the recruitment, transport, transfer, 
accommodation, or reception of a person in exchange for 
remuneration or any other benefit or for the promise of 
remuneration or any other benefit, in order to put him at the 
disposal of a third party, whether identified or not, so as 
to permit the commission against that person of offenses of 
procuring, sexual assault or attack, exploitation for 
begging, or the imposition of living or working conditions 
inconsistent with human dignity, or to force this person to 
commit any crime or misdemeanor" - for both sexual and 
non-sexual purposes (French penal code, Book II, Title II, 
Chapter V, Sec 1bis, Article 225-4-1 and following). 
 
Two laws forbid subjecting a person to working and living 
conditions which infringe on human dignity: Article 225-13 of 
the Penal Code notes that "obtaining the performance of 
unpaid services or of services against which a payment is 
made which clearly bears no relation to the importance of the 
work performed from a person whose vulnerability or 
dependence is obvious or known to the offender is punished by 
five year's imprisonment and by a fine of 150,000 euros;" 
Article 225-14 notes that "subjecting a person whose 
vulnerability or dependence is obvious or known to the 
offender to working or living conditions incompatible with 
human dignity is punished by five years' imprisonment and by 
a fine of 150,000 euros." Further, subsequent articles 
(225-15 and 225-15-1) provide for stiffer penalties for 
persons who conduct either of the two previous activities 
against more than one person (seven year's prison and 200,000 
euros); against a minor (seven years' prison and 200,000 
euros; or against several persons, of whom one is a minor (10 
years' prison and 300,000 euros). 
 
There is no law that specifically forbids slavery in the 
French penal code, although, as a signatory to the European 
Convention on Human Rights, article 4 of which forbids 
slavery, France forbids slavery.  A senator from the centrist 
party has introduced a bill that would criminalize slavery 
and servitude. 
 
¶B.  Penalties are the same for sexual and labor exploitation 
trafficking, as the French legal definition of trafficking 
covers both (see para above).  Trafficking in persons is 
punishable by up to seven years in prison and a fine of up to 
150,000 euros (Art. 225-4-1); the penalty rises to 10 years' 
imprisonment and a 1.5-million-euro fine if the trafficking 
involves a minor, pregnant woman, or other "vulnerable 
persons"; a person "upon his arrival on (French) territory;" 
if threats are used; or if the perpetrator holds a position 
that requires him/her to fight against human trafficking or 
in any of several other aggravating circumstances (Art. 
225-4-2).  If an organized gang perpetrates the trafficking, 
it is punishable by 20 years' imprisonment and a 
3-million-euro fine (Art. 225-4-3), and if the trafficking is 
committed with "recourse to torture or acts of barbarity," 
the perpetrator(s) incurs life imprisonment and a 
4.5-million-euro fine (Art. 225-4-4). 
 
¶C.  Sexual assault is punishable by up to five years in 
prison and a 75,000-euro fine (Art. 222-27), seven years and 
100,000 euros if the victim is under 15 years of age or if 
there are aggravating circumstances (Arts. 222-28 and 
222-29).  Convicted rapists can receive up to 15 years in 
prison (Art. 222-23); if the rape was committed against 
someone under 15 years of age, the penalty increases to up to 
20 years (Art. 222-24). 
 
¶D.  Prostitution itself is not illegal, but exploiting 
someone to prostitute him or herself (e.g. pimping, or 
"procuring" someone else) is illegal, as is solicitation. 
Prostitutes can be arrested for 'passive' solicitation (as 
determined by the police; the law is vague on what 
constitutes 'passive conduct,' and this can include even the 
manner of dress or having a large number of condoms on one's 
person).  The age of majority in France is 18.  Anyone 
soliciting, accepting, or obtaining a person of less than 18 
years of age for sexual services in exchange for remuneration 
or the promise of it is subject to three years' imprisonment 
and a 45,000-euro fine (French penal code Article 225-12-1), 
more for aggravating circumstances (Article 225-12-2), and 
even more (seven years' prison and a fine of 100,000 euros) 
if the child is less than 15 years of age (Art. 225-12-3). 
Solicitation can bring up to two months in jail and up to 
3,750 euros in fines (Art. 225-10-1).  Pimps are punished 
under laws prohibiting "procuring," defined as when a person 
"in any manner 1) helps, assists, or protects the 
prostitution of others; 2) makes a profit out of the 
prostitution of others, shares the proceeds of it, or 
receives income from a person engaging habitually in 
prostitution; and/or 3) hires, trains, or corrupts a person 
with a view to prostitution or exercises on such a person 
pressure to practice prostitution or to continue doing so." 
(Art 225-5)  Procuring is punished by seven years' 
imprisonment and a fine of 150,000 euros.  The law also 
criminalizes acting as an intermediary between a prostitute 
and a pimp; facilitating the justification of a pimp's 
fictitious resources; being unable to account for one's 
income when one lives with a prostitute; and obstructing 
prevention, control, assistance, or re-education efforts for 
prostitute(s).  Under aggravating circumstances (including 
where the prostitute is a minor), procuring is punishable by 
ten years' imprisonment and a fine of 1.5 million euros (Art. 
225-7), and if the prostitute is under 15 years old, it is 
punishable by 15 years' imprisonment and a 3-million-euro 
fine (Art. 225-7-1).  If an organized gang does the 
procuring, the punishment is 20 years' prison and a 
3-million-euro fine (Art 225-8), and if the procurer(s) 
resort to torture or acts of barbarity, it is punishable by 
life imprisonment and a 4.5-million-euro fine (Art 225-9). 
 
¶E.  As of the end of February, France has not yet compiled 
its full statistics for 2005.  Given the relative weight of 
the sex trade in slavery in France, post believes it 
appropriate to examine pimping and solicitation arrests, in 
addition to trafficking data, as the former are likely also 
reflective of convictions of persons running trafficked 
persons (mostly women) in the sex trade.  The Ministry of 
Interior released preliminary figures showing that in 2005, 
there were 1,053 cases of pimping charges (OCRETH told us 
that these were 880 separate persons, of whom 55 percent were 
foreign).  Almost two-thirds of those charged were men.  Over 
half (55%) of the charges were against foreigners. The number 
of minors has dropped dramatically from 2003 to 2005, from 34 
boys and girls picked up for pimping to nine. 
 
According to a late 2005 OCRETH assessment of final 2004 
figures, the 943 pimping charges in 2004 represented 717 
separate persons (some were picked up more than once).  More 
than two-thirds (71 percent) were men, and 29 percent were 
women.  Foreigners represented more than half of those 
charged.  One-third of the total number of persons charged 
were from Eastern Europe or the Balkans (in the order of 
Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania).  OCRETH said that 
authorities identified 1,429 victims in 2005, up from 999 in 
¶2004.  As of report deadline, OCRETH had only 2005 raw 
numbers, which it had not yet been able to analyze. 
 
In September, the Justice Ministry shared its statistics on 
convictions for pimping, solicitation, and trafficking for 
¶2004.  According to its figures, in 2004, there were 1,719 
convictions for pimping and aggravated pimping (some of which 
could have been the same person convicted on multiple 
counts).  There were no/no convictions on the basis of the 
trafficking in persons law.  One of Post's NGO contacts 
estimates -- and OCRETH's Colombani agreed -- that 
prosecutors may be continuing to use the anti-pimping laws in 
place of the anti-trafficking provision with regard to sex 
slaves because the anti-pimping laws are so strong, and 
prosecutors are accustomed to using them, in part because 
they are so strong.  Colombani pointed out that the Interior 
Ministry presented around 50 charges of trafficking in 2004, 
and about the same number in 2005;  these cases may result in 
convictions on the basis of the trafficking law, but so far 
have not made their way through the courts system.  In 
addition, those charged in a Bulgarian Roma baby-selling ring 
busted by OCRETH and local police officials in Lille and 
Marseille in October were charged on the basis of the 
anti-trafficking law. 
 
In any event, in 2004 there were, for example, 396 
convictions on the basis of the two basic anti-pimping laws; 
330 aggravated pimping convictions for those instances with a 
plurality of authors or accomplices; and 511 aggravated 
pimping convictions for those cases in which there was more 
than one victim.  There was one conviction for aggravated 
pimping of a victim of less than 15 years of age. 
 
The government provided information on the penalties imposed 
ONLY for those cases in which the pimping count in question 
was the sole infraction for which the individual was 
committed.  In many cases, persons were convicted on several 
different counts, so we have only a kind of anecdotal sample 
as regards penalties.  (NOTE: Government officials were 
trying to give the most accurate picture possible of the 
sentence received for the specific pimping infraction.  For 
that reason, they did not/not provide the penalty if the 
pimping infraction was only one among two or more convictions 
that a person received. For example, if the person had been 
convicted of murder in addition to pimping, the penalty would 
obviously be much higher, and there would be no way to know 
how much of the penalty applied to the pimping conviction. 
END NOTE) 
 
With this caveat in mind, we learn that, for example, on code 
10495, "aggravated pimping in which the vulnerability of the 
victim was apparent," there were seven convictions in 2004. 
In five of those cases, the conviction was only one of the 
convictions for which the person was sentenced; in one case 
it was the FIRST of a list of convictions, and in one case it 
was the ONLY conviction the person received.  In the last 
case, the person who was convicted on this count, and ON NO 
OTHER COUNT, received a suspended prison term and served no 
time.  However, for the six other persons convicted of that 
particular infraction in 2004, we have no information on the 
penalty received. 
 
Of the 43 persons convicted of "aggravated pimping involving 
a minor from 15 to 18 years of age," only eight were 
convicted solely on this count; all eight of those persons 
received a prison term (without suspension or possibility of 
parole), serving an average of a little more than 21 months 
each. 
 
Of the 78 persons for whom "aggravated pimping because the 
case involved multiple victims" was their SOLE conviction 
(out of the 511 total convictions for that infraction), all 
78 received prison terms, 57 of them firm.  The average 
prison term was two years and four months. 
 
Of the 32 persons convicted solely of "aggravated pimping in 
the case where there were multiple authors or accomplices" 
(of the 330 total convictions for the infraction), 32 
received prison terms, 26 of them firm; the average time 
served was two years and seven months. 
 
Of the 356 persons convicted in 2004 on the basis of the 
basic anti-pimping law that prohibits aiding, assisting, or 
protecting the prostitution of another, for 63 it was the 
sole infraction. Of those 63, 52 received prison sentences, 
19 of them firm; the average time served was just short of 
one year. Seven of the 63 received fines, the average of 
which was 3,875 euros. 
 
In the case of the one 2004 conviction for "aggravated 
pimping because the victim was less than 15 years old," we 
have no information on the penalty received, because the 
person was convicted on one or more other counts. 
 
Post can provide more detail on convictions relative to other 
pimping infractions; here we have provided a random sample. 
 
As regards domestic forced servitude, the Committee Against 
Modern Slavery (CCEM) helps victims bring claims against 
their "employers" (one-fifth of which claim diplomatic 
immunity as members of the diplomatic corps) on the basis of 
Penal Code Articles 225-13 and 225-14 (see above).  In 2005, 
the victims won several cases.  According to CCEM officials, 
their judicial service is currently working on the cases of 
99 victims at various stages of the judicial process, 33 of 
which are new cases that they took on in 2005. 
 
¶F.  In 2005, according to OCRETH, French authorities 
dismantled 41 international trafficking networks and three 
France-based trafficking networks.  There are large and small 
networks operating in France, and often, the chiefs of the 
networks do not enter France, but stay out in the country of 
origin, or sometimes a third country.  There is no indication 
that there are any French government officials involved in 
trafficking. 
 
¶G.  The French government actively investigates trafficking 
cases, using surveillance, telephone taps, and a wide range 
of investigative techniques.  In addition, French law 
enourages the testimony of trafficking victims by providing 
residency cards for victims who file complaint or testify in 
cases that end in a conviction, but French police can also 
proceed (on an investigation, or with taps, etc.) without a 
victim's complaint or testimony. 
 
¶H.  OCRETH seeks to create with Fondation Scelles (see NGO 
descriptions in Part II) a National Day of Cooperation that 
would bring together NGOs, police from various jurisdictions, 
and judicial officials to provide training especially to 
police outside the OCRETH force, to familiarize them with how 
to treat trafficking victims they encounter in their work. 
In 2005, OCRETH organized three meetings bringing together 
the various police forces within the DCPJ (Central Department 
of Judicial Police, of which OCRETH is one element), the 
gendarmerie, and local security services to ask the Interior 
Ministry to attack the "small hands" -- the ground level -- 
of trafficking networks.  In addition, OCRETH hosts various 
police officials or judicial magistrates for rotations, in 
which the officials learn more about OCRETH's work and the 
French government's aims vis-a-vis trafficking. 
 
¶I. The French government cooperates with other governments in 
investigating and prosecuting traffickers and in trying to 
prevent trafficking from occurring.  OCRETH has an officer 
posted in the French Embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria, to serve as 
a liaison with Bulgarian officials to combat the trafficking 
of Bulgarian nationals to France.  The officer is attached to 
the French police attache's office.  Three Bulgarian police 
officers came to work with OCRETH in 2005; one assisted in 
the dismantling of a trafficking network in Dijon, and two 
came for shorter periods to assist OCRETH with the 
dismantlement of a Bulgarian Roma ring peddling babies.  In 
Bucharest, the French Embassy has a large cell that works 
closely with local police to address the trafficking issue; 
the OCRETH in Paris works with the Romanian police attache 
here; and the French MFA recently led a mission comprised of 
officials and NGOs to Romania to share best practices with 
their counterparts and to set up contact networks.  French 
officials worked with Belgian and Albanian officials to 
dismantle a large Albanian trafficking network that was 
present in both Belgium and France.  Police officers involved 
in the fight to combat trafficking travel regularly to source 
countries to work with their counterparts, although they have 
had problems finding willing counterparts in Nigeria, Sierra 
Leone, and Cameroon. 
 
¶J. France can extradite persons suspected of trafficking to 
other countries, and the process can be expedited when the 
seeking country is a fellow party to the European arrest 
warrant.  In the case of a country such as Bulgaria or 
Romania, extradition is subject to the Council of Europe 
extradition treaty.  France does not extradite its own 
citizens. 
 
¶K. There is no evidence of French government involvement in 
or tolerance of trafficking on either a local or national 
level.  Governmental authorities do not facilitate or condone 
trafficking, nor are they otherwise complicit in such 
activities.  Punishments for any official person whose post 
requires him/her to participate in the fight against human 
trafficking who is found guilty of trafficking are more 
severe than the penalties for traffickers (French penal code, 
Article 225-4-2), and the law provides for a seven-year 
imprisonment and fine of up to 750,000 euros if someone 
"cannot account for resources corresponding to one's 
lifestyle while being in close contact with one or more 
(trafficking) victims or perpetrators" (Art. 225-4-8). 
 
¶L. No evidence of French government involvement in 
trafficking, see above. 
 
¶M. France's child sex tourism laws have extraterritorial 
coverage.  Sex with minors can be punished under French law 
if the act is committed by a French national or by a person 
habitually resident on French territory (i.e., the person 
need not be a French citizen to be subject to the law). 
(Penal Code, Art. 225-12-3). 
 
In 2005, the French government adopted two of the 
interministerial commission's 12 recommendations of September 
2004: 
 
In May 2005, 20 leading tourism professionals signed a 
charter with Tourism Minister Bertrand pledging to increase 
their efforts against child sex tourism.  Under the charter, 
the companies agree to conduct several actions to aid in the 
fight.  The French government started a review of the actions 
in November, and they will continue to be evaluated annually. 
 
 
On October 20, Bertrand launched an initiative at an EU 
tourism ministers' meeting to give new impetus to the EU's 
fight against child sex tourism.  The French propose 
increasing the voluntary commitments made by travel industry 
professionals to address the problem (by means of a charter 
along the lines of the French model); setting up an informal 
group and a website on child sex tourism to facilitate the 
exchange of best practices between EU member states; and 
sharing information and planning joint actions with the 
countries that are plagued by child sex tourism. 
 
Carole de Bartoli of ECPAT-France told Post recently that the 
government will announce toward the end of March further 
measures it will undertake relative to the interministerial 
commission's September 2004 proposals.  Post will send in any 
updates as necessary. 
 
¶N.  France has signed and ratified all the referenced 
instruments. 
ILO Convention 182 - Ratified 9/11/01 
ILO Convention 29 - Ratified 6/24/37. 
ILO Convention 105 - Ratified 12/18/69 
Optional Protocol to CRC - Signed 2/6/00, Ratified 2/5/03 
Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish TIP supplementing UN 
Convention against Transnational OC - Signed 12/12/00, 
Ratified 10/29/02 
 
 
Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm 
 
Stapleton