10th Anniversary of the French Abolitionist Law

April 13, 2026 will mark the 10-year anniversary of France’s 2016 Prostitution Act, the strongest equality Model law in the world which serves as a template to what we need to achieve everywhere. The law is meant to end the arrest of prostituted people, shifts the attention to the buyers by imposing a fine for those who pay for sex while also ensuring the establishment of exit programming throughout the country.

The law resulted from the realization to the violence and harms of the sex trade; it created a shift in favor of an Abolitionist Model. The law recognized the need to provide pathways out in jurisdictions throughout France and the need to reduce the demand. Since the law passed no prostituted individual has been arrested, the law established state funded programming which ensures those in prostitution have access to resources and viable options.

The claims that the law would endanger people in prostitution were found to be inaccurate soon after its implementation, with 45.5% of people in prostitution saying that nothing had changed. It did not endanger those in prostitution, in fact 9.3% reported the situation had improved according a report by Amicade du Nid in 2018.

A 2023 European Parliament report on the regulation of prostitution in the EU, found more than 800 people in prostitution in the country have benefited from an exit program in 2016, with 87.5% of the persons supported by French grassroots organizations finding a stable job by the end of the program.

A stark comparison exists between the French and German prostitution laws, rooted in fundamentally different beliefs, leading to different outcomes. The 2023 European Parliament report on the regulation of prostitution in the EU notes that, according to EUROPOL, there is a tenfold increase in trafficking and violence against people in prostitution in places where prostitution is legal, such as Germany. This suggests that legalization worsens violence against people in prostitution rather than diminishing it, as its proponents claim.

April 13, 2026 will be an opportunity to bring new attention to what the Equality Model should be, and what we need everywhere.

Past Events

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10th Anniversary of the French Abolitionist Law

Past Events

Advancing the Abolitionist Agenda in Latin America

SPACE at the 69th UN Commission on the Status of Women

Standing with Arab Women in their Fight Against Sexual Exploitation

Survivor March and Rally held in Montreal, Canada, 2024